Bits n' Bobs

My temp job officially ended on Thursday. It was initially supposed to be for a week, it ended up being four. While I won't necessarily miss the job, I will miss the people. And the view. The office had a stunning view of the bay and the city. I didn't really get a lot of good pictures of it, but here's one, including the $350 million dollar super yacht that was in town for a few days.

The weather hasn't been quite as hot and calm, but it's been lovely walking down to sit by the water on my lunch breaks. When the water is calm, you can see fish swimming, even the occasional jelly fish.

It was Wellington Sevens weekend two weeks ago. I still know nothing about rugby but I'd like to. It's a big party weekend here, and it's tradition for people to dress up in costume. I don't have pictures, but it was great fun wandering the streets that weekend. I think my favorite was the large group of middle-aged blokes dressed as X-wing pilots. Close second? The 10-12 drunken lads all dressed as Buzz Lightyear who were dueting with a busker on Cuba Street.

There was a parade through the CBD before the kickoff. Most countries had dancers or bands in front of the players' float. The bagpipers made me especially happy.

I don't know how Team USA did in the matches, but here they are (their entertainment was a guy dressed as Uncle Sam on stilts).

Team New Zealand won the weekend playing against England, which made everyone quite happy. I did get to see that game when televised, which was fun.

I went to go see Eddie Izzard last weekend, and I continue to be a huge fan of his. He did a Q&A with the audience after the show. Apparently, he's gearing up to run for mayor of London in a few years.

There were a bunch of pigeons sheltering on a government building across from the venue.

The train station is another grand old building, currently undergoing earthquake strengthening (which is true for a large number of buildings at any given time here in Wellington).

I may have already posted one of these, but this is a shot of the bay from the train to Lower Hutt for swordfighting class.

It's starting to get darker for my walk home from class at night, and the city lights are not entirely unattractive (Clyde Quay Wharf and Te Papa with Mt. Vic in the background).

The Cricket World Cup is happening in New Zealand right now, and the English Team was in town this week (and they lost to New Zealand today). There was a big welcoming ceremony for them on Tuesday, though I did not watch it because I had to get to rehearsal. I did catch some of the preparation for the ceremony, including two Maori waka launching into the bay, complete with traditional songs.

I don't have anything lined up for next week, and I'm looking forward to having time to focus on prepping for the show and my upcoming grad school audition. Also looking forward to having time to explore a bit more while the summer is still around. Hoping to head up the Kapiti Coast sometime next week in between rain days.

The Wellington Zoo

I've actually been working recently, as a receptionist in an accounting firm (yes, somewhat ironic), so between that, class, and rehearsals, life is starting to resemble my accustomed levels of hectic. Even though I'm no longer strictly a tourist, I'm still trying to hold on to the sense of wonder and go do all the things! that should accompany a grand adventure.

I did get a chance to go to the Wellington Zoo a few weeks ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I found the chimpanzees fascinating to watch. The zoo has a very successful breeding program, so there were a lot of adorable baby chimps of various ages tearing about.

The zoo is on a hillside in the suburb of Newtown. Out of shot there was a toddler crying because his Mum was insisting that it was time to move away from the ostrich.

African porcupine.

The Australian section was pretty cool, though mostly devoid of the will-kill-you-horribly kind of animal that is so popular over there. The wallabies are free range in this exhibit, and apparently will, on occasion, come up to say hello to people if you sit quietly. I did not test this theory.

Apologies for the poor quality, but this is a dingo. For some reason, I was under the impression that dingoes were a bit mangy and ugly. I was not expecting them to look like gigantic shiba inu and be all manner of cute. Not my first or last stupid American moment.

This is the fluffy butt of a Tasmanian Devil, doing laps around the enclosure.

This is a Hamadryas Baboon just, erm, hanging out.

And some of his family.

You can hand feed the giraffes! I did not on this particular occasion, as they had been munching for awhile and wandered off shortly after I snapped this, but I know I'll be going back when I have friends in town!

I looked all over before I realized that the serval was chilling two feet to my left. Sigh.

I was a little quicker on the uptake when spotting the caracal.

Sun bears!

Majestic chickens.

A tawny frogmouth.

This pelican was massive, and I found the bird completely fascinating. Not entirely sure why.

I have, sadly, completely forgotten the name of this little rodent-type beastie, and did not follow my uncle's very helpful suggestion of snapping a picture of the placard as well as the critter. Oops.

The cheetahs hadn't been out when I had initially gone by their enclosure, so I'm quite glad that I went back on a whim, as one of them came up and flopped down about five feet away from me and proceeded to make noises not unlike a purring housecat, and I proceeded to make noises (internally) not unlike a five-year old on a sugar bender.

These are kunekune (which means fat and round in Maori), which were introduced to New Zealand in the early 19th century, and are often kept as pets as well as for bacon.

I also saw my first kiwis (the bird, not the people) at the zoo, but as they are a nocturnal bird in a nocturnal exhibit I didn't whip out my phone. There were also red pandas, which are adorable, but were not in a photo friendly hidey hole at the time. Also, blue penguins, but no pictures of them, either. It was a lovely day, and it's a fabulous zoo. Though, admittedly, five-year old me would have been just as enamored of this statue as the live animals...

(Yes, modern day me thought it was pretty rad, too.)