Wellington, The Capital City and my Dear Kiwi Friend...

I arrived in Windy Wellington Thursday evening and was greeted by wonderful friend Michaela, the Kiwi. Michaela has made an appearance in previous blog posts. And now, for her encore...

Michaela and I met while hiking the Inca Trail in Peru. We spent 5 brutal days hiking, camping, and being in awe of the beauty of Peru. We met up again in Buenos Aires and again, about a year later, in Los Angeles. This time, it was my turn to visit her!

She picked me up at the airport and we headed to her adorable house in Petone, a suburb of Wellington. I got settled and we walked to Jackson Street and had a great turkish dinner and talked, talked, talked - there was so much catching up to do!

The next day was a "take it easy" kind of day. We walked to the waterfront and around the shops on Jackson Street, had a great brunch at Go Bang Cafe and went to the grocery store.

I asked Michaela to give me a driving lesson. I thought it would be safer for ALL New Zealand if I had a little lesson, just in case I decided to rent a car. So, first off, my car is a manual and so is hers, however, you have to shift with your left hand - a bit weird at first, but not too bad. Second, the turn signals are on the right which means that turning the windshield wipers on instead of signaling was inevitable. And the kicker - Roundabouts! There are many, many roundabouts here. I am definitely not used to them. I was doing great, well kind of - it's very weird to be the driver on the right side of the car, I kept wanting to position myself on the left side of the road which meant that poor Michaela was getting nervous because she was almost in the margin on the left! Anyway, I was kind of doing great, until we came to a roundabout and she said, go right. So, I went right - literally. Thank goodness for her quick response - NO, NO left around then right! Whew, I corrected quickly, but that could have been ugly! Now in my head, all round abouts are AROUND to the left and then right! Yikes - I think I need more practice!

Later that evening, we went to Oriental Parade Beach for swim practice - not mine, hers! She was training for a 1000 meter swim in the ocean. I went with her friend Sam to watch. She did great and I know will do great on the big day.

Back to Petone where we all hung out, drank some wine and had authentic Fish and Chips! Crumb filet for me please...