First week in Wellington - impressions
We've been here about a week now, so I thought I'd give my first impressions.
Wellington is a wonderful city. I like the hills and the coast. The hills are covered in trees, and there is lots of open space. The water is clear, but cold. I like the many small shops and bars. The people have been friendly. My main complaint thus far has been the weather, which has mostly been dreary. However, since Texas has been in a prolonged drought, even that hasn't bothered me. I've also now seen the wind for which “Windy Welly” is known. And yes, it's quite windy. To give you an idea of how windy, I probably wouldn't play volleyball in it. We've had a couple of nice days, and they've been gorgeous.
I'm enjoying all the things that are different than what I'm used to. One of the places I went to was an to was an Oriental supermarket. I couldn't help myself. I bought some spicy vegetarian mock beef jerky, muskmelon cookies, and a “seafood party” noodle mix. The cookies were good. The jerky was not much like beef jerky, but actually tasted okay. I'm saving the seafood party for a special occasion.It will be like a party in my mouth!
I watched some rugby, cricket, and netball on TV. I expected to like the rugby okay, and I did. I don't really understand it though. The cricket was okay, but I don't think I'll watch it much. The play is interesting enough, but it can go on for days. Maybe I'll read the summary in the paper. Or not. Netball is pretty cool. It's kind of like basketball would be if you lived in an alternate dimension. There is no dribbling, and the shooting is anticlimactic. It's all about passing and defense.
As far as living details... We are staying our first two weeks at the Southern Cross Apartment Hotel. I've liked it pretty well for a first stop. It's centrally located, inexpensive, and has Internet, phone, and kitchenette. Soon we will be moving to some student housing for 1-3 months. This will be cheaper, convenient, and provide furnishings until our things cross the ocean. At that time, we hope to rent a small house.
We had thought about finding a house to rent via TradeMe sooner. We had some difficulty setting up an account. At first, we thought that it had to do with our non-NZ email address or perhaps the hotel address and phone number, but we later decided it was due to our flaky Internet connection. We now have a TradeMe account, but we decided not to rush the house rental decision.
Obtaining a phone, broadband, etc. for a good price has been confusing. Fortunately, this group has had many good postings on those subjects that have really helped. I'd also like to publicly thank WanderingOregonian, who met up with us after we arrived here and fielded many questions.
Cheers,
Keith
Today was a beaut. 
oh im so jealous
