Posts Tagged ‘ryan’

Our day in Wellington

Sunday, March 28th, 2010

AH: Sunday morning started off great with Lee making some excelent coffee (Bless you!), and after AK finally got up :-) we left to explore the capital of New Zealand.

As Wellington is the first real city we’ve visited (excepting Auckland, since we really just landed there and left), we thought we’d do some real city-stuff. We started the day off by visiting Te Papa (Our Place in the language of the Maori), New Zealands national museum. Between us we’ve visited a good number of museums, and we agree: Te Papa is one of the really good ones. We spent a large part of the day there, visiting exhibitions about The Enormous Squid, Earthquakes in New Zealand, The history of European-Maori relations and more.

AK in front of Te Papa

Lunch was spent on one of Wellingtons hip cafés (good coffee, as promised by Lonely Planet), followed by a stroll in the city while enjoying an ice cream. AK bought some crap CDs (her own words) to play while driving. We then decided to visit the world famous Wellington Zoo. That visit became one of historys shortest zoo-visits, since the place closed just 45 minutes after we got there. We were really effective though, so we got through most of it (Chimps are cool!).

Is it a good idea to scare the Emu?

We finished our day in Wellington with a trip up to Mt. Victoria. This small mountain in the middle of the city has a great view, if we knew where it was I’m sure we would have seen Ryans house from there.

On the top of Mt Victoria

We spent the evening with Ryan and Lee, having dinner and watching the movie Zero Effect. Thanks a lot for letting us stay with you guys, you are wonderful hosts!

Our hosts Ryan and Lee.

We have an early start tomorrow since we’re on an early ferry to the south island, so now It’s time to go to sleep. Good night everyone.

AK: I want it on record that I got up at 09:30!

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Norwegian:

AH: Søndag morgen startet veldig bra med kaffe laget av Lee, og etter at AK til slutt kom seg opp :-) dro vi ut for å utforske New Zealands hovedstad.

Siden Wellington er den første skikkelige byen vi har besøkt (vi ekskluderer Auckland siden vi egentlig bare landet der og forlot stedet), tenkte vi vi skulle gjøre noen skikkelige by-greier. Vi startet med et besøk på Te Papa (Vårt Sted på Maorienes språk), New Zealands nasjonalmuseum. Mellom oss har vi besøkt ganske mange museer, og vi er enige: Te Papa er et av de absolutt beste. Vi brukte en stor del av dagen vår her og besøkte utstillinger om den enorme blekkspruten, jordskjelv i New Zealand, historien om forholdet mellom Maoriene og europeerene med mer.

Lunsj ble inntatt på en av Wellingtons hippe kaféer (god kaffe som lovet av Lonely Planet), fulgt av en liten vandring i bygatene mens vi spiste is. AK kjøpte noen crappy CD’er (hennes egne ord) for å spille i bilen. Vi besluttet etter dette å besøke den verdensberømte Wellington Zoo. Det besøket ble ett av verdenshistoriens korteste dyrehage-besøk, da stedet stengte kun 45 minutter etter at vi kom dit. Vi var veldig effektive dog, så vi kom igjennom det meste av det (Sjimpanser er kule!).

Vi avsluttet vår dag i Wellington med en tur opp på Mt. Victoria. Dette lille fjellet midt i byen har en fantastisk utsikt, så hvis vi visste hvor det var er jeg sikker på at vi ville ha sett huset til Ryan derfra. Vi tilbragte kvelden sammen med Ryan og Lee, med middag og filmen Zero Effect.

Vi har en tidlig start i morgen siden vi skal ta en tidlig ferge til sør-øya, så nå er det nok på tide å gå til sengs. God natt alle sammen!

AK: Jeg vil bare presisere at jeg sto opp 09:30!

AH: Sunday morning started off great with Lee making some excelent coffee (Bless you!), and after AK finally got up :-) we left to explore the capital of New Zealand.

As Wellington is the first real city we’ve visited (excepting Auckland, since we really just landed there and left), we thought we’d do some real city-stuff. We started the day off by visiting Te Papa (Our Place in the language of the Maori), New Zealands national museum. Between us we’ve visited a good number of museums, and we agree: Te Papa is one of the really good ones. We spent a large part of the day there, visiting exhibitions about The Enormous Squid, Earthquakes in New Zealand, The history of European-Maori relations and more.

Lunch was spent on one of Wellingtons hip cafés (good coffee, as promised by Lonely Planet), followed by a stroll in the city while enjoying an ice cream. AK bought some crap CDs (her own words) to play while driving. We then decided to visit the world famous Wellington Zoo. That visit became one of historys shortest zoo-visits, since the place closed just 45 minutes after we got there. We were really effective though, so we got through most of it (Chimps are cool!).

We finished our day in Wellington with a trip up to Mt. Victoria. This small mountain in the middle of the city has a great view, if we knew where it was I’m sure we would have seen Ryans house from there. We spent the evening with Ryan and Lee, having dinner and watching the movie Zero Effect. Thanks a lot for letting us stay with you guys, you are wonderful hosts!

We have an early start tomorrow since we’re on an early ferry to the south island, so now It’s time to go to sleep. Good night everyone.

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Swimming in the Pacific and the scenic route to Wellington

Saturday, March 27th, 2010
AK: We’ve spent the last two days driving to Wellington, mostly because we opted for the scenic route. We left Rotorua and headed for Napier, our plan was to split the trip so we wouldn’t spend an entire day driving, but we ended up doing that anyway because we took the long way round. The change in plans was deliberate though, the scenic route to Napier beckoning with it’s beaches and lovely landscape. The weather was lovely, sunny and warm, and we stopped by Countdown for some supplies before we headed off.
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Our first real stop was at Ohope Beach near Whakatane. We had a lovely picnic with some honey melon, before putting on our bathing suits (or trousers for Andreas) and splashed into the Pacific. The water was awesome! It must have been at least 22-25 degrees, and the waves made for great play. Naturally, I have developed a bit of a sun burn, but when your skin is as white as a sheet of paper, that’s what happens. Well worth it!

Ohope Beach

About 45 minutes from Napier the gas monitor in the car started blinking. We were in the middle of nowhere and the GPS told us the next available gas station was 22 km away – the mood was very somber indeed. But we made it, filled up the tank (with possibly the most expensive petrol ever) and got back on the road.

The night was spent in Napier, but all we had time for there was checking into a hostel and eating dinner. A very nice Chinese restaurant called “China Light” served us some humongous helpings of duck and beef. Very good food :-)

A good night’s sleep later, we were on our way to Wellington and I had lost my sunglasses. No matter, I’ve replaced them now and we have arrived safely in NZ’s capital.

The view from Ryan and Lee's place just under the top of the mountain

We have met our Couchsurfer Hosts Ryan and Lee and have been given a room in their lovely home (it’s such a beautiful place). You can hear the Tui right outside the windows and the view is gorgeous. We’ve had dinner and are about to watch a movie now, tomorrow we’ll try to find time for Te Papa (NZ’s national museum) and the Wellington Zoo.

Andreas and Ryan

Oh, I almost forgot: in Andreas’ incessant search for “morning” coffee, we happened by a place called Norsewood. A whole bunch of immigrants from Scandinavia (most of them Norwegian) settled here and made a life for themselves. We saw the museum there and… well, got coffee. Wasn’t much more to do in a town of 300 people, but it was very charming . And the museum was a lot of fun for us Norwegians :-)

Outside the Norsewood Pioneer Museum

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Norwegian

AK: Vi har brukt de to siste dagene på å kjøre til Wellington. Mest fordi vi bestemte oss for å ta “the scenic route”. Vi dro fra Rotorua mot Napier, fast bestemt på å fordele turen på to dager så vi slapp å kjøre en hel dag. Vi endte selvfølgelig opp med å kjøre en hel dag likevel fordi vi tok omveien. Endringen i planer var med vilje, dog, siden kystveien mot Napier rett og slett kalte på oss med sine nydelige strender og landskap. Været var flott, masse sol og varme. Vi stakk innom Countdown for å kjøpe litt mat før vi kjørte avgårde.

Første stopp var Ohope Beach nær Whakatane. Vi hadde en deilig picnic med bl.a. honningmelon, før vi tok på oss badetøyet og sprintet ut i Stillehavet. Vannet var fantastisk! Det må ha vært i alle fall 22-25 grader og bølgene gjorde svømmeturen veldig morsom. Jeg ble selvfølgelig solbrent, når man ser ut som et A4-ark er det det som skjer. Vel verdt det!

Cirka 45 minutter unna Napier begynte besinmåleren å blinke. Vi befant oss midt i gokk og GPS’en sa at nærmeste bensinstasjon var 22 km unna – atmosfæren i bilen var rimelig somber, men vi klarte oss. Vi fant den lille stasjonen, fylte tanken (med den antagelig dyreste bensinen i manns minne) og kom oss på veien igjen.

Vi tilbrakte natten i Napier, men alt vi rakk der var å sjekke inn på et herberge og spise middag. Vi spiste på en veldig koselig kinesisk restaurant,  “China Light” , serverte noen enorme porsjoner av and og biff. Veldig god mat :-)

Etter en god natts søvn var vi på vei mot Wellington og jeg hadde mistet solbrillene mine. Det gjør ingenting, jeg har erstattet dem med nye nå og vi har ankommet NZ’s hovedstad. Vi har møtt Couchsurfer-vertene våre Ryan og Lee og har fått et rom hos dem, (de har et virkelig vakkert sted). Man kan høre Tui-fuglene rett utenfor vinduene og utsikten er fantastisk. Vi har spist middag og skal se en film. I morgen skal vi prøve å finne Te Papa (NZ’s nasjonalmuseum) og Wellington Zoo.

Åh, jeg holdt på å glemme dette: Pga Andreas’ ustoppelige jakt etter “morgenkaffe” slumpet vi innom et sted som heter Norsewood. En gjeng med skandinaviere (mesteparten av dem norske) slo seg ned her og skapte et lite samfunn. Vi så museet og… tja, kjøpte kaffe. det var ikke så mye annet å gjøre i en såpass liten landsby (innbyggertall på ca 300 stk), men det var veldig sjarmerende. Og museet var veldig artig for oss nordmenn :-)

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Got couch?

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

AK: We have a couch to sleep on! Mr. Ryan Jameson has graciously agreed to let us stay on his couch in Wellington when we’re there. So now we have one couch down, and one that has not yet replied (which is not so strange, since I just sent him the request…)

We are ready to befriend some kiwis! :-)

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NORWEGIAN:

AK: Vi har en sofa å sove på! Ryan Jameson har sent svar og sagt de har plass til oss når vi ankommer Wellington, så nå har vi ett sted å sove og en som ikke har svart ennå (ikke så rart, siden jeg nettopp sendte ham forespørselen).

Vi er klare for å bli kjent med kiwier :-)

Ryan's got couch! (And also, this picture belongs to him)

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