The winning entries in the baking competition:
And the results of the wellington boot decorating competition:
The next weekend, we caught the ferry over
to Somes Island in Wellington harbour. The island was previously a quarantine
zone for sick immigrants and was also used to house prisoners of war. It’s
probably about half a mile across, so it only takes a couple of hours to walk
around, but it was nice to feel like we were out of the city while still
getting fantastic views of it. We even saw a penguin on the way back.
Next up was the fair in Martinborough, a
little town that was a 90 minute drive out of Wellington. While we ended up
buying some handmade mugs, we just enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere. When we
finished having a look around, we headed over to a winery for lunch. Ash got
into the spirit of it and ordered a tasting tray – suffice it to say that
there’s a lot more alcohol in one of these than a beer tasting tray! She made me try some wine, but as you can see from my expression wine is still wasted on me.
The following Wednesday was Waitangi day, a
public holiday that commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between
the British government and the Moari chiefs. This treaty is considered the
founding document of New Zealand. As having a day off in the middle of the week
is a bit awkward, we decided we would stay in town, so we bought tickets for
the New Zealand vs India twenty20 cricket match. I’ve never been to a cricket
match before but I had a great time.
Nest up was the Makara
mountain bike park with my friend Adrien. Visiting a proper mountain-biking
area was another first for me and I’ll definitely be checking out some of the
other rides around Wellington. I rounded off the day at the Chinese New Year
celebrations in town, where I caught a performance by an acrobatic troupe and
watched the fireworks on the waterfront.
