Well, I can certainly say that Wellington lived up to its name; I gave up caring what I looked like about five minutes in and accepted the fact that I would have to embrace a series of eccentric hair styles or be prepared to empty a can of hairspray in 48 hours. As I knew before I'd even arrived - despite peoples' glowing reviews - I found Wellington fairly underwhelming. I feel like it may be one of those places you have to live in to love, but as a visitor I only had 1.5 days and I struggled to fill the hours.
On my first afternoon I dragged myself to Te Papa, the museum iSites across the country rave about, and managed to do just under an hour (15 minutes of which was spent in the cafe slurping hot chocolate). I actually ended up going back the next morning to do a Gallipoli exhibition they've assembled ahead of the Anzac Centenary, which was pretty good and very moving. Caught the cable car up to the gardens and planetarium which were nothing to shout about and walked back to the hostel via the waterfront, which was also kinda meh. The evenings were better - took myself out for dinner and a movie* the first night and saw someone I'd met in Picton the next. One 12 hour bus later and I made it up to Auckland! Last city before heading further northwards to the beaches :)
*Omg! You went to the cinema on your OWN? You poor thing. Y u have no friends? So firstly...sitting in a dark room in near silence doesn't exactly scream social; it's perfectly fine going to the movies alone! Secondly, I've really enjoyed having all this 'me' time; honestly, I've been keeping myself to myself for the past couple of weeks to take some time out from everything...think the last few weeks in Melbourne knocked me for six!
