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| Location of Wellington, Hutt Valley and Tararua Ranges |
So we were both very lucky and we became a happily employed couple for a few months ;-)
We were both working in the Hutt Valley (very close to Wellington), Rob in Lower Hutt and me in Upper Hutt. We decided to rent a room, and later on a flat, in Upper Hutt as it was cheaper and seemed quieter and nicer than Lower Hutt. We really liked it there.
Our daily routine was that Rob would drive to work, dropping me off to my work and then after work I would walk back (apart from when I was getting lifts off my lovely colleagues at work) and Rob would arrive home not much later after me :-)
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| Fun times at work |
I could not imagine a more wonderful team to work with and it was such a pleasure to have met such great people and so hard to say goodbye to them when my contract ended... But I hope to stay in touch and to see them again :-)
Rob made some friends too, and he even managed to extend his contract for two additional weeks, so we were finishing our work at a similar time :-)
Working Monday to Friday we finally had our weekends back! Some of you may not believe it but we only went out for drinks in Wellington ONCE in those four months (it's true! honest!) and it was when our dear friend Hoon visited us for a few days. We had a fantastic time and burnt lots of calories dancing in Boogie Wonderland, got some breakfast from McDonalds (yuck) and took a morning train back home ;-)
Instead of spending our weekend time (and money) in pubs and bars, we were exploring the area and very quickly realised that tramping was what we enjoyed the most :-) By tramping I mean hiking (for our non-kiwi readers). After a couple of trips to Kaitoke Regional Park and Waiohine Gorge one day trips just weren't good enough anymore ;-) We wanted to do more and to go further.
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| Kaitoke Regional Park. Beautiful trees... |
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| Kaitoke Regional Park. Beautiful views... |
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| Kaitoke Regional Park. Beautiful rivers... |
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| Kaitoke Regional Park. This way to Rivendell... |
On our way for a day out in the capital city we would promise ourselves to just go and check a couple of things in some outdoor shops and then go and see the Botanic Gardens, the Carter Observatory, visit Te Papa museum, go for a free tour of the Parliament House, etc.
During our few visits to the capital we spent 99% of time in outdoor shops collecting our gear for tramping and we have never made it to any of the above attractions, apart from the museum, but even that was rushed and we didn't really see much. When we are back in Wellington after our travels around the South Island, we're gonna have to spend a whole day just doing all the touristy things in the city ;-)
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| Mt Victoria, Wellington. Beautiful views! |
At the beginning it looked like we didn't need much at all, but with time we needed more and more, so that's how it all started and as we were getting a camping stove, some camping pots and a couple of sporks, we also bought some more tramping clothes and socks and head-torches and a tent and a camping towel and some dry sacks and some camping cups and gaiters and roll-mats and rain coats and a compass and a small sharp knife and bigger packs (on our first few 2-day-tramps we were carrying our daypacks as we didn't have any bigger packs, then we decided that one big pack for Rob should be enough and I could have my day pack and then we realised that we both really needed big packs, so we got one for me as well...) and loads of other bits and pieces (including our backcountry hut passes) :-)
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| Waiohine Gorge, Tararua Ranges |
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| Waiohine Gorge, Tararua Ranges |
All that tramping business was getting more and more interesting (and expensive) :-)
We also started staying in New Zealand backcountry huts, which is always fun :-)
Backcountry huts – for those who have no idea what they would be – are little buildings at various locations (on the tracks), where you can spend a night while tramping.
Most of them would have:
- bunks (either classic bunks or most common bed platforms – for example 10-people sleep on low level and 10 people on top level, sleeping next to each other – you get 75cm each so use it wisely)
- table and benches
- “kitchen” meaning a metal bench for cooking
- visitor book where you write your details in (name, planned route from the hut, backcountry hut pass number, etc)
- notice board with some information about the area, maps, some magazines (the oldest we have found was from 1991) and books left by trampers, some candles etc
- a tap outside – usually rain water
- a loo (usually a little walk away from the hut and usually a smelly long drop with lots of flies but very often with a nice view)
- a ticket box – for your backcountry hut tickets
Some would also have:
- a tap inside the hut
- a fire place
- a “cloak room” before you enter the main room – to leave all the wet/dirty gear in or space to even get changed into dry clothes
- drying rack / strings to hang your wet clothes up for drying
- a verandah (nice view)
- kitchen and bunk rooms separated or even a few separate bunk rooms
And very posh ones may have:
- flushing toilets
- toilet paper in the toilets
- gas cookers
Our first overnight tramping trips were in Tararua Ranges, not far from the Hutt Valley. Reports from our tramps will be posted later on :-)
We really enjoyed our time in Wellington and it gave us a taste of domesticated life in New Zealand with normal jobs and well away from the usual backpacker lifestyle. We look forward to revisiting Wellington on our way back from the South Island. We may even have time to stop by the best bakery ever, just down the road from where Rob worked (Daily Bread Bakery, Gracefield, Lower Hutt) to get some Steak and Garlic pies.
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