New Zealand 20/20 trip: Day 10 Wellington stumbles

By the numbers

8.42 kms

11,523 steps

I couldn’t really sleep in the hostel as I had been woken by a series of messages, but it was the scratching sound I heard from my fellow roommates that got me a little worried. I was also uncomfortable on the top bunk and the window had been closed so it was a little stuffy too. I did sleep, but when I seen that it was 6am on the phone, I jumped up and got moving as I couldn’t really lie there any longer. It was still dark when I wandered down the road. I wasn’t after food just yet as I was wanting to visit something I hadn’t done the night before and gone to see a movie. I went to see Quaker Acre Historical site in Nelson, which was near Maccas. It was dark and I had to navigate some steps to get to the location. It was only really a sign telling you what was once there, although I mostly took pictures before moving on. I got some food and there was still some time to kell before I went out to catch the bus to Picton.

I ended up walking around to the Cathedral as I had not gotten up those steps the day before and I did a complete circuit of the building finding there were earthworks that had been created to defend the citizens against the Maori should they attack. Afterwards I ended up heading off to the Queens gardens as I had to go elsewhere. I didn’t actually know there were toilets on the other side, but then again, I might have missed the first rugby league match. By the time I returned to the hostel from my wander, I found there was at least a half hour before I was meant to leave by the bus. While on the bus I learnt they were going to close down the flights, but I had thought at first that might be an over reaction by some people. It did turn out to be true as my flight after having a look had been moved from the 31^st to the 29^th, which would have me fly to Sydney and then to the Gold Coast. That would be too long a day with a landing at the Gold Coast around 9pm at night. I was enjoying the landscape as the bus was going, but I was becoming concerned by the ever changing situation.

I had a quick meal while waiting for boarding to occur and watched some of the vehicles load onto the ferry. I nearly had problems as my ticket wasn’t working at first and the girl realised she was in the wrong system. Lucky as I thought I had come on the wrong day and that would be very bad. Once we were able to board, I got something else to eat and went hunting down flights. I had to book a whole new flight home as the flight Virgin had put me on couldn’t be changed as there were two flights. That I can sort out when I get home for a credit or refund. I then booked a flight from Wellington to Auckland, which wasn’t all that difficult. I was distracted, so didn’t save the flight details. I will get the email eventually. I was lucky to sort all that out on my phone, which was difficult but doable. If I had left that stuff for another hour or so, it would have been hard to connect as everyone was using the wifi. One thing I was hoping was that the laundry liquid I had would not spill in my bag.

We did dock and had to wait for all the car divers to leave before we could walk off and it was nearly 6pm. The bags did arrive after some waiting and I found there was only one shuttle bus going to the train station. We all were crammed on like sardines. I took everything out of my pockets and put them into my bag as I had visions of last year’s pick pocketing incident. It was good once we could all pile off the bus and into the station. Once in the hostel, I made sure I had my booked room and had to fill out stuff to do with the Corona like saying I had not been to a banned country, or been near someone infected. I needed to do some washing, which took a bit and I did learn what a gastro pub was. It was a replacement for the canteen that was up stairs. I sorted out every place I was staying as I had to cancel and then book somewhere for this Saturday night at the airport, which would be a little cool. The thing was due to the current circumstances, I was able to cancel without a penalty, which was a good thing.

We shall see what the next couple of days brings, but I know I will have to isolate myself for 14 days on my return. It shall be interesting and I have a books or two with games I can play.