Saturday I decided I needed to reconnect with Wellington. For months now I’ve had very little contact with my beloved city; spending days hidden in an office on the hill, rushing home for food and sleep, occasionally passing through town for this or that specific purpose. Its not the best way to interact with Wellington, a city that rewards more considered immersion.
So I slung my bag on my back and strode off into the town. It was a gorgeous day, which was a bonus, and I couldn’t help smiling as I wandered about. So many small treats in this city, like the fascinating old houses throughout Newtown, and the way I can short-cut through the lovely (and semi-famous) Basin Reserve cricket ground, and the way the town belt tracks green alongside me all the way from Newtown to the waterfront.
I stopped off in the Spacething zine shop, chatted briefly to the lively crew there who were all enthusiasticly talking about bands they saw or will see or belong to. I diverted into Te Papa to see the art connected to the World Environment Day event Welly hosted a few weeks back, and liked most of it and was absolutely staggered by one piece by a Venezualan photographer. I trooped along the waterfront and curled around lower cuba, and there were plenty of people enjoying coffee or glasses of wine. I even treated myself to a chai latte and feijoa muffin at the library cafe, scribbling in my notebook and watching people pass by.
Basically I walked all over the city for about four hours, and then I walked back home. It was great. I think I needed to remind myself what it all was like.
(I walked back in a few hours later to go and see Incredible Hulk. Surprised myself by really enjoying it. Good wee film, seriously.)
(Also, my beloved Cal gave me the new edition of D&D as a gift. Thank you beloved Cal!)
6 thoughts on “Walking Around Wellington”
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Way to go Cal! 🙂
Wellington is a city designed for pedestrians… all the walkways and alternative routes and wee glimpses of the sea… when I lived in Newtown I often used to walk home round the bays from Oriental bay and cut back through from Hataitai. One windy moonlit night there was a lone bagpiper on a craggy outcrop and I stopped to listen for ages. It was a perfect moment!
I need to re-connect with that city….
Why do you have to make me homesick aye?!
We’ve been doing a bunch of walking too. Wellington is a great place for walking and the greater wellington region has *heaps* of bush walks. There’s a bunch on the WCC page I think.
<3
Thats what Welly does best. surprises ya. Also not many capital cities can boast that you can walk round them in an hour or two. Try that in london and you get mugged or lost.
Missing the land of the long white cloud right now. And bush walks and bike tracks.