After spending about 3 days in Auckland, I took a 12 hour train ride down to Wellington. It was beautiful--I can really see why they have chosen to film movies here.
Auckland was nice, but very much a city. I'm not so much a city girl, so I had a nice enough time, but felt ready to move on. So I was planning to just stop through Wellington on my way to the South Island and Karamea, where the hostel is at which I'll be working first, but I was so tired I decided to stay an extra night here in Wellington and see a little of the city.
Upon arriving in Wellington, there was no available information in the train terminal, and I wasn't sure where the hostel was. So I went to a kiosk that had a map on it, and hadn't quite gotten my bearings yet when a woman stopped me and offered me her map. She advised me that I should take a bus, and pointed me to the bus terminal. At the bus terminal, I found another helpful person but little helpful information posted, so I decided to try to get my bearings and see if I could walk. Again, I was stopped by a woman who offered to help. She said it wasn't too far and pointed me in the right direction. About 10 minutes later, as I was walking, she pulls up at an intersection I'm at with her husband (or someone) and says "get in the car!" She helped me with my bag and they drove me the rest of the way to my hostel.
I am just floored by how willing people here are to help and how friendly everyone is. It's wonderful! Today I took a cable car up the hill (Wellington is pretty hilly...it reminds me a little of San Francisco,) saw a great view of the city (though it was cloudy,) and then walked down the hill through botanical gardens, which were gorgeous. I went with a girl from the south coast of England who has been traveling for 8 months and still has three to go! She recommended a hostel in Nelson (on the South Island,) and I think I'm going to try to stay there tomorrow night.
I'm going to try to upload some pictures now...
