Things I’m Loving: Where I live – Love ya Wellington!

I’ve been sharing my loves of Wellington with my folks this last week of their stay, from the high windy tops of the hills that this vibrant city nestles in…

Wellington harbour entrance and the Cook Strait from Brooklyn Hill, Wellington

… where children really can experience the feeling of flying like fairies or having a ‘Peter Pan’ moment…

Sophie & Alice on a Wellington hilltop experiencing near flight!

… to the city waterfront delights, with some form of entertainment almost always guaranteed – especially when it’s Summer in the City and the International Arts Festival is about to kick off!

Wellington waterfront on a cracking day

We’ve also been getting our hands down to some serious post-holiday / post-festive clean ups (there’s still a partially decorated Christmas tree in the garage waiting to be dismantled!). Granddad has been a super handy man; fitting in a brand new washing-line to make me feel excited about my washing (it really does smell better dried au natural and Welly sure is blessed with plenty of ‘air’!); and he’s put up some brackets in the garage for Dan’s paddle board – leaving the work-bench free for its rightful purpose – I reckon Sophie and I will have to take up D.I.Y. ;o)

On Monday we planned to take a trip to the recycling centre after one of our clean-ups… which we did do, eventually, but only after an impromptu detour to Sinclair Heads to see if we could spot any NZ fur seals! I didn’t take my decent camera – but here’s a couple from my phone camera – kind of a ‘Where’s Wally’, but replace the ‘Wally’ with ‘seal’…

Where's the seal? Summer at Sinclair Heads, Wellington southcoast

We all felt great for a fix of the wild scenery and fresh sea air (though Grandma was a little nervous about the drive out there on the very rough un-sealed road – sorry!).

Enjoying the scenery at Sinclair Heads, Wellington southcoast

Young Alice, as well as Sophie, loved the ride out there and seeing the seals. We spotted about six and one was very active in a tidal pool, twisting and turning so gracefully. We are so fortunate to live with such amazing natural scenery and wildlife so close to where we live.

Though we sure have had some wild, windy days this week!

Wind turbine

It’s not been the best of summer weather, but we’re not complaining. Thankfully our garden is very sheltered and the girls are always busy doing something (which often involves mess!).

Face painting on Monday evening in the back garden

We ‘ve had some fine spells in between for a bit of fun…

Fun at the lagoon, Wellington waterfront

… and the wonderful museum of Te Papa kept us thorough entertained for hours on Thursday. Grandma and Granddad managed to escape out to the theatre for some raucous laughs watching ‘The Motor Camp‘ at the lovely ‘Circa Theatre‘ and a bite to eat at the vibrant ‘Monsoon Poon‘.

Wellington really has been great fun for all this week and it really is a city to love (it just takes a certain degree of resilience to cope with on one of its gale force days – and gotta appreciate the wind for giving us power –wind farms are go!).

Brooklyn wind turbine

I’m just hoping Wellington International Airport gives Grandma & Granddad a fine send off on Saturday – when they head home to the UK 🙁 Ah, the memories though, we’ve really had an amazing time.

Taking off is always easier than landing (as this video clip of three aborted landings – lucky fourth time round – shows…), but saying goodbye is never easy.

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