Sunrise, sunset.

July 21

As Monday seemed like it was going to be the only decent day this week, Andrea, Jamie and I decided it would be as good a time as any to make our return trip to Mount Victoria to try and catch a sunset. Monday indeed turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day – warm temperature, light breeze, and a brilliantly blue, sunny sky.

My 9 a.m. class was cancelled, so I woke up early to walk down to Briscoes for a duffel bag (for the trip up to Auckland the first weekend of August), and then I ran over to New World for some groceries. I got serious this time: soup, peanut butter and jelly, bread, salami, snacks, and of course some more kettle chips. I loaded everything into my new duffel bag, and lugged it back up to my flat with just enough time to spare. Then it was off to campus.

I went to class, then met Jamie and Andrea at the library around 4. Looking at the bus timetable, we realized we only had 40 minutes to grab dinner, deposit our bags, and make it down to Courtenay Place to catch the number 20 bus at 4:42.

After shoveling down some food and booking it down to Courtenay Place, we thought we’d missed the bus. We arrived at 4:41, just as two buses were pulling away from a different timetable that said the 20 bus actually arrived at 4:40. Jamie was ready to call it a day and go in for ice cream. I told her Andrea and I would wait for a few more minutes, just in case, and that if the bus came, we were leaving without her.

She went inside, and, naturally, the bus came. I couldn’t be that cruel, however, so I caught her before she put in her order, and we boarded hastily.

The winding drive up Mount Victoria was tense. Not only because we started to feel nauseous, but also because the sun was sinking dangerously low to the horizon, and we were afraid we would be too late.

But as we exited the bus and were told to be back at 5:35, we realized we’d gotten there just in time. We climbed to the lookout, and had a great view of the city, bathed in the orange-gold rays of near-dusk. The harbor was calm and still, planes were taking off and landing at the airport, and we were the only ones up there to take it all in.

Our cameras flashed out immediately, and we began snapping picture after picture. A jogger soon joined us, and after I took a photo of him, he took one of all of us. We spent half an hour or so watching the sun set over the city, as the lights below slowly started to flicker on.

At 5:30, we made our way back to the bus. The driver, apparently with nowhere else to go, had simply waited for us, and seemed startled to see us return. He asked us if we’d seen “the other side,” and when we looked confused, explained how we could walk down the road to a second lookout with a better view of the harbor and Oriental Bay. He told us he’d meet us down there.

We eventually found our way, just as the last pinks and violets were fading from the sky. Wellington really is a sight to see at dusk, especially from that vantage point. The harbor was absolutely breath-taking.

A whistle from our bus driver guided us to where we had to meet him, and I think it’s safe to say we all left feeling satisfied with our trip. But, by that time, we were also glad to get back onto a warm bus. Mount Victoria gets quite chilly after sundown.

When we got back to Courtenay Place, much to Jamie's delight, we finally got that ice cream.