An unexpectedly long walk.

Sunday, September 14

Sunday, following an equally pleasant Saturday, turned out to be blue-skied and mild. Spring, it seems, has reached Wellington at last! Jamie and I decided that such a nice day could not be wasted, and so met up in town not long after 1 p.m.

Our first stop was the crepe stand on Dixon (or is it Manners? I can never remember), as we’d passed by it on Wednesday and had been drawn to the delicious smell wafting out of it. We each settled on a chocolate and banana crepe, and were not disappointed. My mouth is watering right now just remembering it… yum.

We strolled down Courtenay Place, savoring our sugary lunch and chatting about whatever came to mind. Eventually, we found ourselves heading for the waterfront.

Oriental Bay was crowded on that lovely Sunday afternoon. Children grasped dripping ice cream cones in their little hands; a group of teens played an impromptu game of rugby in the sand; couples strolled hand-in-hand along the walkways; a few people waded ankle-deep in the bay; and everywhere you looked someone was walking a dog. The afternoon sun reflected off the rippling water of the bay, making it look as though a million diamonds were floating just beneath the surface. A few sailboats bobbed along further away from shore, their white sails taut in the sturdy breeze.

Jamie and I sat on the rock wall the overlooked to bay and talked about relationships. Everything from broken engagements to the perfect number of bridesmaids to have in a wedding. She got distracted by the group playing rugby, however, and eventually we decided to keep walking.

I suggested walking out to Point Jerningham, which is the furthest point of land that juts out into Oriental Bay. We walked and talked, and very soon had walked to the point and beyond. Since we’d never walked that way before, we decided to just keep going. It was a gorgeous afternoon, after all, and neither of us had anything better to do.

We walked along the curving coastline, the number of people thinning as we got further away from Oriental Bay. By the time we’d made our way through Balaena and Kio bays, we found ourselves only passing the occasional runner or cyclist.


We stopped along the way to walk along a stretch of beach peppered with thousands of purple shells, and to climb down to a collection of rust-colored rocks that stuck out into the bay. As we sat there, listening to the waves lapping the rock under our feet and watching a lone sailboat gliding across the blue-green water, I found it to be the most beautiful, peaceful place. Sometimes I still can’t believe that I’m here.

Continuing on past Greta Point and to Hataitai Beach, we found ourselves in a bay surrounded by steep-faced hills with expensive looking houses perched here and there. Many of them had their own personal cable cars to transport residents from the street to the front porch. I want my own personal cable car when I grow up.


We walked through a small park (Cog Park, I want to say, but I don’t really remember) and stopped to pose on some wooden chair-benches near the water’s edge. But that point, our feet were starting to hurt from all the walking.

Making our way through the boat harbor, we ended up in Evan’s Bay Marina, on the edge of Kilbirnie near the airport. I don’t think either one of us realized just how far we had walked until then. That’s something like 10 kilometers, at least, and in less than two hours!

Nursing very sore feet by that point, we asked a random guy directions to the nearest bus stop. We really didn’t like the idea of walking all the way back into town. He pointed us in the direction of Kilbirnie Park and Shops. We passed a cool sculpture along the way – a Zephyrometer. It’s a wind needle, basically, and actually does reflect the strength and direction of the wind. Way to go NZ with functionable art work!

We found the bus stop we needed in the Kilbirnie Shops area, but decided to stop at KFC for dinner first. Then it was back into the city. Jamie got picked up by Greg at Courtenay Place, and I made my way back to the Cube (very slowly, I might add, thanks to my sore feet).

That evening, around 9:30, I experienced my first NZ earthquake! It shook the whole building, and probably felt a lot worse than it actually was due to me being up on the seventh floor. I know NZ has little earthquakes nearly every day, but this was the first one that I’ve actually felt. Ash and Dani both freaked out as our flat shook and swayed a bit. But I just thought it was kind of cool.

I went online to look it up later, and found out it was a 5.2 on the Richter Scale, and happened more than 100 kilometers north of Wellington. Cool stuff. Though, I’ll be perfectly content if that’s the first, last, and worst earthquake I ever experience.