...no, not really, but it was one of those days where everything just seemed to work out.
I visited the Botanical Gardens via the Cable Car, which was actually quite cool and had been in place since the early 1900s when Wellington started growing as a city and they started putting peoples' homes up in the hills away from the city commercial center. The ride was pretty brief (about 10 minutes), but led to a nice view of the city. From there you can walk back through the winding tracks of the Botanical Gardens to the city center in about 30 to 40 minutes. I walked over to the Carter Observatory with hopes of seeing the planetarium show at 1:30 p.m.; however, today there would be no show til 3 p.m. It was a bit of a bummer, but the lady there sought out extra reading material for me that I could take to read while out in the gardens since I had time to walk around prior. I really enjoyed the herb garden, where they mentioned specific ailments the different herbs would help. I then picnicked outside with a newspaper for lunch, before heading back up for the show. I had wanted to be an astronaut for most of my youth, and so it was really cool to see the planetarium show, but also a little sad. Though, I just looked up the profiles of NASA's 2009 astronaut class, and a bunch of the people are in their late 30s and/or 40s, and so all is not yet lost! Anyway, I spent most of tonight researching atmospheric science/geoscience since the Te Papa museum yesterday and this afternoon's observatory have really got me going. The coolest thing about the planetarium was that the entire show was based on the New Zealand night sky, and the southern hemisphere sky. It's interesting because when I look up at the sky here, we don't see the Big Dipper, we look right into the Milky Way, we see Orion's Belt upside down, and the most important sign is the Southern Cross, or Crux, which you can find by locating the two brightest stars in the sky, and drawing a line from them to the left. To find south, you take the top of the cross, and go upward to the next brightest star, and the halfway point between the two, taken down to the horizon, points due south. Awesome, isn't it?
Needless to say, I was at the observatory for a while. James Cooke's telescope was there, among a lot of other cool exhibits. There was also a new planetarium show that would arrive in a week, which I was sad I'd miss. Well...as it turned out there was a "family and friends" special event tonight that included a preview of the show, as well as a chance to use the Cooke telescope (it had not been operational during the day). I was asked if I wanted to stay -- of course, I responded! Well, apparently there was also a videographer present filming the entire thing for a New Zealand tourism informational spot. And, as I was the only real newbie there, the info spot ended up being a lot of filming of me, including sound bytes, and random footage of me watching things, looking at things, and walking about. Because I was a good sport (though initially very hesitant -- not a fan of random videos), they gave me free ice cream (hokey pokey! -- NZ vanilla-cream-esque with caramel bits, yum), a glass of red and white NZ wine, and a bag with info on the nautical night sky and the southern sky. Pretty awesome. Apparently the video will be posted on YouTube, the observatory website, possibly played on tour groups coming in via cruise ships, and possibly linked to Frommer's in some manner. I'm a bit worried. After the last impromptu set of questions I answered on camera, people came by to exclaim about "how professional" I had been. I was relieved they thought so, especially since I was pretty bummed up in my travel clothes, and had not showered today. Some lady explained to her young daughter that I was from LA, which is where all the movie stars are, so that's what helped me be great on camera. I'm pretty sure she was joking...maybe...Anyway, all in all it was an awesome experience. I walked back out to go back to the hostel to make dinner and a kind woman who works there offered me a ride off one of the side streets.
When I walked back into the hostel a couple of people were making dinner and invited me to join them. Nabila, a French-Algerian had made crepes from scratch. We had savory ones, and then sweet ones with nutella, strawberry and banana for dessert. In addition, we had ice cream, chocolate cake, and cheesecake. It was decadent...and delicious.
The next few days should be pretty awesome. I'm hoping to check out the rock climbing gym tomorrow, and will also be seeing a local play. Friday night I have tickets to "Apollo 13" -- an interactive performance in which the audience plays "Mission Control." I got the second to last available seat for that one (and a backpacker price). Saturday I head on the Interislander Ferry to Picton, on the South Island, and will get picked up by my hostel at the dock. I'm already prebooked to go on a 1/2 day winery tour of Marlborough Sounds, which is quite famous for its wines. Then the following day it's off to Nelson and the nearby Abel Tasman National Park for some hiking and outdoor activities.
There is so much going on in Wellington, which is known for being very artsy and the culture capital of the country. My hostel mates were overwhelmed after I told them it was not only the Indian film festival week, but Cuban culture week here. A couple doors down were free salsa lessons. "How do you know about everything going on?" they asked. Magique.
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