Alternative Energy in Action!

   Good news - I think I’m getting over my cold! Finally! More good news – I had a really great weekend!

   Friday afternoon, I buckled down and worked on an essay all afternoon. It’s for my Environmental Science class, and it’s not due for a while, but I wanted to just get it over with! I don’t think I’ve ever finished an assignment so early… it feels pretty good!

   Saturday started out pretty lame, but it turned out to be an eventful day. I did some errands in the morning, and ended up stopping at a store called Lush on the way home. It’s a cosmetics store, with lots of soaps and facial scrubs and makeup and cool stuff. They don’t wrap anything – it’s all out in the open, so it smells fantastic in the store. They don’t prepackage to cut down on waste, they don’t test on animals, and they’re ingredients are all natural. It was the coolest place ever! I wish it wasn’t so darn pricey.

   After getting lost in Lush, I finally got out and made it home. I wanted to do something for the rest of the day, seeing as it was barely noontime, but I didn’t know what. I finally decided to go to Brooklyn and see the wind turbine on the top of the hill. Brooklyn is a suburb of Wellington, and it’s on a giant hill.. much bigger than Kelburn!. I found a way to take the bus to Brooklyn, then walk up to the wind turbine on Google Maps, and I was off!

Along my walk. Imagine if this was your porch!!!

   I started walking from the bus stop, and eventually got to the opening of a path. I had been walking gradually up hill for a while, and once I got on the walking trail, it got steeper! What a workout! I didn’t really know what to expect on my walk, and I was very pleasantly surprised. As I kept walking upwards, I could see glimpses of Wellington City. I was so high up, and so far away! I reached some old army bunkers after walking for a bit, and stopped to investigate. Man, am I glad I did! Once I got over the little hill they were on, I got a breathtaking view of Wellington City, Mount Victoria, and the South Coast. There were 4 or 5 octagonal shaped bunkers with little rooms accessed from the center. I couldn’t find much history about them, so who knows if they were ever used or when they were built.

One of the old bunkers.

The view from atop a bunker.
Wellington city is on the left, Mount Victoria is on the right.

The South Coast!

   But, the view was spectacular, and I enjoyed it for a while before continuing my trek. Once I got back onto the walking path, I could see I was in for an exhausting walk. It was so steep! I eventually made it to the wind turbine, after a lot of huffing and puffing and telling myself to keep going! I can see why they put a wind turbine on top of the Brooklyn Hill – it was so windy! I had to try to not get blown over! The turbine was a little noisy when you got close to it, but I didn’t even hear it until I was within a couple hundred metres. There was no fencing or anything around it. You could walk right up and touch the windmill! I stayed up there for a while enjoying the view; it was similar to what I saw at the bunkers.

I love windmill.

Huge!

A very mild section of the "Rollercoaster Track."

   The Brooklyn wind turbine was built in 1993. It was the first turbine to be built in New Zealand. It didn’t need significant maintenance until 2010 – cool right? Wind power is a totally viable energy source, and Wellington has more than enough wind!

Another view of the South Coast from the top of Brooklyn Hill.

Oh, how I love Wellington!

I will never get over the beauty of this place.

   After admiring the turbine for a bit, I got back on the walking path, which I discovered was called the rollercoaster track. Very aptly named. Instead of exiting the path where I entered, I kept walking along it. I felt adventurous! I knew the path would bring me somewhere closer to Wellington City, and it did after a few hours and some more impressive views. I was walking along the Karori Sanctuary fence the whole way, which is about a square mile of protected land that is being reverted to it’s natural, pre-human state. Zealandia is like a park in the sanctuary, but I went there Sunday, so I’ll explain later! Since I was walking along the fence, I knew I would eventually end up at the entrance to Zealandia. There’s a free shuttle from Zealandia to the top of the cable car, about a 10 minute drive. Of course I took advantage of that! I had been walking all day and I was tired! From the top of the cable car, I walked down to Victoria to get some photos without all the students. I realize I didn’t put many photos in when I posted all about university. It was a little strange being there when it was empty – I’m so used to it being crowded and bustling all the time! From university, I walked home and relaxed for the evening. I had to let my feet rest for the next day!

Hunter building. Definitely the prettiest!

Outside the hub, a new multimillion dollar addition.

Inside the hub.
There are usually so many people in here you can hardly hear yourself think!

The overbridge: where all the weirdies hang out during the day.

Kelburn Parade as seen from the bridge.

   There's way more to Victoria than this, but these are the places I see everyday. I'm quickly getting used to how many thousands of people are on this campus every day. It's a huge change, but I like it!