What a Weekend!

   Friday marked my last day of uni, and what better way to celebrate than to go to an improv show? Okay, there are probably plenty of other ways. But I scored a free ticket, so off I went to Playshop Live at the Paramount. It was kind of funny, but I definitely would not have gone if the ticket wasn’t free! It was a nice way to celebrate all my hard work though.

   I feel as though I’ve done most of the things I want to do and seen the things I want to see in Wellington, so I’m starting to struggle with coming up with ways to entertain myself in the city. Saturday, I mostly wandered around the city, because I couldn’t think of anything better to do. I walked along the waterfront to the market at Frank Kitts Park, like I do every Saturday. There are usually the same vendors there every week, but I always see something new. From the market, I went to the City Gallery. I’ve been there before, but they’ve just opened some new art exhibits. I think I’ve seen more art galleries here than I have in my whole life. They’re free and fun so I can’t complain!

I love Wellington's slogan!

   From the gallery I headed to Waitangi Park, just for something to do. It’s a huge park by the water with basketball courts, skate parks, big open fields, walking trails, a little café, a rock climbing wall, and probably much more! It is huge and so much fun to walk around. There are always lots of people there doing so many different things… it’s fun to people watch! I kept wandering around the city a little longer before I finally ended up at the Embassy Theatre. It was so beautiful! It’s easy to see why such a swanky theatre like that premiered the Lord of the Rings movies! Even the bathrooms were amazingly decorated! It was so cool to be in the theatre, and think that so many famous people had been there too.

Ooh la laa Embassy Theatre!

   I walked home after my day out, not having accomplished much. I’m really running out of ideas for new things to do though! I watched the All Blacks v France rugby game that night though, which was so cool! I posted the All Blacks haka a little while ago, and they did that just as they always do. Although I didn’t really understand what was going on (rugby is pretty confusing!), it was fun to watch, and the All Blacks won!!

   Hallie and I had big plans for Sunday. I’d heard about Stonehenge Aotearoa, and I really wanted to go there! Except it’s in Carterton, an hour and a half away from Wellington. I would have to rent a car to get there, as no public transport goes there directly! Hallie and I woke up veeery early, and headed to the train station to take a train to the rental car place. It’s not quite within walking distance, and the train conveniently stops right outside the car company! I’d looked up timetables online, and I knew when the train was leaving, but when we got to the station, the man behind the counter said that train wouldn’t stop at the station we needed! Plans foiled! We ended up taking a cab the short distance, and as we pulled up to the car rental company, we saw the train stopping at the station. Why would that man lie to us?! Oh well, at least we got to the rental company!

   We rented our car and we were off! I drove, since I’ve driven quite a bit here and I’m used to being on the wrong side of the car and road. That still didn’t prepare me for the scary mountain pass we had go drive over to get out of Wellington. I’d driven that road once before – the first time I ever drove in NZ with my family.

TERRIFYING.

   It wasn’t quite as bad this time, but it’s still a little disconcerting to look over and see the road end and a huge cliff, with barely any guardrails.

I drove that!

   We made it to Carterton in one piece though, at about 10. Our Stonehenge tour was scheduled for 11, so we had some time to kill. We went in the visitor centre and read so so much info on how stone circles work and the original stonehenge’s history. We also went out to the structure early to take some photos and explore before our tour. We then watched a video and had a little presentation inside by our tour guide, who told us too much info to remember. We then went outside and he told stories and told us how stone circles work and lots of history. My brain was going crazy with all that he was telling us! I wish I could remember it all.

There it is! Complete with sheep!

Entering the circle via the causeway.

So excited!

   I do remember some things. Stonehenge Aotearoa was built in 2005 for the latitude it’s at in NZ, so it works! The stones across the top, lintels, act as a flat horizon, rather than a jagged mountainous one. The upright pillars and lintels form little windows that you can see the rising and setting points of the sun. There are 6 heel stones outside of the circle, and they’re different heights. Each marks the rising or setting of the sun at the equinoxes and solstices. There’s an obelisk in the centre of the circle, and an analemma as well. The obelisk points to the south celestial pole when standing in the center of the circle, and the analemma uses the shadow from the obelisk to show which constellation the sun is in within the sky (horoscopes!). You enter the circle on a path called the causeway, which lines up with rising sun on the spring equinox. When standing in the center of the circle, your voice echos and all the sounds inside the circle get all funky. The stones reflect sound, and focus it, so it’s thought that ancient people used this sort of technology to do what amplifiers and microphones do today. What a lost art! There are various ceremonies held at Stonehenge Aotearoa, as well as celebrations on equinoxes and solstices. I so wish I could go to one!

Clapping in the centre of the circle. It echoed so much!

I can be a goddess too. 

The obelisk and analemma.

Our fearless leader, Richard!

   That’s some basic info, but there is soo much more. I learned so much that day! We ended up spending more time than we anticipated at Stonehenge, but it was just so darn cool! As we arrived, we noticed an old deserted house atop a hill across the street. As we were leaving, we decided we had to go explore! Inside the Stonehenge shop, there was an explanation of it. It is basically just a deserted house, but it’s called “the ghost house.” Hallie and I hopped the fence and ran up the hill, and it was so beautiful! I can only imagine how grand the house would have been when it wasn’t so degraded. It was also in such a beautiful location! You get panoramic views all around. I can’t imagine what happened to that property and that house. We didn’t have any ghostly encounters though, luckily!

The scary house on the hill!

What happened to this house?!

Not only was there a creepy house, but a creepy shed with no doors.

   We ran back to the car, and then had planned to drive to Martinborough to do some wine tastings. We went to Margrain Winery first, and had the most delicious lunch and wine. We tried to go to another, but it seemed to be closed for a party. At this point we realized we were running a bit late, and we wanted to get to an art museum near Wellington. We kept on driving, and saw lots of pretty scenery and sheep and cows. Typical New Zealand. Well, we didn’t make it to the art museum in time. It would have been closed by the time we got there. So we went shopping instead! There’s a huge outlet mall in Porirua, where the art museum was. It’s 20 minutes outside of Wellington. We shopped for a while but didn’t break the bank (!) then drove back to Wellington. It was getting dark at this time, so we drove up Brooklyn Hill to get a view of the city at night. So pretty! I’m going to miss that view!

This IS the epitome of New Zealand.

   After that, we got gas and drove back to the car rental place. We had been on the go all day, and we were exhausted! We took the train back to Wellington, and walked home. I had such a good day, and I loved Stonehenge!