All is Well….ington

Well, it was raining all morning as I packed up to leave Queenstown. I lucked out with the weather over the last week. If I had arrived today, I would have been a bit disappointed. Right before I left, I saw a rainbow over the hotel (insert song here...).



Figured it was a good sign. Then, as I was about to roll my luggage out to the shuttle, the rain stopped for a minute…long enough for me to get my raggedy bag into the shuttle without getting it wet (and then I put in my luggage…GOOD NIGHT! I’ll be here all week long! Tip the waiters, try the veal!).

The flight to Wellington was fine and went quick (another flight where I didn’t have to go through airport security…always a pleasure). I got to the hotel and checked into my room. This particular hotel has one wing for backpackers (dorms with bunks) and another wing with regular rooms at a discounted price. So, I took the regular room and it’s pretty nice. The building is old and there is a lot of character around with the crown mouldings and windows. The bathroom door in the room has a frosted glass window with “Bathroom” in old style writing.



When I got to the hotel, I was the first to be dropped off and, initially, thought perhaps I was staying out in the boonies. But, I headed down the street looking for an internet café and found quite the opposite. One block away, I turned down the street recommended by the hotel and it turned out to be one of the central streets with all of the bars, restaurants and other interesting sights.



So, I’m pretty centrally located and around enough things to see and do that I shouldn’t have to do more than put on my walkin’ shoes, which is fine with me. When I walked around tonight, I saw two different Burger Kings...one with a 50's theme on the inside and another, a couple blocks down, that was in an old bank building. Certainly a while different look/feel than our regular ones in the states, huh?





I also found the ONE gay bar in Wellington…



It’s a really nice, upper-class looking bar…very elegant and, if someone hadn’t told me it was a gay bar, I would never have known. The guys that run it (Scott and Mal, hence the sign) were really great and welcoming (one gave me some aspirin, cause my head felt like it was gonna bust open). I hung out there for a little while until one of their friends offered to take me for a quick drive around the city (he had to leave early, since he had to work in the morning), which was nice. I now have a better idea of how to get around the city (there is also a cool city view up into the hills, which I’ll need to see again in the daytime for photo opps).

He dropped me off at my hotel and I wandered back out to the busy area to find something to eat. When I saw this place….



I just had to try it.

You know, “I” make a pretty good cheeseburger…and it’s very affordable.

OH…I’m sitting here alone in the backpacker lounge and the TV station just started playing the original “Bionic Woman”.

Enjoyable.