Hobbit Fever In Wellington

Wellington is getting really excited about The Hobbit World Premiere! There's so many things going on and the city has re-named itself "Middle of Middle Earth". The Embassy where the world premiere will be has a huge hobbit house and Gandalf statue outside along with a countdown to the day.  

There was also a Hobbit Market, which had stalls from people who worked on the film, it was really cool but really expensive! So I didn't buy anything there!

Showing how the costume and make up was done

People making a huge dragon from clay

The Hobbit Market

Outside the Embassy 

Wellington - "The Middle of Middle Earth"

Countdown to the day!

Outside the Embassy

Me at the Hobbit Market with friends Anik and Fenty.

Moved To A New Place

Finally moved out of my old room to a new one - not in a long corridor with 30 people! Moved to a lovely apartment (in the same hall of residence) with my Indonesian friend Fenty. It's really huge, has its own kitchen, living room, bathroom and most importantly - a TV! My bedroom is really great, has a big bed too, love it. I can cook all I want, when I want and its pretty quiet, and luckily I'm with a friendly people - unlike before. 

View from my room window

Living room with lovely sofa!

TV! It's sooo big!

The kitchen

Solar Eclipse!

This was by far the best thing today! There was an almost total eclipse of the sun! I walked up to the Carter Observatory and bought a pair of solar viewing glasses to watch. It was so great! The moon moved across the sun and the sun just became a slim crescent in the sky. There were so many people watching it was brilliant. 

You could really feel how cold it got when the moon

 covered the sun. A lady had a colander and when the sun went through the holes in it, it cast lots of crescent shapes - you really could see the moon blocking the sun! (I didn't get good pictures of the eclipse. :( ) Australia got to see a full eclipse which was so cool looking. 

I can't believe I got to see one - I'm so happy!

Royal Visit In Wellington

Lots of people in the building watching too

Prince Charles and Camilla are visiting New Zealand and today they were in Wellington! It was sunny so I decided to go down to the waterfront and have a look. I got there sort of early so I just sat down and had some lunch while I waited there weren't many people then. More people started to come and stewards started to put up the ropes - It just so happened they put it up right beside where I was sitting, so I was right up close to where they were going to walk.

The waterfront was really buzzing, there were so many people (so cute, so many men and women bringing their elderly parents who were excited to see the Royals), people were preforming a dance routine and there were people dressed up. One group of people were dressed fancy and had big signs saying "We love you" and "Happy Birthday Prince Charles" (It was his birthday), they also kept singing and chanting. They did keep calling Camilla "heavenly mother"though which was a little strange...  There were also loads of people watching from all the apartments and lots of children with flags and flowers.

When they arrived they had the little flag on the car and everything! the walked around watched the routine and then they came along all the people shaking hands - they came along my side! Charles chatted to the lady in front of me and joked about how everyone in New Zealand seemed to have their birthday today. I shook Camilla's hand, I didn't really mean too and I wasn't expecting too, it just happened!

 As they continued to walk along I decided to head back, as I walked down the other side of the waterfront I saw the police boat in the harbour and the tugs all decorated with flags. But there were thousands of people around there as well! I never expected so many people!

This wasn't even half of the route!

Tugs decorated in the harbour

Not too sure what these guys were up to they had a teddy bear on their sign - but they seemed to be having a good time! : )

..also I was on TV in the news... so embaressed

More Results!

I got another result for one of my courses - For my Physical Geography Field Processes &Techniques I got an A- overall! :D!
So happy that makes two A- s so far! : )

Sad Developments On Plans For The Return Trip

Well yesterday I saw on the news that Air New Zealand were no longer going to fly from Hong Kong To London from March. Since I have already booked my return flight this caused me a bit of annoyance as they were going to reschedule my flight with Cathy Pacific, but it wasn't too bad as Air New Zealand were still flying from Auckland to Hong Kong. But...

Today I rang to move my return date (because it was a 12 month ticket I had to do this). All I wanted to do was change the date. I spent ages wasting my life away on the hold line. The staff were very friendly and helpful (unlike the woman in the London office I rang before!!!!) . The guy moved my date, I got to fly back 2 days early so I suppose that's good. But, he said that flights on that date were really heavily booked that the difference between flight prices I would have to pay were really high, and he said I could've flown by LA or somewhere else in Asia. LA is far too much hassle though...

This is where I got really disappointed - I have been hoping to get a stop over and visit Hong Kong for a few days on the way back from New Zealand. That was always part of my plan, one of the places I most wanted to see! Now I'm really disappointed and angry that I can't do this any more because Air New Zealand have changed their business plans...

Now the plan is... Wellington to Auckland. Auckland-SHANGHAI, Shanghai- London. Flying with Virgin Atlantic from Shanghai - London, at least its a decent airline they transferred me too... But I don't want to go to China!!!! Argh... so much Air New Zealand right now!

P.S. THEY CHARGED ME $220 FOR THE PRIVILEGE!

Well I'm happy I'm now travelling with Mr Branson's airline.

EXAMS ARE FINISHED!

Geography exam today (on a different campus!)  Trimester one is over! IT'S SUMMER TIME! :D
I now have 4 months off! I'm going to Australia and have plans for going around New Zealand!

Finals Start Tomorrow...

Have Statisics paper tomorrow .... and then Geography in 3 days...
This is how I curently feel:

Results Are Coming In!

First results of my first term at VUW in New Zealand. Antarctica course -I came 4th in the class in the final module test 90.5%! :D 
And got an A- in the module overall! :D I am so happy! I loved that module so much! 

Went To See Some RUGBY!

As classes have finished and its just the exams to go for the rest of this year I thought I should do something fun after finishing classes and before getting stuck into the revision! So I went to see some rugby over the Labour weekend! You really can't avoid rugby in New Zealand - so I now have ticked off one things I wanted to do while here! :D

Luckily it was a big game! Semifinal Wellington Lions vs Auckland in Westpac Stadium. It was a pretty last minute plan but I was really excited to go! Went along to the rugby with Ivone :) We walked down from campus, past Parliament and along the elevated pavement beside the harbour to the stadium. And as per usual in Wellington - IT WAS REALLY, REALLY WINDY!

The entrance to the Stadium was pretty cool! Maori gods and what looked like a volcano! :) When we went in there were Maori fans playing drums - it was a great atmosphere! It was really cold though so I got a lovely black and yellow Wellington Lions Scarf to keep me warm! :) We also put our heads through the big rugby picture - looks like we'd make good rugby players  :P

Westpac Stadium - Wellington

RANDOM SCOTTISH PEOPLE WITH THEIR FLAG!

There were a lot of people but I was a little surprised that the Stadium wasn't even half full... well the weather was pretty bad, so maybe people were wise and stayed at home to watch the game! The team came out with their giant lion mascot and fireworks and fireballs! It was crazy! :D There wasn't the national anthem or anything... which was kind of good the two of use would've had to stand there really awkwardly not knowing the words!

We had really great seats with a brilliant view of the try line!
Auckland got 3 points first but Wellington soon got level and then Wellington got a great try! Things were looking pretty good but Auckland kept clawing their way back, things were pretty tight at half time. Things were also pretty freezing at half time! So, Ivone and I went back inside to escape the windy Wellington weather for a little while! We also sort of missed the first few minutes of the second half and Wellington's try and conversion because were were in a queue for chips! When we got back to our seats, Wellington had a great lead but Auckland came from nowhere with several tries! Wellington unfortunately lost... and its Canterbury vs Auckland in the final.

But it was $22 well spent! Had a really great time! :)