experience – Joe Bloggs

I arrived in wellington on Monday afternoon.

Tuesday morning I had a lie in and then headed out to explore Wellington, I took an electric scooter to the bottom of Mount Victoria and then climbed to the summit, it only took around 30 minutes and the views from both the walk upwards and the top overlooking Wellington CBD and the harbour were to say the least, pretty amazing.

You get a pretty good 360 degree view from the top and from there I saw a beach that didn’t look too far away, as it was sunny and still pretty early in the day I decided I would wander down the other side of the mountain, unsure of where exactly I was going but on an adventure none the less. I managed to find my way to the bottom of the mount and through a residential area, around an hour or so later I arrived at the beach. In front of me lay Lyall Bay a beautiful beach with glistening blue water, the beach is right next to the airport but still peaceful and relaxing. plenty of people surfing and swimming in the sea.

I then took a scooter back around the mount along the waterside and returned to the city centre. I walked through town and then grabbed something to eat for lunch and started to walk up towards the botanical gardens, it took me a little over 20 minutes to walk to the top, but when I reached the top I was exhausted and decided that I would leave walking around the gardens to another day and possibly take the cable car up next time.

I returned to the hostel and then later met up with a friend and went for a short walk along the waterside and then to a bar on Cuba Street, spent some time drinking and playing pool, met some locals and then sat down to eat. When the waiter had brought out our food and we had started eating another waiter then brought out the same plates of food to us, we hadn’t realised that it was a 2 for 1 deal so we both paid $21 for two plates of pork ribs with chips and coleslaw. I obviously didn’t eat it all and shared it to some others in the bar but christ thats a pretty good deal. Also the jugs of beer only cost $10 so you can’t go wrong there. I returned home at around 11pm and went straight to bed.

I awoke at around 1:45am when an Irish guy stumbled into the dorm room pissed out of his head, literally just slurring his words and being loud as ever, he climbed up to the top of his bunk and pretty much descended into sleep straight away. Anyway, around 1-2 hours later I was awoken again by his mate who had woken up beneath him, I then heard the sound of running water, I looked down and saw liquid pouring out of the mattress above and down onto this guy below, the guy above had just pissed himself in his sleep and the urine was sinking through his mattress down and splashing the guy beneath him, I was about half asleep at this point but couldn’t help but laugh. I mean in all honesty it was fucking disgusting, who needs to get that drunk. The guy beneath him was his travel mate so I think perhaps he was more understanding as he didn’t wake the guy up and say anything, although if you’ve pissed yourself and your still asleep chances are you won’t be waking up. I think his mate then just decided to just have a shower and sort out his bedding.

I’ve always detested being on the top bunk, but now I hope that I’m always on the top to save myself from this utter nightmare. I don’t even know what my reaction would be if this ever happened to me. Im unsure if the guy even knows if it happened, I’m sure his mate will inform him though. There was only one girl in the room and I’m pretty sure she moved rooms this morning, I do not blame her.

I have 2 weeks here in wellington, I’m unsure whether to get a job and stay longer or to just relax and then head to the South Island.

“Spontaneity is the best kind of adventure”

I arrived in Hong Kong at around 7am on Monday morning. I had a 10-hour stopover before my next flight later that day at 5pm. I had a decision to make, one I had been pondering the whole flight, do I or do I not go into Hong Kong.

I chose to go into Hong Kong at the last minute, obviously. I wanted to see what it was like, and this being the furthest from the UK I had ever been (so far), it’s an experience I didn’t want to pass up. I didn’t plan on what I would do there or look at any maps prior, I went through customs and continued to the exit, bought some $HKD and a train ticket and left the airport.

The train took around 25 minutes, I arrived in Hong Kong, It was warm, and I mean very warm. It was 32 degrees and very humid, not the kind of weather an English man expects. I had no clue where to go. Expecting coldish weather on my arrival to Auckland I hadn’t any summery clothes, so black Jeans it was!

So… back to Hong Kong, I began to walk around Hong Kong, my clothes already beginning to stick to me. I was walking in some sort of direction, no clue where I was going, no access to the Internet at this point so that was no help from Google maps. I had a look around the piers and some shops until I found a nice air-conditioned mall, no shops inside were open due to it being so early in the morning I presume, but it was cool and I was able to relax. After 2-3 hours of exploring and sightseeing the heat had totally overwhelmed me so I decided to return to the airport.

On my arrival at the airport I booked a shower and relaxed until my final flight to Auckland.

I obviously didn’t see all of Hong Kong as I wasn’t prepared for the heat and didn’t have heaps of time to do anything or go further inland but I would like to go back if my travels take me back through there and perhaps stay a few days.

Anyone who does have a stopover in Hong Kong, Disneyland is not far from the airport, I really missed out there!

“You can leave Hong Kong, but it will never leave you.”
Nury Vittachi, Hong Kong: The City of Dreams

Tag: experience

Views and too much booze!

Going in blind