Sitting around Farm Girl’s hospital bed as she mumbled and fumbled her way back into reality after her February eye surgery, talk turned to future plans – holidays in particular. It seemed a good way to direct all her slippery attention in a fun direction and, lets be honest, we love nothing more than fledgling adventures. July was finally decided on as it was far enough post-surgery to receive clearance for air travel and wouldn’t interfere too much with Farm Girl’s academic blueprint (as dictated by the lady herself). The destination: Northland. None of us had ever travelled further north than Albany and that was back in 1999, incidentally pre Farm Girl, to watch the FIFA under 17 World Cup Final at North Harbour Stadium; FYI: Brazil won on penalties. So that was it: Northland locked in for the beginning of July.

Except in the interim the ophthalmology department, it was whispered to us when we inquired, once again fell victim to that special brand of medical civil unrest hospitals are prone to in this day and age and there was no way Farm Girl would be seen before September. There was no way any of us were keen to risk a midair eye emergency. No, it doesn’t matter now many times you say, “I’ll be fine!” Farm Girl. So, a new plan was hatched. We couldn’t head west because we were warned after her surgery that the alpine passes were too high, we’d recently been south, we pretty much are east which left…let’s go to Wellington!

Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city; known for it’s sparkling harbour views, cool eateries, art and culture…and howling gales (it’s local Super Rugby team are the Hurricanes). It’s a place where big business and politics mixes seamlessly with boho chic and we were lucky enough to get an unbelievably good hotel deal right in its funky heart, Cuba Mall. But first we had to get there which, if you do it by road, requires a crossing of Cook Strait which Googles tells me is considered one of the most dangerous and unpredictable waters in the world. Urban myth also has it as one of the most expensive. All I know is that, back in our time as North Islanders, we’d had good crossings and bad crossings and The Bean Counter has not done well on any of them. He was taking the hit for this adventure.

Not this time, though. The crossing, admittedly delayed by a couple of hours due to all kind of shenanigans from weather warnings for the strait to unscheduled landings, smoothly went without a hitch although The Engineers car, a nervous wee thing at the best of times with its warning alarms and emergency braking, wasn’t convinced that snuggling up so close on the vehicle deck was a good idea and needed to be coaxed and cajoled into it’s allotted space.

Our hotel was Andy Warhol themed and glorious!

We spent our four days in the capital checking out the views from atop Mount Victoria

Restoking our national pride with a visit to Weta Workshop – how awesome is this place?!

During the Union Homestead Grand Tour of 2017 we were …hmmm, is DEVASTATED too strong…to discover The Dr Who Experience in Cardiff had shut about a month before we arrived. This time we weren’t disappointed.

We Visited Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand and, in particular, the Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War exhibition which was horrific and astounding and overpowering and so very real; lets just stop all this fighting crap!

We also took a guided tour of Parliament and came away feeling pretty proud of our country’s ability to cobble together a system that works for us and is so incredibly accessible,

took a drive around Miramar Peninsula past Point Halswell Lighthouse and Scorching Bay, to Shelly Bay and the mouth of Wellington Harbour,

wandered the city like tourists

and we ate…a lot…in some incredibly funky places.

We came away feeling our capital is a pretty awesome place; but with a renewed warmth for our place, too, and the Canterbury Plains in particular. Our legs reminded us repeatedly and loudly that we are from the flat lands.