Wellington has been our home for the past month. We’ll post a special Mt. Vic blogpost soon (31 days hiking to the top), but for now, we want to talk about the small big town, Wellington. It’s small. The population for New Zealand’s capitol is about 449,000 people. It has a small town vibe for it being a city. Considering we traveled around the world to get here, we’ve run in to a couple of people in Wellington. Will decided to rent a desk in a tech company downtown. Heather, the woman he rented the desk from, shouted hello as we passed her several times throughout the city. Then there was New Years. We had ventured to the harbor to watch fireworks (we can now say we rang in the New Year first) and ran into John, a guy Will used to work with in Denver. He ended up showing us a Japanese beer bar where we caught up with him over drinks. Then, a girl Will did study abroad with in college ended up renting a desk at the same office where Will did. Small world.
Besides being a small, big city, Wellington is known for its culture and coffee (also it’s beer, but I’m pleading the fifth on that one). Cuba St. downtown is full of street artists, shopping, and sculptures. We passed by a jazz quartet jamming, then strolled further down to see two little girls playing Three Blind Mice into recorders. You never know what you’re going to find there. Not to mention there are outdoor stores similar to REI. We found some good deals there, but be forewarned, the prices change daily. Seriously. The workers there actually told us that they change the prices and sales daily, so keep an eye out and be patient, but not too patient.
Some of the sites downtown.
A street performer about to perform.
This diving platform sits right next to Te Papa, the museum in town. The museum is free and a great way to spend the day. Watching people jump off the diving platform is pretty entertaining too. This day, it was too cold to jump, but we definitely saw some people jump before we left Wellington. 
A lot of bars in Wellington offer outdoor seating. This bar offered bean bag seating in its lawn. 
One of the signs marking Cuba St. Showcasing the fun culture of Wellington.
The bucket fountain is a local attraction on Cuba St. Someone recently added the cone to the top. The buckets fill with water and empty into each other, often splashing unsuspecting people passing by. Great etnertainment!
More of the local art. Above, some sculptures and wall art on a building. Below, the shark wall across from Te Papa museum and the grocery store, New World, we frequented regularly.
In addition to the sculptures and street performers, Wellington also has a Writer’s Walk. Along the pier, they have sculptures with quotes that are tributes to Wellington. To find out more, go here: Wellington Writer’s Walk.
The last week of our time in Wellington, we decided to try out the walk. We only found about fifteen, but there are 23 out there. Many are along the waterfront, on benches, on bridges, under bridges, by the diving pier….it’s a hide and go seek for sculptures.
On the way back, we crossed over this bridge where people have started placing locks. It’s not Paris, it’s Wellington.
This is near where we rented kayaks for a bit. There’s a lot of restaurants and things to see on the harbor.
One of the sculptures on the harbor. We saw a woman climb his back and sit on his shoulders for a picture. 
Wellington is a special place. We feel lucky to have called it home for the past month. We’ll try and make a post about Mt. Vic (which stole a piece of our hearts). But coming soon will definitely be a post about our venture to the South Island.
