Final few weeks in Wellington

The last couple of weeks have been action packed as I’ve tried to fit in as much as possible before I finish my time in Wellington.

After the excitement of the Sevens, a quiet next weekend would have made a lot of sense. A group of us decided to meet up and watch a fireworks display for the end of Chinese New Year and go for a karaoke session. I never have a desperate desire for karaoke, but was happy to go with the flow. The venue was a booth in the upstairs of a Korean restaurant that felt a lot like someone’s sitting room. Safely out of the public gave and after quite a few beers it was a great laugh. We carried on to a few bars afterwards and I didn’t make it home until five am. Sunday was spent moving very slowly and enjoying a bit of all too rare sunshine on the beach.

The next weekend was another busy one. After work on Friday evening we went to watch the first Twenty20 game in the South Africa tour of New Zealand. It was a close game with the Black Caps (NZ’s team) winning in the last over. On Saturday the centre of town was turned over to a music festival called Homegrown, which showcases Kiwi bands of all different genres. It was a fantastic afternoon and evening soaking up the sunshine and the music. After a year here I’d heard of quite a few of the bands, so it was great to set to see them live.

In between all of this we were searching for a new flatmate to take over my room and I was selling off the bulky things I’d bought on Trademe, the local ebay. In a reversal of the process I went through to find a flat last year, we spent several weekends interviewing prospective flatties. It all got a bit disheartening when we had a procession of people who couldn’t read the add (‘no students’ apparently wasn’t clear enough), couldn’t string a sentence together or didn’t know when to stop talking! Eventually we found a laid back Scottish guide called Alisdair who’s now settling in to what was my room.

I was also wrapping things up at work, trying to tie up at least some of the loose ends on things I’d been working on and hand things over. A big new project has started up in the last few months and so rather than gradually winding down, I found myself rushing around with urgent meetings and briefings. It’s strange to look back on a whole year of working in a role that was both similar and different to what I was used to back in England.

During my final week I had something on almost every evening. Not long after I arrived, I was told about how John, who was here on secondment the year before me, had jumped into the harbour with a few other people shortly before he left. Not to be outdone, I was keen to do the same and on Tuesday evening got the chance.

Getting ready to jump

Here goes nothing

This one didn't end quite so well!

On Wednesday evening we went to watch Back Benchers being filmed. Then on Thursday a whole group of us went along with Helen to see what the Zumba class she has been raving about was really like, it was much more exercise than I expected.

My final weekend came round all too soon. Friday was my last day at work and so we had some farewell drinks at the end of the day. I’ve been immensely lucky to have landed in such a friendly and supportive team (and I’m not just writing that because some of them may read this post!). It made a huge difference, particularly when I first arrived, to enjoy going in to work and getting to know my colleagues. My manager put together the most incredible leaving present, an apple photobook with all the pictures off this blog along with others from trips and nights out through the whole year. It’s going to be a treasured memento of my year out here.

Saturday was mostly spent sorting through all the stuff I’ve accumulated and trying to pack my bags for travelling. In the evening, Harry and I went to see Hugo, which is great, and grabbed some dinner. Then it was back to more packing.

All of this needs to fit into two 23kg suitcases (except the furniture)

This morning (Sunday) I was entered into the Round the Bays Half Marathon. I was running with Carina (of cupcake and previous half marathon fame) and the goal was to help her get her first sub-2 hour time. We had good conditions, without too much wind and ran a great pace finishing in about 1:56 (the results are published in the paper tomorrow so they haven't yet loaded them online...grr). Angela and a couple of friends all ran the seven km course and so we got to meet up at the finish line. I would have loved to spend the afternoon relaxing and having a few well earned beers with everyone, but had to dash off to load my car up and make a start on my trip.