New Year's Eve with Katie

Happy New Year, everyone! It's the day after New Year's Day in NZ, which is also a national holiday, which I think is fantastic. We can't just have one day and then go back to work - that's no fun! I have the whole week off work, and we start back on the 9th, but J goes back to work on Wednesday the 3rd, after Monday and Tuesday being the observed holidays. We both had all the days between Christmas and New Year's off, so it's a nice break from the business of daily life.

Our cousin Katie has been traveling the South Island for the past couple weeks, and then came to visit us in Wellington before heading back to the States. It was such fun to see her and show her around, and it just happened that she was here on New Year's Eve, so that was extra special. We don't usually do much for New Year's, but having a guest made it unique, and inspired more celebrating, which was great.

One thing I definitely wanted to share with Katie was Te Papa Tongarewa (the museum), and so we spent a chunk of the day there. We also walked through some of my favourite parts of the Botanic Gardens, and I showed her where I work. Unfortunately, my centre is under major construction and in a state of total disarray, as we're getting a new sand pit (sandbox) installed outside, and the cleaners are doing a very thorough clean of all the floors inside. But still, she saw it and knows exciting developments are happening. We had lunch at a super fun sushi place where all the food goes by on a conveyor belt and you pick off plates of what you want. We were particularly impressed by the raw salmon and tuna, which was melt-in-your-mouth delicious. We then went to a beautiful old cathedral that Katie had heard about (and I hadn't), and which was stunning. I've decided to devote a whole post to it later, so don't worry, pictures are coming.

As we strolled through downtown on our way to the cathedral, we explore the area around The Beehive. It's a fun building itself, but I like the building next door to it even better, with its variegated stone. I just learned, in fact, that The Beehive is just the executive wing of parliament, and does not, as I had previously believed, hold all of parliament between its rounded walls. 

This much more beautiful building is Parliament House, which contains the rest of parliament, including the debating chamber, the Speaker's Office, the visitors' centre, and the committee rooms. If anyone reading this sees Katie, please let her know, because I told her I thought it was the Parliamentary Library, which is actually the building next door, which we thought looked like a church. 

This one. See? Looks like a church, right? We poked around a bit and discovered that it looked like offices and such inside, which made sense, as a church doesn't really belong with parliament, but it didn't occur to me that it was a library, since I thought I knew which one was the library. Clearly, it's dangerous for me to think I know things. 

I also snapped a picture of a Pohutakawa Tree in bloom, because I have been delighting in their red, Christmasy displays for weeks, and I thought you should get a taste. Not the greatest layout, in retrospect, but it's the only time it occurred to me to take a picture, so that's what you get.

In the evening, after going home for a nice dinner that J cooked for us, we headed back downtown to the harbour, where they do a fireworks display at midnight. Actually, they do one at 9:00 for the children who can't stay up until midnight, which is very sweet. It happened right as we got to the waterfront, which was fun.

The Wellington Shake 'Em on Downers were playing right in front of a little bay off the harbour, and people were gathered all around listening. I love them, but Katie and I agreed that it wasn't the right venue for them, because their music is great for dancing, and there wasn't room to dance. But it was still nice. There was another band later, which did covers of popular (almost exclusively American) songs, and they were fun, too.

Katie and I plopped down on a boulder and listened for a while, then walked around for a bit and ended up at a nice outdoor terrace of a bar, where Katie kindly bought me a celebratory glass of wine, and we chatted about all kinds of things until closer to midnight. It was very comfortable and fun, and a great way to wind down 2016.

When we got back to the little bay, there were many times more people than when we'd left, covering the entire circle of the bay (which has a narrow opening onto the harbour). It was neat to see so many people out there together for the show, despite the fact that it was a bit chilly for summer and slightly drizzling. 

Also, notice the cool light displays on the building behind the people. There were many interesting effects, and even bigger ones on the taller buildings on the other side.

Pictures of fireworks are something of a lost cause, but I got a couple to commemorate the event.

The fireworks display won't set any records for inventiveness, but it was beautiful, enjoyable and special for me, as I haven't seen any fireworks in several years. And such fun to see it with Katie!

As I come to the end of this post, I am realizing that I didn't take a single picture of Katie herself while she was here! It's a bit of a pity. But you can trust me that she was here, and we had a great time, and it was wonderful to spend the end of 2016 with her. She flew out early in the morning on the 1st, and so is safely back in Kansas by now. I'm crossing my fingers that NZ made a good enough impression that she'll come back and visit again sometime!