Monday, May 28, 2012

Mt Victoria Lookout

The weekend was a lets-head-out-and-check-the-suburbs kinds! And the place is breathtakingly beautiful. Can't do justice describing it in words but maybe the pictures (as and when I put them up) will help!


On Saturday, we headed to a place called Mt Victoria Lookout. Its a view point of the city and surroundings from one of the highest points around. The day was a li'l cloudy, the sun playing hide and seek, but the views were awesome!


See for yourself -



That's the Wellington CBD (Central Business District) and a part of the harbour. 




The International airport in the distance, see the runway there? The South Pacific Ocean in the background. 



One of the many aeroplanes that take off every day and the rest of the suburbs along the harbour. 



The Westpac Stadium - New Zealand's premier multi purpose stadium just behind the port (the circular building). 



Another stadium, this one is for cricket - yay! you get to see cricket stadiums here :) 



The greenery is lush, abundant and soothing.




The Byrd Memorial pointing south. From the information board on location - "The tile work on the Byrd Memorial represents Aurora Australis, or the Southern Lights. Auroras are electrical discharges caused by electrons travelling in the solar wind interacting with the earth's magnetic field lines. They are common in the Antarctic but rarely seen this far north." 

So if you fly due south from Byrd Memorial along the axis of the triangular monument you will reach Antarctica! 




Did you know about the Antarctic Treaty? I didn't. The Treaty declares the area south of 60 degrees South as a region devoted to peace and science. There are no territories or borders. 





N had fun as usual, checking the information boards, asking me to read out all the "stories"on them, jumping around on the rocks and being his hyperactive self! 

You can drive down to the lookout in a car or take a bus too. You can also walk up as part of the Southern Walkway.  

Have a fun week ahead!! Happy Monday :) 

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Kia Ora from Wellington!!

Its been so long since I wrote a post on this blog... been busy with life in general and a couple of BIG changes. The latest one resulting in us moving to Wellington, New Zealand! Kia Ora (in the title of this post) means "Hi" in the native Maori language.

Its a temporary re-location for an assignment from S's office. S has been busy at work since day 1 and so N and I have been doing our own exploring around town. Its a beautiful place - Wellington!! It is a very compact area, the Central Business District and so we have been walking around a lot.
And its cold too, about 12 to 14 degrees C during the day, lower at night! The wind drops the temp a couple of degrees down further. But the sights around are beautiful, you get all kinds of landscapes and topography in a small area. We have a harbour, a bay, hills (loads of 'em), bustling downtown streets and cafes - lots of them too.

Here are some pictures from our strolls around - these are mostly from the 50 mm lens, will take some from my other one and put those up too.

The various sights of the city!


One of the many well laid out roads



The city is bright and vibrant! 



Lively at night too.



Starbucks is here...


                                                     But the local favourite is Mojo, in fact someone said "We don't like Starbucks around here!" 



Lots of scooters around...


And the public transport network is awesome! 


Colourful and creative


Of course Indian food is omnipresent and one of the best I have had outside India!


How could Calendar girls be far behind? ;) They are omnipresent too! 



Some great architecture



N's been having fun in the open sunny spaces





More from NZ later on...  Happy Wednesday! 



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