Arrived in Wellington

The past week was a bit of a whirlwind, that picked me up and dropped me off in windy Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. I think it has finally hit me that I am in New Zealand and I am getting excited to rediscover all those little things about this country that I love- the friendly Kiwis and their cheerful spirit, the deliciously sweet carrots, Hubbard's muesli, the vast open green pastures and hills, the simplicity and modesty that is ingrained in this country...

I left 95 degF in Palo Alto and arrived in Wellington where it was 42 degF this morning. I went through customs in Auckland and was reminded of one reason this country is so pristine- the strict biosecurity policies. I remembered having to wait 45 minutes for the NZ inspectors to scrub my hiking boots 3 years ago when I came here so I scrubbed my hiking boots before I left to make sure they at least looked clean. They passed inspection with merely a quick glance. I forgot about my tent, however. They have to run lab tests on all used tents, which meant I had to unpack my entire pack to dig my tent out, then wait for about 20 minutes for them to test it. There didn't seem to be any problems so I guess the soil in the Sierra and Big Sur (the two last places I camped) didn't contain anything they were worried about. I had to spend about 5-10 minutes repacking my pack before checking my luggage in again and connecting to my flight to Wellington.

On the flight to Wellington, the pilot began warning us about the weather in Wellington- raining, 42deg F, gusts up to 100 km/hr. Then he said that there was a chance we wouldn't successfully land on the first approach due to the strong winds, but reassured us that we had enough fuel to make a second approach if needed, but that we would have to figure something else out if we didn't succeed on that one. I think I recall him saying, "We're keen on landing in Wellington, as I'm sure you are too, so we're going to try for it." I laughed. The approach was a bit bouncy but we made it on the first try. An American guy on the plane began to clap, but quickly stopped as no one else joined in. I gathered my bags and headed out of the airport and it began to hail..... Hello winter. Goodbye summer.