Late Nights in Wellington ...

We went out both of the nights that we were in Wellington. We would start out with dinner and then head down to an area close to our hotel called Courtney Street. The area was well known for it's bars and the Wellington nightlife. It definitely provided us with a lot of great New Zealand memories.

Sorry dad, this was as close as I got:

The first night we went to dinner as a group at a restaurant called Lonestar, and no, not like Lonestar in Waterloo where Molly used to work. It was actually really nice and we ate, drank & were merry. Afterwards everyone headed back to the hotel, with the exception of Daniel and I. First we headed to the grocery store to find something for breakfast in the morning. We found lots of interesting things, especially the cereal.

Seriously?:

Rice Bubbles!?

They were really Coco Pebbles:

Strange and strange. Oh, I almost forgot ... the day before we had stopped at McDonalds between Karori West and Learning Media because we had all but 15 minutes for lunch. I got a 'kiwiburger'. How appropriate. It was a hamburger with lettuce, tomato, cheese, ketchup, a cooked egg & beets. Yes, beets. Even more strange.

On to the evening. We got a recommendation and headed to Courtney Street for some exploration. We stopped at a little bar for a drink and ended up meeting three really cool people that we got along with really well. At first they made fun of us for being American, then insulted our political system, and finally came around to accepting us for the evening. It was all in good fun. :)

We stopped at a few places for drinks and then made it to a pool hall. Everyone knows what a shark I am, so I was all about it.

Our new friends: Kat, me, Robert, Rupert & Daniel:

Kat, Robert & I ... they peace in NZ too!! :

It was girls vs. boys ... Rupert found it necessary to attempt a distraction I was that good. haha:

The coolest Kiwi I know:

On our second night in Wellington we went to Courtney Street for dinner at a restaurant called Hippo Thai. It was a thai restaurant, but there weren't any hippos. We drank lots of amazing wine, ate great food, and I learned all about rugby compliments of Neil.

Our dinner crew: Me, Neil, Naoko, Joy, Yumi, Maryann & Daniel:Yumi & Naoko after drinking literally two sips of wine:

Daniel & Maryann drank a little more than two sips: :)
My new friend Neil taught me everything I needed to know about rugby and invited me back to New Zealand in 2011 for the Rugby World Cup. I just might take him up on that.:

After dinner Daniel and I were feeling pretty comfortable in Wellington. We knew where we were, how to get where we wanted to go and we even had three friends. Kazuyo and Kyoko wanted to continue the evening so we took them back to Courtney Street. Kat had told us where she worked and suggested we come in for drinks so we did just that. We took Kazuyo and Kyoko to The Tasting Room for local beers and more wine. We spent the evening laughing and telling stories and having inappropriate language lessons ... shh, don't tell. If Kyoko starts cursing around Alabama (where she lives) it is all Daniel's fault!!

Kazuyo and Kyoko:

Kazuyo went back to the hotel but the rest of us still weren't quite finished, so we headed to the next bar called the Hummingbird. We got a few drinks, chatted with some locals and Daniel taught Kyoko how to salsa dance. No, we were not at a dance club and there wasn't any music, but it was a lot of fun.

Daniel & Kyoko... dancing partners:

We turned in rather late, but our two nights out in Wellington were fantastic. Despite the fact that I think Kyoko was muttering four letter words in English before she fell asleep. :)

much love

-tara-

xx