Observations | Month One

Photo is not from New Zealand

I readily admit that my perception is probably skewed because: a.) I live in the middle of the city, b.) I have relocated from a much larger city, c.) it is the beginning of winter, and, d.) I’ve only been here one month. Still, these are things I notice about Wellington…

1.) If you are a woman heading to work here you are wearing black tights / leggings and black half boots. Everyone might be a stretch, but 90% seems about right. Wear them as pants, under a skirt of dress… they are everywhere.

2.) Young children are really rare. In the month I’ve been here I don’t think I’ve seen more than 10 children in a pram, more than 50 children total.

3.) Dogs are even rarer than children. I’ve never seen a cat.

4.) Negative signs. There are street signs, signs for businesses, informational signs… There are not signs with “WARNING” or “DO NOT DO XXXX” or even “NO” plastered everywhere.  The only exception would be “No Smoking Signs” but even then you are just as likely to see a sign saying “Smoking Area”. Related: There are THANKFULLY no signs for the terminally stupid… “No jumping from the bridge”, “don’t  drink toilet water”, etc. 

5.) Trucks. I’ve yet to see my first semi-tractor-trailer. There are a very small number of delivery size trucks and vans but they are almost as rare as young children.

6.) School kids.  Certainly there are school kids at certain times of day but they are not common — definitely no school buses.

7.) Fancy, expensive cars? Where are they? There are mostly small cars roaming about, a few SUV’s, no passenger vans… In fact, the parking carousel at our hotel doesn’t even have the height to accomodate a large vehicle. As for fancy show cars, forget about it.  

8.) Traffic in the city is nothing to worry about.  Even during rush hour / peak periods there just aren’t a lot of cars.

9.) There are a lot of city buses and they run frequently. They are clean and timely and not too crowded. Those are  good things.

10.) Pedestrians (Peds) - People walk everywhere (18% commute to work everyday by foot). The sidewalks are mostly covered by overhangs in front of building so even on rainier days you won’t really get wet.

11.) Bugs and Birds. I’m guessing this is due to winter but I’ve seen no bugs at all.  Birds are sporadic and are confined to pigeons, seagulls, and the occasional sparrow. Even with those birds, I don’t think I could say I have seen more than 50 pigeons total, 20 seagulls total, or 10 sparrows total.  Quite the contrast when compared with Sydney.

12.) Live Music and Arts are definitely a big thing here in Welly.  For a city this small you have an amazing number of venues to engage with the arts.  10 - 15 live music spots on the weekend, and even on weekdays… Museums everywhere… Art and Design Schools and pop-up venues… it’s awesome

13.) The city is loaded with street art, sculptures and purposeful graffiti.  Even the “walk” signals on traffic lights are custom to a given area.  (graduate walking near the university, etc.)

14.) Cable cars are more numerous than people think. Wellington is a hilly place and there are a good number of homes that have their own personal cable car to traverse a hillside.  

15.) Policia - As an American I am accustomed to seeing large numbers of police officers everywhere I went.  In Australia it was often months in between sightings. In Wellington I do see Police more frequently than Australia, but maybe only 10% of what I saw in the United States. Moreover, the Police I have seen (mostly on television) are friendly… no puffy cops here.

That’s it for this one…. moving into our new apartment tomorrow.  Excited for that!  Peace Out