Hayley Travels: North Island! - couchsurfing in Wellington

After five months of anticipation I am finally on the North Island, the whole half of New Zealand I haven’t explored since being here! (I know, you’d thought by now I surely must have seen everything.) First I spent about five days in Wellington and the most notable part of that stay is that I stayed with a host from the website couchsurfing.org. I’ve been involved with this website for the last year or so, hosting a few people in Seattle and meeting up with people for coffee or tours here and there, but this is the first time I’m on the surfing end of the deal. I am a huge fan of this website – you have a profile and can search by location and send messages to people who seem cool and not sketchy to meet up, get tips, or stay a few days for free. It’s a great way of meeting locals, really getting to know a place, and traveling on the cheap – all things I’m in favor of! So it’s been really fun to be on the better end of the couchsurfing deal for the first time.

I stayed with a guy named Kern who just finished university and lives with a handful of other students in the cool neighborhood of Newtown. I got so lucky because we totally hit it off and his friends and flatmates were really friendly and cool as well! We spent our time checking out the city and hanging out in nearby parks, eating lots of Indian food, checking out some local bands and spending late nights out on the town. It was so fun to be in a real city for the first time in five months that actually had stuff to do and people who were willing to go out and do it with you! Wellington reminds me a lot of Seattle so it’s fun to enjoy all those good things – pretty with water and hills all around, fun urban café and shop vibe, cute wood buildings, environmentally and socially conscious, the list goes on.

View from Mt. Vic

Gorgeous waterfront

Cool urban parks

Cuba St, heart of the city

Civic square

Parliament

Christmas New Zealand style

My favorite part of being in Wellington was the whole couchsurfing experience and the fact that I met such amazing people that I had so much in common with. Most of the guys are interested in similar things (like the environment and wanting to do human rights or social work or something else to help people as a career) and I found it really inspiring to meet people who were into the same things as me and actually taking steps to do things about it. I loved Wellington so much I ended up back a few days after I left for one more night before meeting Bernard, and now it turns out I’ll be back one last time when it’s time for me to fly to Christchurch! Wellington has easily been one of my favorite places in NZ so far. Enough rambling, pictures: