There comes a time where every traveller realises they have been away from home for over six month (six months and a day, when I am writing this).
There also comes a time where it is time to move on.
I have lived and breathed in the charming city of Wellington for the past four months of my stay in New Zealand.
It is only now that I realise just how much I have actually done in Wellington.
I have made friends. I have said goodbye to friends. Then I have welcomed new ones.
I have searched for jobs, and I have searched even more jobs. Then I found a job. Then I quit the job.
I even spent Halloween, Christmas and New Years in Wellington.
I am going to miss this city. Not only that, but I’m going to miss my second family.
Tomorrow, I depart on the ferry to Picton. My plans for the South Island have all been changed due to some very annoying happenings in terms of jobs offered.
My original plan was to pick up my Stray bus tour when I reach the South Island, and travel around for two weeks on it before settling down to find work.
However, this has changed. First, I must outline what happened with the jobs to start with.
Okay, so I applied for numerous jobs. Mostly vineyard work, but also housekeeping and a few sales jobs.
I heard back from quite a few of them, most telling me they’re not looking to hire anybody at this moment in time. Others said yes initially, before turning around and saying no. The bluntest of these was a very short email saying “no vehicle, no work”… a tad cold but never mind.
I also got offered, very quickly, a sales job in Christchurch. It was, all in all, exactly the same job as I had in Wellington, yet involved selling insurance instead of energy. However, a perk of the job was that it was base wage and commission on top. This did spike my interest.
Yet then I found out that the office was actually a forty minute drive outside of Christchurch, and would’ve involved a two hour bus journey to get there… so that fell through as well.
However, I can finally safely say that I have found work.
As of the 6th March, I will at a working hostel, where I will be working on a vineyard. There was talk of me staying in a tent for the duration of my stay, but luckily that didn’t happen as a room became available…
I’m actually very excited to start this job, as I have wanted to work on a vineyard since I got to New Zealand. I’m just hoping that the stories about working hostels don’t apply to the one I’m going to. I’ve heard too many stories of people being ripped off and not getting paid/not being allowed to leave… but still, life is a gamble. The owner seemed friendly on the phone so that’s a positive start!
After I’ve spent a month at the hostel/vineyard, then I will continue my bus tour around the South Island. If I have worked it out correctly, I will finish my bus tour on the 21st April, allowing me three days to get down to Christchurch for my flight to Australia!
After Australia (plans are all still very up in the air about what I’ll do whilst there), I will aim to go back to Wellington for about a month, where my friend from England shall join me and we can go do all the nerdy Lord of the Rings things together (again, for me). My hope is to get a housekeeping job at Trek Global upon my return in May as well.
So there are my plans at the moment which will undoubtedly change before long. But plans they are, and they shall stay like that for now.
I feel quite sad to leave Wellington, as it is a truly beautiful city that I have easily learnt to love. However, it is definitely time to move on. I still have all the South Island to explore.
I write this post as I stare out of the window of the library at the waterfront of Wellington. I can see places I have visited, which are places I shall never forget.
This ends my Wellington saga. Below, I shall post some of my favourite pictures of memories from Wellington (including a lot of selfies…).
A Weary Traveller 