Rainy in Wellington

While it has been a delightful weekend, there has been one common theme throughout; RAIN! Everyone tends to assume that because we’re from the Pacific Northwest that we’re somehow immune to misty weather, but truth be told, rain is inconvenient when you’re committed to walking everywhere. So, here’s a quick re-cap of our past few days:

Adam and I totally pushed the instant replay button back to our undergraduate years by crashing the Massey University Open House day on Friday. We saw some advertisements earlier in the week, but hadn’t completely committed ourselves until we looked the event up on the internet and discovered it was featuring free breakfast and lunches for visitors(not to mention our hotel room practically looks straight out onto the Massey courtyard).

Massey actually houses the New Zealand School of Music, so Adam and I made sure we were registered and ready at the music building in time for an advertised tour. Unfortunately, sometime between the printing of the program and open day, a decision was made to cancel this walking tour. A very nice receptionist was sympathetic, though, and gave us a quick walk-through of the small building. The Massey campus appears to house the jazz and music therapy programs while Victoria University (the college across town) takes in the composition and classical music students. We had a nice long chat with one of the Music Therapy professors and discussed what the program entailed. Music Therapy is an emerging field in NZ, less than 7 years old, and Massey, as the only music therapy program in the country, only takes 12 students per year. Here’s an interesting factoid: tuition for a Master’s degree for a NZ resident runs only about NZ$5,000 per year. But, before you get too excited…it’s more like $28,000 for international students. Talk about out of state tuition! Ooo – speaking of money – the best part of Friday was possibly our quick trip to the Post Office to pick up our new Kiwibank debit cards…and then using them to actually access our own accounts that had successfully had money wired to them from the States! It feels great to not need our US cards anymore.

We woke up to a beautiful sunny morning on Saturday. One look out the window made for a quick decision to venture out for our first train ride away from downtown Wellington. Unfortunately, before we made it to the bottom of the street the heavens opened with a vengeance. I don’t think I can even call it rain because it came in sideways and up from the streets below more than from the skies above. Loaded down with our big camera, netbook computer, and appropriate amounts of reading material, we ran through the puddles as quickly as we could to catch the next train towards the sun.

Paraparamu is a small city about an hour North of Wellington on the West Coast of the North Island. It, like many coastal towns, has two central areas; one right off of the highway and one right on the beach. In accordance with Wilhoit luck standards, the train was unable to outrun the rain showers. By this time Adam and I were already fairly soggy thanks to the jog to the train station – and somewhat chilled by the drafty hour long ride. We sought warmth and shelter at a very busy McDonalds until we thought the weather had subsided. A quick pass through the dollar store left us one floppy eared knit cap and one umbrella heavier.

Adam hadn’t walked more than a dozen steps towards the coast when a gust of wind turned the umbrella totally inside out – at which point we simply resigned ourselves to a day of damp socks and mushy shoes. Thankfully, Adam and I spent our first weeks of marriage tramping through the rainy season of the Costa Rican countryside with one simple mantra to get us through such conditions: “Adventura!” Adam has appropriately requested that we learn how to chant this in Maori to fit in better to the cultural atmosphere. We probably spent a grand total of five minutes actually on the beach once we reached it since it was about as wet standing on the beach as it would have been crashing in the waves – but the wonderful little café we found nearby in which to warm up and enjoy lunch was totally worth the trip.


Sunday was Stake Conference at church, a first for Adam but pretty much exactly as it is in the US. The torrential rain had accompanied us on our walk from the apartment to the bus stop – so we were pretty soaked through for the two hour meeting. Thankfully, Adam makes a great portable space heater :) We had about a four hour window after church for phone calls to the US, a catnap, and some serious baking. The week before in the Wellington Ward we had been given an invitation to a multi-cultural potluck. Wilhoits take it on principle to never turn down a tasty dinner opportunity, so Adam and I eagerly showed back up to the chapel at 5:30 with our home-baked rosemary and sea-salt rolls in hand…only to be met by a very sweet young man who informed us that there had apparently been a hiccup in building scheduling…and the potluck had been canceled. Bummer! Since we aren’t actually on the ward list yet, we hadn’t gotten the message – but it’s a good lesson in confirming details for us in the future. As a consolation prize for being stood-up, we treated ourselves to a delicious Mexican meal at the famous Flying Burrito Brothers restaurant on Cuba Street. Then again, at $48 for two simple entrees, it’s a good thing it was yummy!

Today was a simple day of getting tasks done. Jogging in the morning followed by oatmeal for breakfast and then lots of e-mailing, job searching, grocery shopping, and even a little research to create business cards. Today was national cupcake day in support of the SPCA (NZ’s version of the ASPCA)…but wouldn’t you believe it…we didn’t come across a single homemade cupcake stand all day long! Adam had been saving pocket change for a week! It’s okay, though…we did get a brief glimpse at our favorite New Zealand puggy-mix puppy who guards a local body-builders nutrition supply shop. Her name is Peanut and I think I’m going to need to continue checking Adam’s luggage to make sure he doesn’t try and sneak her into the apartment.

So, while into each life some rain must fall, I have to admit that I'm really enjoying storm!