Wellington Weekend

The Oh Waily family went on an outing together last weekend.
It took in Miss O's very first aeroplane flight, and her first visit to our capital city - Wellington.
We left Auckland on Friday morning and took the one hour flight south. The aircraft was about a quarter full and we had our row to ourselves. Miss O was so interested in the whole event that she was effectively asleep about five minutes after take-off. The only sign of any trepidation was the vice like grip one small hand had on her mother's finger during the noisy take-off. So much for her mother's worry over ear popping and then ear piercing wails resounding throughout the flight.

Miles was present to be travel pillow and edible toy in whichever capacity was required, just as Miss O's Gran intended when she christened him. Dad had the camera to hand to capture the excitement, as you can clearly see in Miss O's face.
And for the first time in a very long time Ms O wondered where the time had gone on a flight. One moment we were taxiing out onto the runway, eating the high class casava chip snacks and gulping down "fresh brewed" coffee. The next moment we were banking, nose down and looking at the top of the South Island. No bouncy arrivals this trip, thank goodness.

The only disappointment of the weekend occurred on our arrival. Our bright green Phil & Ted's, which we had so carefully checked in through the "oversize & fragile" desk, failed to make the trip south with us. This left Ms O fairly irate.
A quarter full aeroplane, a bright green stroller, and yet miraculously the clearly overworked baggage handling staff couldn't quite manage to make the two meet. Quite what those gentlemen thought we were going to do with a 7.5kg child for three days without her regular mode of transportation is beyond me.

The blase manner with which this news was given to the Oh Waily's didn't make the irritation reduce one jot. We were promised that it would make a solo flight on the next aeroplane, followed by a courier trip to our hotel. It duly did this, arriving some six hours later missing a small cap piece which would have taken some effort to dislodge. All-in-all an unsatisfactory level of service was had by all. It did however produce another first, as Mr O duly pointed out to his frustrated wife - Miss O's first flight and her first lost luggage experience.

With no sensible way of transporting Miss O around town, we resorted to driving around to Evans Bay and stopped for lunch at a nice little restaurant. Middle Eastern food happily consumed and a nice humour returned to the trip.

At this age regular sleep is still required by the Little Miss, so a reasonable amount of pleasant reading time was passed by Ms O and customer visits were completed by Mr O. The missing stroller and working husband both turned up at the hotel shortly after Miss O decided to wake and the Oh Waily family took the opportunity to enjoy a gentle stroll around inner city Wellington.

As the big game was on at the Cake Tin that evening we had plenty of yellow & black shirts wandering the streets and a fair representation of black and red shirts too. On Lambton Quay we were treated to the sounds of multiple Harley Davidson motorbikes growling their way to Westpac Stadium. On the back of one we spotted Captain Hurricane, and bringing up the rear the Crusader's mascot. At least the locals were nice enough to give him a ride. But I did wonder if they provided his normal white stallion.

We took a break in our perambulation at Mac's Brewery Bar and Restaurant and watched young folk jumping (illegally, no doubt) from the top of a small building into the harbour. The weather was pleasant and still sunny in the late afternoon, but the wind had built up and they seemed to be impervious to the chill.

As we sat outside the bar it began to fill with the many-suited occupants of this bureaucratic city. Pinstriped men and smartly dressed women turning up for their after-work gatherings at the local watering hole. Mixed in alongside them varied rugby fanatics enjoying a little hospitality before the brisk walk along the waterfront to the Cake Tin. It provided a lovely interlude of people watching nestled beside Te Papa.

With the sun beginning to slowly set and the wind getting a little chillier, the Oh Waily's made their way back to the hotel for the evening and some 'rugby time' in front of the television. Unfortunately for our host city, the game just didn't go their way.

Oh well, there was always tomorrow to look forward to.