welly!

I've just had three days up in Wellington, visiting Steph and family. Oliver is now five years old, and Theo, the new baby, is just 12 weeks old. Flew from Timaru direct to Wellington on Monday morning - there are now four direct flights a day and the flight was full both ways (even though there were only 19 passenger seats!). Air New Zealand has been doing these 'Grab A Seat' offers and I'd kept an eye on those, getting my flights for $45 each way which is pretty good! Lovely smooth flight both ways and didn't hit the normal Wellington winds.

Steph and the boys came and picked me up and we went and had some lunch before going up the cable car. Oliver hadn't done this before and in his words "this is very different from what I thought it was going to be". It's school holidays at the moment and so there were lots of kids around, but it wasn't too bad. I'd not been up the cable car for years - great view from the top and the little museum is quite interesting.

During my Wellington visit we also went to the Dowse Gallery in Lower Hutt - it's just been renovated and re-opened and had some interesting exhibits, including some fab jewellery. Really good cafe there too - it's been torture resisting the cakes while I've been here! But I know that next time I visit I'll be able to indulge. Took Theo along to Plunket for his check-up and to the nurse for his 12 week injections (he wasn't terribly happy for a couple of days after that poor thing).

On Tuesday I met up with Steve and Aoife and we went into Wellington for dinner at Capitol beside the Embassy Theatre. Great to see them - they're very settled and have bought a house in Plimmerton next to the sea. Yummy meal too - had some squid (one of the seafood species Aoife looks after at MAF) and lovely Saint Claire pinot gris.

Also went for a coffee at La Bella Italia in Petone - similar to the Mediterranean Food Warehouse that Mum and Dad frequent (and which supplied much of the food for the long Italian lunch on Dad's birthday). Had a walk along the beach at Petone and out onto the pier, watching some people fishing. One guy had caught a huge Kahawai and it was flopping around, trying to get back into the water.

Had a browse through the IceBreaker shop at Wellington Airport before getting on my plane - there's a lovely Merino winter coat that I'd like to get next winter, but we'll see...