ELTOs experience the beautiful Wellington region

Kolbotra with the snake starfish – poisonous but not frightening

In October 2011 I had been staying and studying in Wellington for five weeks already. It is such a lovely place to live and learn; it makes me feel that time is passing by very fast like a storm blasting everyone’s joy and happiness away cruelly.

I am on a scholarship under ELTO Program, funded by the New Zealand Aid Programme in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I arrived in New Zealand in July, and was assigned to study at EIT in Napier for seven weeks. I returned back to Wellington in September. Studying in Wellington brought me another new and wonderful atmosphere surrounded by such fabulous places and friendly people as well as my helpful teachers. I am learning a lot of things and some things are new to me but I am so happy to grasp and experience them. There are a lot of sessions and programs in my study curriculum. Meanwhile, I also sometimesrelax and enjoy life in Wellington. Thanks Hilary for taking us to go and attend some interesting outdoor activities around the Wellington region.

On 6 October the day began with everyone going to the Island Bay Marine Reserve. We caught a bus together from Courtenay Place but a funny thing occurred on the way, the electric coach had a problem, the poles fell apart from the wire which gave the power to move it. At the inception, I felt a bit worried about this error then I changed to feeling that it was ridiculous and wanted to laugh. Luckily, I could ban myself not to laugh or everyone might change direction to look at me strangely.  It was just a coincidence but the driver who was very friendly came down and dealt with it right away. On the other hand, it was obvious that on the tour, we were confronted with a big windy, freezing, and rainy day; however, we made it and walked further down to the Island Bay Marine Education Centre.

Don’t feel strange about windy days in Wellington, it is very common. Just enjoy it and soon you will get used to it. You will miss it someday when you know that you are soon leaving it.

Right after we arrived at the Centre we began to feel a little bit warmer than outside. A presentation about the marine reserve’s background and administration was delivered by Julian who works there and looks after another building which is an aquarium. His information related to this place was very interesting and comprehensive. Most importantly, this sort of activity and initiative is to protect the aqua-lives and treasure that this amazing country is having under its ocean territory. It was not just an ordinary trip but it consisted of providing and sharing knowledge at the same time which was additionally useful for all of us. An active discussion between the speaker and attendees took place after the presentation was completed.                         

To see the interior of the aquarium house, we departed the main building and approached the one right on the edge of the sea. It looks like not a huge construction but it stores a lot of living aqua-things inside that you could not predict and have never seen or touched before. This was my own real experience; I had never touched anyone of them before I came there. Yes, I conceded that I could and had only ever seen starfish as well as other lives on the TV or film. It was awesome; I finally could touch creatures that I had never been aware that they exist under the sea. For example, Snake-starfish; wow this name sounds strange to me when I heard from the gentleman during his speech. I could not wait to see it in real. At last, I saw it in the aquarium. Cool! It looks a little frightening but it is not a poisonous animal. Its body is soft but it might make you tickle. Remember; don’t drop it violently because it doesn’t harm you. To be ready to touch every one of them in the house, you have to put your hand in the water for a few seconds to cool it since the human’s blood is warmer than them then you can grab it easily and friendly. There are other lovely animals at there that you should go and take this experience. I believe you will feel happy as I did.

After a fish and chip lunch, we caught our hired bus to the Weta Cave or it’s known as “Wellywood.” I am sure most of you may have known and heard about a movie titled “Lord of the Rings” surely, this was originally created and formed up by a talented New Zealander, Peter Jackson. I, at the beginning, was not aware that this one was formed by a Kiwi’s creative idea and I thought it was set up by an American. I saw it with my own eyes in the documentary film behind the scenes. It was incredible and admirable. There was not just only this film; he has made other famous movies which were played by Hollywood stars like King Kong.

We seemed a bit tired but we were still cheerful to go on so we continued our journey to the Nairn Street Colonial Cottage. This was another nice attraction which was not just for us but for other tourists that I think you ought to go and have a look. Incredible! I really loved the architecture of the building. I was so impressed by the way of those people lived in the past and their creative ideas in order to survive during that period. I extremely admired them and particularly the women who had to take many responsibilities regarding housework and children. They worked quite hard to support their families with their bare hands, like the lady who was a wife and mother of that cottage who was very clever and fantastic when she first settled with her whole family in New Zealand. During the walk in her garden; it has everything and showed us how she used it for everyday life. For instance the Lavender, it was used as a deodorant to eliminate bad smells from clothes or in the house. Moreover in her kitchen I could see all the tough work she had to do there that I thought to myself that I could not do as her if I was her. When I recalled it, I immediately thought of my mother. It was a beautiful place. .

We had not yet ended up our journey at that cottage; we had another final destination on this day of outdoor activity which was the Wellington Zoo. We took a brief walk around the Zoo. On the path, I found a sun bear which was brought from Cambodia. I was amazed because it reflected a good relationship between New Zealand and Cambodia. This was my first time that I had seen a Cambodian animal especially a bear in a foreign country. I had heard Cambodia gifted some elephants to other countries such as, recently an elephant to South-Korea to be looked after in a Children’s Zoo in Seoul.

We then had a joyful dinner in one of the halls in the Zoo and summed up our full day trip by enjoying dancing, singing, and playing games between Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Mongolia, and Myanmar, and our programmers. Everyone returned back home and retained a lot of good and unforgettable memories that we had together among multi-nations.