The weather is talked about a lot in Wellington especially since it is constantly changing and is often wet and windy. Locals even try to plan to live on the sunny side of the street when moving to a new house or apartment. After a couple of cold days for us California girls, Saturday came and the weather was glorious. The air was still, the sun was out and the clouds were minimal. No rain in sight. Everyone was out. Tourists, families with children, people with dogs were all walking the path next to the water.
Shed 6
The Wellington waterfront has restaurants and businesses that are distinguished by their shed number. Earlier in the week Amy and I walked by Shed 6 which was a helicopter tour company. This peaked our interest since we did a flight over Kauai last year which was amazing. We walked in and inquired and I said “Flights must be cancelled all the time here due to windy conditions” The pilot confirmed that it does happen often. We heard that Saturday’s weather was supposed to be good so we said we would come back. The weather could not have been more perfect for a flight. The helipad was literally a 2 minute walk from the office on the water’s edge. We did the “South Coast Discovery” flight over the southern coastline of the city and the highlights were seeing the Makara wind farm (similar to the large white windmills you see in Palm Springs), the Karori Rock Lighthouse, seal colonies and views of the Marlborough Sounds, the top of the South Island. A special feature of this flight is landing on the beach of one of the seal colonies and we got to see the New Zealand fur seals sunning on the beach. According to Dai, they are in large numbers in the winter on this beach and travel further south in the winter. The oil from their fur is so potent it stains all the logs and rocks they lay on. On the return trip we were treated to incredible views of this nation’s capital city including the oval shaped Sky Stadium where we watched two football matches.
Northern Explorer Train
For our return trip home back to Auckland, we opted for a 11 hour scenic train ride from Wellington instead of a boring, bumpy 1 hour flight. From the railway website: “The Northern Explorer train journey follows the historic North Island Main Trunk Railway (NIMT). Completed in 1908, the railway was the dream of Julius Vogel, who wanted to connect the North Island interior - and the people who lived there. In an age before roads, the journey from Auckland to Wellington took several days of treacherous sailing around the coast. The railway would enable the journey to take less than a day. But the terrain along the way proved difficult and expensive to build upon. As a result, the NIMT took almost 30 years to complete.” The train had an open air viewing car, multiple passenger cars, a cafe and a baggage/food storage car. Some of the highlights included seeing the coast at the southern end and then traversing though farmlands, soaring over viaducts and three spectacular volcanoes, Mount Ruapehu, Mount Ngauruho and Mount Tongagiro. It was a site to remember forever. Then after seeing these massive snow covered volcanoes we saw swamps which are used for training by the military camp. This is truly Lord of the Rings country.
Dedicated Fans - Angel City FC 2 - Portland Thorns FC 1
Meanwhile back at home ACFC had their first game after a long break. We played The Portland Thorns in a Challenge Cup game and any contest against the Thorns is a tough match. While we couldn’t be there in person, our friends took our seats and saw a stunner of a game with lots of drama including a penalty kick blocked by our new goalie Angelina Anderson who made her NWSL debut. As we meandered this railway we tuned in to the radio broadcast when we had reception and high fived each other when the announcer called the win for ACFC.
SWE 5 - ITA 0
The second game we attended in Wellington was Sweden vs Italy. The former is ranked number 3 in the world so we expected a good performance. We were a little surprised to see Italy take more of a lead in the beginning of the game and even get a couple of shots off. Then as if a switch was flipped Sweden unleashed on Italy. It was definitive proof of why they are ranked number 3 particularly when it came to set pieces. Three times they scored off corner kicks that literally curved toward the goal to make it easy for the forwards to just get their heads or feet on it to guide the goal into the back of the net. One of the headlines on their performance after the goal was “A set-piece master class” and that said it all. One of the most fun moments of the night was watching the youngest Swedish fan in the stadium watching the game from his dad’s lap. Many years from now he can say he saw Sweden win a match in the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
