I recently got Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia and Kirby Super Star Ultra on my DS; and with the ever-addictive nature of Picross, it means more DS and less blogging. Anyway, here goes.

There's been a few events happening in Wellington. You will have heard in the news of the Gaza protests happening in Civic Square. I was passing by and heard the chants (they're quite catchy, I must say). One was "Israel, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide!". And this happened for at least two days, we could hear it quite well from our office.

We also had a dinner voucher to the Red Tomato in Kelburn, which had featured on that restaurant revamp show on TV. Yeah, the pizza wasn't too bad, my only complaint was that the Mexican was smothered in coriander, which didn't really suit the overall taste at all. Coriander is a garnish and it shouldn't be the dominant taste on pizza.

We hung out on Oriental Bay one evening, having fish and chips on the beach. It was a really calm day; two of the group even went for a swim in the water. By 8.30pm, the water was warmer than the air, so it must've been incredibly difficult to come out.

Last weekend, it was Wellington Anniversary = Long Weekend, so we planned a trip to scale the heights of Mt Taranaki, somewhat reminiscent of the good ol' 4th Form Camp, when we hiked up Mt Ruapehu. Unfortunately, the weather did not permit, so we decided to make our way to Cape Palliser, the southernmost point on the North Island. Not only was it gloriously sunny, the wind was fantastic and hiliariously fun. We climbed 250 steps to the lighthouse and enjoyed the full blast of the winds on the cape. Three of the group even went swimming in the frigid waters, and we shared a picnic lunch on the rocks by the sea. Cape Palliser is also known for the seal colony, and you can check out the gallery for pictures.

This weekend, it's Parachute 09 up in Mystery Creek, and also Chinese New Year on Monday. It's going to be awesome.

Alice, Cinta and Jo came down to Wellington for a visit on Saturday very morning. I picked them up from the airport at 8am - thus began the love affair with Wellington.

Saturday was sight-seeing day. We went to Mt Victoria, Oriental Bay, Lambton Quay, Civic Centre, Te Papa and Botanical Gardens. We saw the Beehive, that stupid Platform 9 3/4 sign at the Railway Station, the giant floating silver ball, my workplace, a large umbrella.... we ate lots of delicious things too. We had brunch at the Parade Cafe (I had been there with Andy, Nat and Jono before) where we totally indulged on far too much bacon, corn fritters, eggs and divine chocolate cake and carrot cake.

Sunday I took them to Central Baptist where they were treated with scones ("I approve!" said Alice). They can report back to KCC and tell everyone how I'm doing :p We went for yum char after that, at Majestic Cuisine, where we insisted on tofu fa, mango pudding, and durian pastries. I also took them shopping down Cuba Street and Lambton Quay, and that was rather excruiating. We had a simple dinner - two wood oven pizzas from Maverick's, just down the road. This was in anticipation of epic dessert at Strawberry Fare, where we ordered far too much and I had to force myself to consume the entire lemon cheesecake that I had ordered (It was delicious). They also met everyone from the Estate and the Hub - we hung out for a bit at the Hub.

But the worst of the shopping had yet to come, as we went to Dress Smart in Tawa. Geez. Haha nah it was alright. There were some cool non-clothing shops there that had interesting things (like a sim card backup device for $2 or something like that, or giant candles shaped like Chess pieces). We had a quick bite at KFC before heading back to Valley Girl on Willis, where we saw Auntie Su, Yining and Liann. Then it was a quick walk up Lambton Quay and Cuba Street again, before heading home to pack. We ended the weekend of awesome food by going to Great India on Courtenay, where, again, we ate far too much.

It's been a really good weekend! And we have more visitors this weekend too \o/