Wellington Week 1

Perhaps this is belated, but I did in fact get me and my bike to Wellington, after many trips to the bikeshop, lots of near-breakdowns, and the last minute decision to delay for a day to make sure the bike was really ready and take a bus from Nelson to Picton instead of biking. Yes, I know, this is probably a cop out, but it may have prevented bodily harm, or at the very least tears and a desire to never again see a bike in my life. Now the bike is in working order, and I even got a two-hour bike ride from Orinoco to Nelson, so I wasn't entirely lazy. And I made it to Wellington! Which was the objective anyway.

Now, as to Wellington. I've now been here for almost two weeks, and I'm already famous! Well, not really; but I'm in a picture in this article (http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/6325178/Vege-patch-sprouts-in-Civic-Square), where my name has magically become Anita, and another in this one (http://www.capitaltimes.co.nz/Everyones-eating-the-peas). I've been out at the Pop Up Gardens every day watering (well, except the two days that it rained, making watering unnecessary) and talking to people, and so far the reactions have been really, really positive. People love the idea of growing food in the city, especially as a learning experience for children, although I did have to explain to one woman that no, kids don't all know where food comes from, that no, not everyone comes in contact with gardens the way people of her and yes, there is something to be learned from gardening (at first she 'just didn't get it').

Other than my involvement with the pop-up garden, I have been biking all over the place, volunteering at the Mechanical Tempest (its a place where people can bring their bikes and get help fixing them up) and working on various gardens. Basically, my life is 1) gardens 2) bikes and, well, actually pretty much that. I've also been to see some free art, the Wellington Fringe Festival (meaning theater) is coming up this week and I'm going to do some volunteering for that as well! So, a lot of volunteering. I should probably get a medal. Really, I should probably get a job, but I'm not here for quite long enough for that. Besides, people love volunteers!

Its sunny outside, which is rare for Wellington, so I'm going to go enjoy it (and, no surprise, do some gardening). Hurrah, Summer!