Strong winds transform the wheat fields on the way from Wanganui to Wellington into billowing green seas. Shortly before Wellington we stop in Wakanae. The wind is weaker, but some kiters are already out in 15 knot full onshore waves over a metre high. The old year ends well with a few clean full washes.
We have an appointment with other travellers at YHA Wellington. Backpacker factory, but clean, large and well equipped. A four-course meal is a good basis for the New Year’s Eve feast, during which I lose Uli, don’t get to see any fireworks because of the storm and end up in bed at half past one, very tired from travelling.
Wellington is well booked. The next morning we have to move into the Trek Global Hostel, a dirty bunker where 40 backpackers share a pot and four plates. A very gay employee of the New Zealand Ministry of Health claims to have been dumped by his wife. Weird stories, strange people and too much alcohol put an end to my travel blues, which tend to flare up at this time of year
We tour Wellington, wander through the Te Papa Museum again, climb mountains and overlook Peter Jackson’s house because we’re too tense looking for sea lions on the other side of the road. even for windy Wellington, 100 km/h winds are a lot. A skateboarder is riding through the city centre with half a square metre of cardboard as a sail. Trees break, traffic lights sway in the storm.
The next day, the storm is over. I do a few more laps in the bay of Porirua in a light wind before he finally goes to sleep in Plimmerton between numerous surfers in big waves. A picnic on Oriental Bay beach. The sun sets behind the Wellington skyline. The naked and the famous sing. Time for the night ferry to the South Island.
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.