Wellington Anniversary Weekend Pics (Lauren)

I love Wellington Anniversary weekend. It is a three day weekend right when you are getting sick of work again after the Christmas break, and as it's not nationwide I usually forget about it until a little bit beforehand so it comes as nice surprise. I like it so much, I don't even care that I have no idea whatsoever what the anniversary is actually supposed to be of.

This Anniversary weekend, Tane and I did the Eastern Walkway. The walkway took a couple of hours, and goes along the hills overlooking the Wellington Harbour. It was great - fantastic views of the Harbour, seeing lots of sunbathing skinks, and walking a windy hilly path called "Branda's Pass" that Tane thought should belong in the Lord of the Rings. I think he was even a little disapointed that we did not get ambushed by bandits, as he thought the name would suggest.

The highlight of the day, though, was the Ataturk Memorial at the beginning of the walk.

The Ataturk Memorial is a pretty impressive memorial commermorating Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. At the memorial you can find lots of quotes about how highly Ataturk thought of the ANZAC troops at Gallipoli. Also, a plaque that reads:

"Beneath this star is placed a container of soil from Anzac cove, Gallipoli, Turkey"

Before going to the memorial, I had no idea that you could visit Turkish soil without leaving Wellington. The wind was a constant reminder however that we were not, alas, in Turkey. Not that I have been to Turkey (yet), but am sure that the wind doesn't blow so hard I feel like my hair is going to poke out my eyes.

Tane and the South Coast on a typical sneaky Wellington day. It looks great, but that's because you can't see the wind!

Something else that deserves a mention from this weekend was James Moir's 30th. The theme was the ghetto, and his backyard was transformed into da hood with a beat up old cop car (1970s style), a retro dance floor, and a wall for spray painting.

Tane, dressed as a ghetto pimp,tests out his tagging skills.

I learnt at that party, however, that I will never have a career as a ghetto ho. The spray painting was much too hard, and my "Lauren Was Here" looked more like a paintball had hit than actual words. If it wasn't for being able to wear my 80s jacket, it would have been a sad day indeed.

The moment I realised I would never be a ghetto ho. That jacket, though, even makes Tane look like he has an hourglass figure.

Me with James. I know it's not a good photo, but it seemed wrong not to publish a pic of James in his gold sweat suit.

Other highlights of the weekend were board games with Sarah and Grisham, sleeping in three days in a row, shopping with Philippa and Erin at Queensgate Mall, and bonding with my cat Max. Isn't he cute?

Max after Stephen had a play with photoshop.

Oh, and my other highlight: writing my blog while procrastinating from doing both housework and my Teaching English course. Sigh.