When in Wellington…

Wellington, NZ

After hiking the Queen Charlotte Track, Mac & I discovered that we had hiked 12 out of the 16 days so far in June – therefore, it was time for a long & much-needed rest! We took the ferry from Picton to Wellington where we chose to spend a few days indulging and resting our tired bodies. And indulge we did!

Pampering

Having hiked over 150km in the previous 16 days our feet were in dire need of some TLC. Solution? Pedicures!!! We got the “Sports Pedicure” package at Spring Spa on Tory Street and it.was.AWESOME! Our legs & feet were exfoliated with brown sugar, our toe nails were trimmed & filed back to a socially acceptable appearance, and the experience was capped off with a blissful leg & foot massage. Heaven!!

Seeing

When we saw that the Blue Man Group was performing in Wellington over the weekend, we decided to splurge and get tickets for the show. Aside from a few movies, we hadn’t been to a proper show in ages and Blue Man Group was right up our alley! The hour and a half long show was funny and so entertaining! The percussion abilities of the Blue Men was phenomenal and Mac & I were really amazed with their talent. It was such a fun show & I’m so happy we went!

Eating

What would an indulgent weekend be without delicious food?!? We started off our Wellington visit with a tip to the Wellington Night Market on Friday on Left Bank & Cuba Street. Usually night markets are not especially accommodating to vegans, but this one had heaps of options! I got a delicious pumpkin & kumara (sweet potato) satay burger, and Mac got an amazing Indonesian warm noodle salad with spinach noodles and lots of tempeh, tofu, & sauteed veggies. There were a lot of other stalls with vegan options as well!

No visit to Wellington is complete without a trip to Sweet Release Cakes & Treats. I had first visited them back in January on my first trip to the city, and then returned again during our brief stop prior to catching the ferry to the South Island. This mostly-vegan bake shop/cafe has some seriously awesome treats – it was too hard to pick one to share, so Mac & I each got something! Mac had the dark chocolate brownie, and I had the white chocolate donut muffin. Words cannot describe how delicious both of these items were. I think my waistline & bank account would be in serious trouble if I lived in Wellington full-time!

We visited the Noodle Night Market after a long afternoon spent at the Te Papa Museum. The Noodle Night Market was a 4-day event on the waterfront (right outside Te Papa) and it featured 20+ stalls selling…you guessed it…noodles! I was almost spoiled with vegan options here as well! Mac & I got a creamy green curry with rice, and then we split a portion of Nasi Kuning – coconut/saffron rice with pickled veggies, soy curls, marinated & sauteed mushrooms and topped with crisps. Both were incredible! We capped off our meal with some super tasty sorbetto (mango & strawberry!) from Gelissimo.

Our last food indulgence was potentially the favourite. All you can eat pizza. Yes folks, you read that right. Lovelocks Bar on Bond St has AYCE Pizza every Monday for just $13!! Sign me up!!! They even made a special vegan pizza just for me! Mac & I both had probably wayyyyyyy too many slices each, but it was so worth it!

I loved our weekend+ of pampering & indulgences in Wellington, but I’m definitely eager to get back to hiking & adventuring. There are tracks to be hiked and beaches to be seen and I can’t wait to jump right in! (Metaphorically speaking… it’s way too cold for swimming!!!)