Day 328: A Mediocre Seal “Safari” — Dinner, Drinks and Jazz in the QT Lobby Bar
Repeated our morning program here in Wellington: I worked out in the little gym downstairs, we all got breakfast together and then split up for school — James and I in the room while Willa and Margaret go down to the lobby.
I put “Coloring with Daft Punk” on James’s school schedule. We both started on a page from one of his coloring books while playing Daft Punk on Spotify.
James is a Daft Punk Fan, first because of the helmets (“I want one for Christmas”) and then because he heard “Around the World” — catchy and appropriate.
While we were coloring he started asking questions about them that made me realize he didn’t understand they are real people, DJs, who actually “perform” for people. Showed him a video of a concert on youtube.
Also during school, out of the blue James threw a joke at me:
“What’s a turtle’s favorite potty thing.”
Me: “What?”
James: “A turd. Get it? Turd-del?
We walked to lunch at Pickle & Pie. Cool spot with a work lunch scene. We sat outside. Margaret, James and Willa had chicken po boys. I ordered the special Turkey pie with cranberry chutney and mashed potatoes. Just a light lunch! But I finally got some turkey for Thanksgiving. Food was outstanding.
We had booked a 1:30 “Seal Safari.” It had great reviews on TripAdvisor and Google but ended up being a bit of a bust.
We met our guide and 5 other people in our group. We then stuffed into the back of a land cruiser with hard bench seats along each side. I felt like we were in one of those covered military trucks in Vietnam.
Not pictured… 
…four other humans in the back of this truck
We took a 90 minute ride southwest to the coast and it was — now this is saying something — the bumpiest ride we’ve been on all year. More bumpy than any African safari, the pothole trip out to the Amazon, the last 25 minutes getting to Titilaka lodge in Peru and anything that Indonesia had to offer. It was the overland equivalent of our harrowing zodiac speedboat ride across the Mediterranean to Cavallo Island in 25 knot winds.
After being tossed around for an hour we finally approached the edge of the water and our eccentric, wanna-be comedian guide, Billy, explained that, “in the winter, you’ll see 400 seals out here — but this time of year we’ll only see a few.”
Huh?
He was right. We saw maybe four sleepy seals. It’s cool to see them in the wild but in March we went to Seal Island near Cape Town and saw dozens playing, diving, fighting, signing and chasing our boat. Three minutes after we got out of the truck James asked when we were getting back in.
We stayed for a bit, Billy prepped some tea, coffee, chocolate milk and muffins for the group and then headed back to town.
If we thought the ride to the seals was bumpy, it felt like a BMW on freshly paved highway compared to the ride back. We were thrown around the back of the truck and yet somehow James and Willa both slept.
To be fair, there were some highlights:
The landscapes on the way to the beach were amazing. Quintessential New Zealand rolling green hills, a herd of sheep in the street and massive wind turbines — that provide electricity to 90% of all homes in Wellington.
We also met a few new friends. Rachel and Jo were a married couple from northern Virginia here on their honeymoon. Rachel works with animals and had an impressive database of facts on countless species. She was awesome with the kids. Masoud is an Iranian who has lived all over the world and now resides in Scottsdale. We’re connected with both Rachel and Masoud on Instagram.
Billy the guide was a super strange dude. Right before we got dropped off someone asked him if he had kids. His response: “Nope, but almost.”
Rachel: “Oh, do you have step kids?”
“Nope. My girlfriend had a miscarriage.”
Awkward silence.
Then when we were getting out Rachel made a comment that she would need a massage after all the bumps. Billy said he knows a place for a massage. Rachel laughed it off. But Billy kept insisting he knows someone who can give a good massage. Rachel under her breath: “I didn’t know it was THAT kind of tour.”
I took the kids to the playground near the hotel. They found a water / sand contraption and played there the whole time despite it being windy and cold. (The wind direction changed and the temp dropped, as predicted by the weather report in the hotel printout on this morning’s paper: “Northerlies changing to blow southerly in the afternoon.”)
We got back to the hotel around 6 and I dropped the kids with Margaret in the room for a bath and headed to the hotel bar. We read — also in the morning hotel note — that there would be live music tonight. I enjoyed a negroni and my kindle for 30 min or so and then Margaret and the kids came down to meet me for dinner. Willa and James nibbled on their food while nerding out on their books, paying no attention to the noisy after work crowd, wedding rehearsal dinner cocktailers and the jazz band.
Adding more QT Wellington hilarity:
- Dinner was served in the hectic lobby by an understaffed server. But it didn’t come with flatware. We had to get up from the table and stand at the bar behind others ordering drinks before getting anyone’s attention for forks.
- The elevator was out when we wanted to head up after dinner. A crowd was gathered in the lobby waiting for a manager to show up to “reset” the elevator. There was fake news flaying around about whether or not you could take the stairs. We finally found a staffer who took us up the stairs.
Friday night in Wellington!
MISC:
I’ve managed most of our itinerary on google docs and through the online itinerary provided by our travel advisor. Margaret likes seeing things on paper and back in Tasmania she made up her own calendar of our “Remaining Days.” She tries to convince me that it’s easier to “see it all in writing.”
Here she is digitizing her tattered paper calendar at lunch today.
