Our first day in Wellington was absolutely gorgeous! The weather was perfect and we had such a great time. Our morning was spent walking through Lampton Quay and Courtenay Place, playing a game of "Oooo, what used to be there?" and "Hey, this has moved to here". We had breakfast at Astoria on the Quay, followed later on by a light lunch at the new Malthouse (which Matt thought was a bit wanky).
A quick but slightly ill timed dash to the ferry preceded a delightful
if choppy trip across to
Days Bay and Eastbourne, and a reunion with Roger and Sarah. We reacquainted ourselves with a very shy Lucy
(who gradually came more and more out of her shell as the evening progressed
), and were introduced to the very smiley William
. A yummy BBQ dinner with wine followed, topped off with photos in the garden
and a walk down to the beach.
Sun 20 Jan 2008
The first day of SOSCPO (and our very first SOSCPO) saw a gathering at the "Cake Tin" (Westpac Trust Stadium in Wellington). This saw a pre-dinner drinky session in one of the galleries overlooking the playing field, followed by a buffet dinner for 700+ people. Dancing followed (well, not for us, we were stuffed). Matt met a lot of his old SNZ acquaintances (including the two Bridgets, Reg Smith, Paul Brown, Jodi York, and Nancy McBeth) It was a pretty good night, and we were very well behaved!
Mon 21 Jan 2008
The outdoor sports day was a great outing at Khandallah. Matt played bowls in a Mongrel team (ACT and Auckland) and Kath played Petanque for the ACT. Not much success but not a complete disgrace either. Back in town for a night with just the two of us (our only free night until Kath's birthday!), we chanced our arm at a little place on Blair Street called Boulot. It was pretty good (Kath thinks Matt was more impressed with the waitress than the food), and we had a bottle of Bolly to celebrate. By the time we retired for the night it was very clear that poor old Matty had forgotten to do his neck with the sunscreen – which began peeling later in the week!
Tue 22 Jan 2008
One of our two "free days", after much discussion in the earlier days we ended up doing bugger all. Wandered around Cuba street (and had yummy noodles for breakfast, and bumped into Sarah!) and then hit Courtenay Place again. We finally made it to the Tasting Room! Wellingon then turned on an absolute cracker of a gale after lunch, and we walked along the water front, clutching hats and leaning into the wind - it was great!
A couple more revivers at Mac’s Brewery, and then afterwards we headed off to the Quiz night at the Overseas Passenger terminal. We formed a mixed team with Jodi (who Matt had met at Voorburg ’06 in Wiesbaden), Smedesy from ABS, and a bunch of new friends. “Irish Wristwatch” came second! Yay! The weather turned crystal clear and we walked along the water front on our way back to the hotel, and it was just gorgeous.
Wed 23 Jan 2008
A return to fine weather, and this time actually following our plan for our free day we made an assault on Mt Vic. After meeting up the Roger and Sarah and the kids again (Lucy gave Matt a lovely present of a glass of water down his trousers), we struck off. After a near coronary climbing Marjoribanks Street, we made the final push. Averting heat stroke and respiratory failure, we broached the summit. Huzzah. “Oh my good, that was on 20 minutes!” – It felt like 2 hours.
After a photo session
(and a series of Sir Ed jokes from Matt – too soon?) we came back down and treated ourselves to some very self righteous beers, and a late lunch at the Leuven Belgian Beer Café. Back to the hotel to frock-up, and then the gala dinner at Te Papa. This was more yummy food, and we ensconced ourselves with a bunch of Victorians that Kathy knew from ABS. Some series two fisted drinking, and a pretty good night overall. Pre-sleep preparation showed that Matt got burnt 
at the back of his cap on our trek to the Mount!Thu 24 Jan 2008
A horrible early start saw snoozing on the bus and the train, and a surprising sedate day around the Martinborough Wineries. “Stingey” would be how we would describe the tastings. The Te Kairanga winery had the yummiest wines (what we could taste of them). The day was alright we suppose, but not what we were expecting. The lunch was a surprising antipasto which was pretty good.
Returning to Wellington (snoozy again on the train) we headed off to a dinner at Mac’s Brewery. This was pretty good fun. Knowing what lay ahead of us we were (again!) well behaved and back at the hotel by 10:30.
Fri 25 Jan 2008
Yet another early start
, zipping by bus over to the Kapiti Coast
, and then across to the Island
itself. This was amazing! The walk was an absolute killer (2 hours up, 90 minutes back), but
the 
birds
were
just
amazing
, and the view
was 
spectacular. Again the weather was perfect, and the day was pretty much the highlight of the week. The birds in the piccies above are weka, kaka, a native parrot, native pigeon and takahe.
Dinner was at the Fisherman’s Table at the rotunda thingy on the harbour. We had always talked about this place, having walked past it so many times when “Doing the bay”, but it was, well, mediocre. “Stuck in the 80s” was they way we described it. Nothing actually wrong with the food (it was a set menu with a few choices), but it just lacked an edge somewhat. We were glad that we had a few bevvies at the Black Harp first.
Sat 26 Jan 2008
The last day of SOSCPO! And back onto the train and off to the Races. Didn’t get a collect all day (good at picking 4ths though). Frocked up and out in the sun, it was a pretty good day (although Kath got burnt behind her knees!). The crowd were getting pretty messy by the time the Wellington Cup was run (at 4:12), with glammed-up girls ending up arse-over-tit all over the place (glad to say that our SOSCPO crew were above this sort of silliness. Another sleepy train ride, a few revivers at the General Practitioner, and then off to the ultimate function dinner at Town Hall. Our behaviour here was not quite as exemplary as earlier days, and a great time was had by all. SOSCPO was over, and after 7 days of non-stop action we were buggered!
