Being a chef means I work when people rest and eat. I work on most public holidays when people have holidays. I am still working when people are about to hit the pillow. Those are what happened last year. But this year it’s a bit different. I work for a private business club and all staff has 4 weeks off for Christmas-New Year holiday. So I take this chance to travel around the North Island, from Auckland to the capital of Wellington.
My previous post was about our first day hitting the road. After leaving beautiful Palmerston North city at noon, we headed to Wellington along the west side on State highway 1.
Stunning views roadside and nice weather were big pluses on our trip.
We stopped at Coastlands Shopping Center - Paraparaumu for petrol and food. It has a nice range of shops and eateries where we found enjoyable and relaxed than large noisy, busy shopping malls.
We went to KFC for a quick meal since no one had a proper lunch. And it had been the best service ever at KFC and fast food in general in my life. It was around 2 pm but many customers line up to order. There was one staff in front to take orders and pass the food. She worked really fast, almost finished the current order before she took another one without letting customers wait.
When pumping drink, she paused to wait for bubbles to break, in the meantime, she grabbed chicken, burger, or fries, then came back to the drink, pump more, and flattened before closing with a lid on. My food came a bit late and she apologized for delaying with a very polite voice. I was waiting not even 3 minutes. Wow, she is absolutely an excellent and dedicated worker. If I were an employer, I would love to have people like her in my team.
Then we went to Raumati beach to sit down for lunch and had a beach walk. The beach is on the Kapiti Coast of the north island, two minutes driving from the shopping center. We could see Kapiti island in close distance.
Kapiti island is not too far in front
I was wondering if the location of Kapiti and New Zealand ice cream brand Kapiti have anything related to each other. Interestingly, yes the famous ice cream takes its name from its original factory in Paraparaumu.
Well-behaved birds are waiting for food
Living in New Zealand for years but I have not got used to the weather here. In summer, I feel cold in shadow and it burns if I stay in the sunlight. In a nice sunny summer afternoon, I enjoyed the sunbathe without realizing I was exposed to fierce sunlight for too long. the As a result, my legs and my arms got bad burns. I felt water cutting my burnt skin areas when I had shower.
It took about 2 hours driving straight from Palmerston North to Wellington but we stopped at Raumati beach so we reached by dinner.
Dropping members in our crew at their hostel, I and my partner come to our friends’ apartment where we stayed during our time in Wellington. They already flew to Invercargill for their baby’s first birthday before we arrived and would come back after we left. We couldn’t meet but somehow it was perfect for us to have a shelter instead of renting a room at the hotel. It meant we saved a bit for this long trip.
We went to The Old Quarter for dinner. It is located on Dixon street, right in the center of Wellington, serving fusion Vietnamese cuisine. I was excited because my friend highly recommended this restaurant and I trust him since he has a good tongue for food. It was pretty crowded when we came in. Staff checked our vaccine pass then showed us our seats.
Cha Ca La Vong
I ordered Cha Ca La Vong (Turmeric grilled fish with dill and shrimp paste) and my partner had Grandma’s beef curry. My grilled fish was super hot that my mouth got burnt when I put the first piece in. The food, in general, was just ok, not too outstanding as being rated on TripAdvisor. I think maybe I am Vietnamese and I apply Vietnamese food standards on those dishes so I didn’t feel it close to “authentic” though they were made by Vietnamese chefs and in a Vietnamese restaurant. Well, think twice, I understand I was too tough and my expectation was too high. Cuisine needs to be changed to adapt and survive in a foreign country. People love it. It’s a good thing.
The funny thing was my partner ordered beef curry, it was described as slow-cooked beef with pieces of potato, topped with coconut milk. That’s it. We wondered if it came with any starch like rice or bread because it’s the way it’s served normally. The waitress told us we could order rice but it would be extra. Wait, I thought in my head, so if we didn’t order rice, the dish was just literally a bowl of meat? It was weird though. Anyway, we were hungry and didn’t want to waste time so he got coconut rice with his beef curry. It was not a great experience for the first dinner in Wellington. We came home to rest and unpack our belongings.
My friends’ apartment was a very small studio, quite old, with a mezzanine floor where the couple and 1-year-old baby sleep, no balcony, by the main road and the windows are not noise-proof. It was very noisy, to be honest. The amazing part is the rent is much higher than my two-bedroom apartment in Auckland in CBD. I talked to my other friends and they said it was normal in Wellington with that price range and even harder to find a suitable one than in Auckland. I don’t think I am willing to move out of Auckland to another city.
