Kiwi Frisco

Wellington is the third city I've visited in New Zealand, having spent the vast majority of my time in small towns and in the bush. It's nothing like Auckland, and I'm interested to see some of the other cities now. The similarity between SF and Wellington is eerie.. It's surreal for me to walk around a city so like my adopted hometown..

I was given a bed and meals by Robin's boyfriend's family (she met her boyfriend in Alaska when he was an exchange student there..). This first photo is the view from their house.



I don't have any pictures of the house itself, or the inside, but it's basically like every home in San Francisco. Wood floors, long hallways, high ceilings, decorative moulding, etc... The architecture is the same Victorian style, so walking around the streets is like being in a parallel universe. See below.



There's also the same hills, and the wind blows over the bay in exactly the same way. If you click on this photo, you can clearly see the purple house on the right, which is painted like the nicer houses in SF.



Robin showed me her favorite spots in the city. We visited cafes like Fidels on Cuba Street (Cuba Street = Haight street, Valencia Street, and Divisadero all mushed together. Wellington is much smaller than SF afterall) where we had flat whites (one of New Zealand's finest inventions, an espresso drink that is halfway between a latte and a cappuccino) cakes and cookies, such as the vegan chocolate raspberry cupcake below. We avoided the savory baked goods that dominate the countertops, savory pies and muffins. no way!





We went to see a movie (Away We Go) at the little cinema house by her house where they served wine and lattes to enjoy during the film.



We went by a venue called the San Francisco Bath House to check out the gig calendar, but didn't go inside..



And we wandered around the city, hitting up used book shops and checking out all the street art. The style here is so Frisco! There's lots of cute monster themes in the art (there's a shop just like Kid Robot) and overpriced but cute used clothing stores.. Below are some photos of the street art, including my favorite discoveries, something I've read about on the internet (thanks to Gabriella) but never stumbled upon on the street, guerilla knitting!!