Sunday, October 20, 2013

Solo Date: Tennyson Street Fair and Waterfront Walk

Rich is crazy busy this weekend, finishing up his last paper of the semester (hurrah!) so I've been hanging out by myself most of the weekend.  I decided yesterday I really wanted to check out the Tennyson Street Fair an I guess I could of text a friend or two to find someone to come along with me, but then I thought, actually sometimes it's kind of nice to spend time by yourself. So I decided to go solo and it was still pretty fun.

Tennyson Street is an inner city Wellington street and when I read about the fair I decided it sounded like it would be really fun to go. I'm so happy spring is here and summer is just around the corner so the season of fairs and festivals is upon us!
I was pretty excited to see when I walked into the fair that there was a whole space dedicated to animals! It's not something you often see at city fairs - but I was so excited to see some furry friends in the city. 
 This wee shetland pony was strapped into a cart - I guess maybe to give kiddies rides?
So there were two ridiculously fluffy chickens (or perhaps bantams), two bunnies and two guinea pigs all hanging out together. I have never seen fluffy chickens like these guys before, they were pretty awesome!
Here's the bunny being feed by one of the local kiddies who managed to find some grass from somewhere? I'm not sure quite where as this area is pretty much full of apartments.
 More adorable bunny and chicken times.
There was also a donkey in the city - he's much smaller than my mum's donkey Sultan, but he was pretty friendly.
Finally an alpaca or is it a llama? How do you tell the difference? I didn't try to pet him as I've heard that alpaca/llama can spit at you. I actually don't know if that is true, or some kind of old wives tale. Either way I'm not taking the chance. There was also a cute goat hanging out with the alpaca/llama, but I didn't get a picture as he was surrounded by kids - turns out goats are pretty popular animals.
The had all the usual fair goodies on sale - candy floss, candy apples and the like. There was also a church stall that had amazing baked goodies. I bought Rich a cake pop to help him along with his study.
There were loads of stalls selling cute things - I really liked these swirly sticks, they looked so pretty in the sun. If I didn't live in an apartment I would have bought one! 
One of the stalls had a bubble machine - you can see the bubbles float past this old building and sign for the fair.
I love the street art of the city - its one of the reasons I love living in town so much (that and the fact everything is so close).
There was a band playing the blues at the end of the street - I'm not sure what they were called but they were pretty awesome. They were singing a song about first world blues and tough issues like paying $2.50 for bottled water and not being able to buy the latest iphone. 
 As you can all see it was a stunner of a day - look at those blue skies!
Before I left to go to the fair I asked Rich if he wanted anything and his response was something for lunch - so I took home some hari krishna food, its just not a festival without delicious hari krishna food. 

I took home the curries and rice to have lunch with Rich and ask it was such a nice day I decided to head to the waterfront for a walk in the sunshine.
I decided to stop and sit in the sun with a gelato - chocolate and cherry flavours.
They bring this piano out to the waterfront on sunny days - too bad Rich wasn't with me, he can actually play piano!
A few more photos of our pretty city in the sunshine!


There is a fence along the bridge on the waterfront where people put padlocks - to secure true love perhaps?
Finally a newish mural that's now on a building across the road from Te Papa - its by BMD and I love all the sharks - especially the three eyed shark.




The mural actually has a serious side, its to help raise awareness of and hopefully contribute to an end to shark finning in New Zealand waters. Greenpeace is currently running a major campaign to ban shark finning in our waters and if you're a Kiwi sign up and see how you can help stop it happening here. I'm not against eating delicious fish, but this is a brutal and also wasteful practice and I really don't think it should be happening here.

I hope that you've all had a lovely weekend - I'm off to finish up Halloween themed dress number two!

11 comments:

Kura Carpenter said...

Ponies! that's a quality fair :)

Curtise said...

I love going to events like this, and I always like spending time on my own too! Lots to look at and enjoy - animals, crafts, food, music, couldn't be better, and all in lovely sunshine too! I always like to see your waterfront pics, and the mural is brilliant.
Hope Rich got his work finished and enjoyed his curry and cake pop! xxxx

Vix said...

That looks just like my kind of thing and the weather looks fantastic, too! xxx

Unknown said...

I love street happenings :) If they have animals I always go near to them and start to sneeze like crazy (I'm allergic to most furry animals ;/). The shark graffitis are awesome :D

Krista said...

Perfect way to spend a gorgeous spring day! I laughed at what the blues band was singing about, too funny, and love the piano for anyone to play! All the food looks delicious I bet Rich was more than happy when you got home,
Xxoo

Helga said...

Great graffiti! What a great day out, and look at all the adorable critters!
Hare Krishna food is rather yum, there used to be a restaurant in town...no idea if they've started up again. Their headquarters on Bealey Ave is also gone. Sweet of you to take Rich some lunch, he didn;t miss out on the best bit, then! XXX

Louise said...

Everything looks so interesting and pretty, especially along by the water. You're making me wish it was Spring over here! The animals are all so cute. The chickens are a breed called silkies (I used to sell pet chickens for a few years including silkies every now and then), and I think it's an alpaca in the photo, As far as I know alpacas and llamas spit when they're angry or threatened, but they'e generally quite docile. And that's my random useless information of the day! Haha!

Sandra said...

There is always something to do in Wellington, and it was a great weekend to be out and about. My life is always so full of people that spending some me time with me is always nice :)

alicia said...

llamas are pretty much twice the size of alpacas. llamas have a very coarse outer coat over a softer inner coat - as opposed to the alpaca, which has a very fine, single coat. both are adorable! <3

JuanitaTortilla said...

I like solo dates, and this isn't quite a solo date if you had taken us along with you in mind to blog about it ;)

Those padlocks are everywhere!

Anonymous said...

Your photos of your adventures in Wellington always make we want to explore it more than I do. We live in such a great place, why don't I explore more? Thanks for the inspiration and the beautiful photos!