Wellington, New Zealand: We’ve made it to New Zealand, our new home for a month! It’s a country Thomas & I agreed would be perfect for our first stop in a year of living abroad. It’s been on the top of our lists of places to visit, and with dear friends Catherine & Terence here to host us, we could not be starting off in a more welcoming place.

We left Düsseldorf on Sunday night, connected in Abu Dhabi on Monday morning, arrived in Sydney on Tuesday morning, and then finally made it to Wellington on Tuesday afternoon. We cleared quarantine, our bag arrived as planned, Terence picked us up and brought us to the cutest apartment in downtown Wellington (thank you Terence & Catherine!!). Such a treat to be staying here while we recover from jet lag and explore this capital city.

The view out our front window is of the harbor and all the cross-island ferries coming in. On our first day, we ventured along the water, then over & up thousands of stairs to Mount Victoria. The views of the city were stunning, and we couldn’t help but notice how much Wellington reminds us of San Francisco. Lots of hills, which may need to be navigated later in the trip once our jet lag has worn off (notice a napping Thomas amongst these photos).