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January and February 2004: Wellington
The year 2004 started off on a very exciting note for Lisa, since she spent December 2003 and January 2004 in Neuss (near Dusseldorf), Germany, with her host family. This wonderful opportunity for total immersion in the German language was arranged by the secondary schools German Language Exchange programme. She had a great time and saw many wonderful sights, amongst them also Paris!
She returned home via Pretoria, collected Ouma Leila there and accompanied her on the trip to Dunedin for Ouma's two–month visit here. During the early part of 2004 we undertook several trips, the first one being Ouma Leila and Leta visiting Jacques and Hester in Wellington. In the first photo Ouma Leila poses with Jacques and Hester at the entrance to the parliament buildings. The next two photos are of the actual parliament buildings, fondly referred to as the "Beehive", and of the Library of Parliament.
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In the central plaza in Wellington there is this amazing hollow ball of silver ferns seemingly floating in the air. Depending on your angle of view, it may seem to perch on top of a building. Well, it is not magic — the ball is suspended from cables strung between the surrounding buildings.
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Jacques and Hester do not have a car, so we walked everywhere or took the bus or a taxi when necessary. It is very easy to get about using public transportation in New Zealand, quite contrary to our experiences in South Africa. Anyway, we were very impressed with Ouma Leila's stamina and enjoyment of the long walks.