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Even the weather is into the swing of things for my weekend in Wellington. The sun is shining gloriously over Wellington Harbour, causing it to sparkle as if littered with diamonds flirting with the visitors strolling along the waterfront, and the notorious wind is laying low.
With airfares so cheap these days, I booked a weekend in my diary and organised my parents to join me from Hawkes Bay. The main excuse is to celebrate mine and my mother's birthdays but the Rhinestone Cowboy himself, Glen Campbell, is in town so what better way to pretend we're cultured than with a weekend in a nice hotel, shopping, eating and hanging out?
We're in the centrally located Citylife Hotel on Lambton Quay, conveniently close to the shops, which means we nip back and drop off our purchases frequently. But it is eclectic Cuba St that I find myself drawn to.
It's named after a ship that called at Wellington in 1839, rather than the communist Caribbean country, but the cafes and bars prefer the cigar-smoking, mojito-drinking image than that of the land speculators who originally checked out this soil.
Cuba St's brick lane, edged with cafes, bars and shops, starts at Manners Mall and I weave my way through an obstacle course of buskers, Falun Dafa meditators, families with pushchairs and teenagers looking cool, decorating the street.
The famous plastic-bucket fountain mesmerises children dressed as their favourite cartoon hero and dodging the odd skateboarder or stepping carefully around a chalk mural on the ground gives me a taste of what the biannual Cuba St Carnival in February is like. The next event is scheduled for 2009.
My parents have gone out to the Home Ideas Centre in Petone to look for home ideas so I am left to my own devices to browse through vintage shops and manhandle the many collectibles I find along the way.
But first I pop into Mr Bun and choose a chocolate rice crackle. After all, it is my birthday and I haven't seen one of these since I was about 6.
Groups of friends and couples are dining at Ernesto, Floriditas and the Matterhorn, all which came highly recommended. But I wipe the chocolate off my face and, noting that my neck and shoulders could do with a bit of knot-work, take a narrow staircase up to the hilariously named "Massage and Therapeu Tic Massage Centre'.
I ask Li for hard pressure, forgetting that though Chinese women look harmless, they in fact have thumbs that could dent a wall. It is so hard the nerves in my hands tingle and I am gritting my teeth with a face like a twisted sandshoe. But it's good in a masochistic kind of way and I leave after 15 minutes, minus only $10 and feeling much looser.
Further up Cuba St, the red bricks turn into grey footpaths and the buildings become more dilapidated. A bypass across the top has been in the pipeline for about 30 years and opens this weekend amid concern that the boho face of this neighbourhood will be lost.
Up this end, the buildings haven't been maintained for about that long and many were demolished to make way for the progress that has driven the hippies and struggling artists into other rundown digs.
But I like the funny little shops that do live here: clothing designers, homewares and discount stores, eateries and watering holes.
On my way back down the street, I detour into Imbibe on Swan Lane and order a mojito to see if they're as good as the real Cuba where Ernest Hemingway invented the drink. It's themed around the prohibition era and the cocktail list is photocopied into pages of classic literature.
I am handed Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist with sneaky dividers denoting the vodka, gin, rum, whisky, et al sections. Bartender Regan muddles the mint and limes, adds a good spoonful of sugar and a slug of Bacardi, tops it up with soda and serves it in a glass jam jar and I settle on the red couch with the paper and write a few notes about Cuba St.
If you've got to work on your birthday (you did know it was mine, didn't you?) this isn't a bad way to do it.
GETTING THERE
Air New Zealand flies from Auckland to Wellington up to 23 times a day with fares starting from $69 per person one way. See airnewzealand.co.nz or ring 0800 737 000.
WHERE TO STAY
The Citylife Wellington on Lambton Quay has a special offer for Easter and the school holidays of a one-bedroom suite for $179. Or upgrade to a two-bedroom suite suitable for up to four people for just $50 more. Offer subject to availability. Phone 0800 36 88 88 or visit www.heritagehotels.co.nz.
MORE INFORMATION
Visit the Positively Wellington website at wellingtonnz.com.
