Windy Wellington

Let’s begin with the classic sound of a Wellington gale hammering against your window as a new day dawns. How your morning will pan out is anyone’s guess. Will you unwillingly unleash your inner Marilyn Munroe and flash your undergarments to the world? Will you do an unwarranted slow-mo moonwalk to ensure you keep your footing? Will you pick your way through rubbish scattered across the pavement by those annoying neighbours who will not tie up their bags sufficiently? Or find yourself in your own Wizard of Oz moment ducking flying objects as you wait at the bus stop?

Email from your landlord

The pinging sound of an email notification from your landlord informing you they’re increasing your rent. Again. At this point, it’s best just to roll over and sleep away the recurring horror. 

Church bells on Molesworth Street

If you’ve ever been painfully awakened by the chiming of church bells from St Paul’s Cathedral on a Sunday morning, you’ll know they produce a frenzied impulse to jump out of bed, head to church and repent your sins from last night’s drunken escapades. Lord have mercy.

Freshers making an O-week ruckus

At the ungodly hour of 4am, you awake to raucous squawking and cackling from outside your apartment. You glance out the window drowsily and briefly wonder if you’ve developed clairvoyant abilities and are seeing ghosts from Bolton Street Cemetery. Then a moment of world weary sophistication you blink and realise it’s a group of rowdy freshmen dressed in togas. Other than opening your window and yelling at them to “shuuut-uuuup!!”, the only other remedy for this annoyance is to cover your ears with a pillow. 

Cackle of laughing gibbons at the zoo

You’re in the quiet outskirts of the city yet your dreams are blissfully interrupted by sounds that mimic a safari deep within the Amazon jungle. You may be compelled to pinch yourself to make sure you’re not still dreaming. A 10/10 way to be greeted by the day.

Mittens the cat meowing at your door

Mittens practically owns Wellington and is renowned for visiting any place in the city which takes his fancy. You never know, he may just show up at your place one morning. Affectionately known by Wellington locals as His Royal Floofiness (HRF); the unexpected arrival of such a regal being may cause you to wonder if you’ve died and gone to heaven. You have not, you’re still alive and the day awaits. Now hurry up, jump out of bed, and let Mittens in. Royalty does not wait and Mittens needs pats ASAP. Oh, and don’t forget to curtsey. 

A dawn chorus of native birds

Efforts from the likes Predator Free Wellington, the Wellington City Council, and Zealandia to clamp down on wild predators in the city have made way for a noticeable increase in native bird populations. Ka pai Poneke! If you’re fortunate enough to awaken to this dawn chorus of environmental hope, count yourself lucky. 

The sweet yet cliché sound of your flatmate chiming “you can’t beat Wellington on a good day”

You open your curtains and are greeted to a day boasting blue skies and just a light breeze. Don’t waste another second. Get out of bed and carpe diem the hell out of it.