Last weekend, Mulan solo traveled for the first time ever.
On Friday afternoon she flew down to Wellington, stayed in a backpackers, then flew back up to Auckland on Sunday night.
This was because the concert band that she plays in (West City Youth Concert Band) was performing at the New Zealand Concert Bands Association National Festival, which this year was held in Wellington.
In Wellington, Mulan caught the bus from the airport to the backpackers, and then back again. Once at the backpackers she was able to walk everywhere, as it was close to the performance hall and CBD.
At the backpackers, Mulan roomed in a 4-bed dorm, and she used the shared kitchen to cook her meals. Frequent family travels over the years meant she was pretty familiar with buying what she needed from the supermarket to cook. So, independent living went smoothly.
She said that on Saturday and Sunday morning she did lots of sightseeing walks around Wellington, clocking up a couple of dozen kilometres on her phone app.
Then on Sunday afternoon her band performed at the festival.
They played four pieces, which happily were recorded and posted on YouTube for us family back home to enjoy:
We can see Mulan at the front centre, playing the flute.
Delightfully, the band was awarded Gold by the festival adjudicators. Well done everyone!
It sounds like she had lots of fun, and this may be the first of many more travel adventures.
