Wellington

26 February 2023 to 02 March 2023

It was wet and windy when we arrived in Wellington.

Interislander Ferry across the Cook Straight

Profiteroles at Portofino Restaurant

Saturday night we braved the wind and the rain to walk down to Portofino Restaurant on Customhouse Quay. This was a short walk from the Wellesley hotel, where we stayed in Wellington.

Could this be the inspiration for Gollum?

Sunday afternoon we walked to the Te Papa museum, one of the best museums in New Zealand. Julie was impressed (and a little freaked out) by the Blood, Earth, Fire exhibit, describing all of the different ways New Zealanders could perish in geological disasters. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, fires, volcanos not to mention cyclones.

Wellington harbor, with Te Papa museum (the large grey structure in the distance).

Sunday evening we toured Zealandia. Zealandia is a 500+ acre ecosanctuary located about 2 kilometers from Wellington’s city center. Zealandia is surrounded by a 8.6 kilometer predator proof fence with a 500 year mission of restoring the ecosystem to pre-human state.

There is a lot of engineering involved in creating a predator proof fence. How high can a house cat jump? Possum climb? How do you keep a bunny from tunneling under?

Takahe, 2 of ~500 in existence.

Because it was a night tour, we were able to see and hear many indigenous New Zealand birds and reptiles we would not normally see in the day. Tuatara, Takahe, Weta (think prehistoric crickets) and the elusive Kiwi. The tour used red lights, so as not to disturb the animals, which washes out the colors.

Tuatara

There is a Kiwi there somewhere!

We heard the call and response of male and female Little Spotted Kiwis throughout the night, but they remained elusive until the very end of the tour. We got a great look at one in the brush. Julie hung back a bit, and the little guy/girl almost ran over her feet when they scooted across the path into the brush on the other side. We were very excited to get a look at a kiwi in the wild-ish.

Tuesday we toured the Weta workshop, where the miniatures, makeup, costumes, armor and weapons and special effects for the Lord of the Rings moves were created. Because Weta don’t own the IP for the movies, we were not able to take photos during most of the tour.

We stopped for lunch in Miramar and ran into Gandalf in front of the Roxy Cinema

Anthony, hiding from Nazgul

After Weta and lunch, we drove up to Mount Victoria to find four Lord of the Rings shooting locations, 3 of the scenes on the way to Bree from the Shire. 1) Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippen hiding from the Nazgul. 2) Frodo reading in the branch of a tree. 3) Merry and Pippen being chased by Farmer Maggot down a hill. 4) The trail where Frodo meets Gandalf on the way into the Shire early on in the Fellowship of the Rings.

Are they all in the exact location? You be the judge.

Imagine Frodo smoking a pipe and reading a book in the nook of this tree, before his life becomes much more interesting.

Anthony plays the parts of both Merry and Pippen, while Julie fills in for Sir Peter Jackson.

Frodo jumps from down on Gandalf’s wagon here.

Monument to Richard Byrd, Admiral, Explorer and negotiator.

We summited Mount Victoria, and were rewarded with a panoramic view of Wellington.

Miramar, where Weta Workshop is located.

Wellington Harbor, where we are staying.

The odd round structure New Zealand Parliament building, our hotel is about a block from there toward the harbor.

This tripod is another Weta art installation, across the street from the Embassy Theater in downtown Wellington.

Wednesday we took a boat ride to a lifeboat sanctuary, Kapiti Island. Kapiti Island has no predators and is a perfect location for New Zealand indigenous birds and lizards. Had a 4 mile hike. On the way we stopped at a sacred lagoon, where the Mauri disposed of their enemies bodies (the bits not eaten). At the lagoon overlook, a mischievous spirit pulled Julies jacket out of our backpack. Fortunately, our guide picked it up on the way back.

Our boat, the tractor backs it out into the sea.

The birds on the island were very friendly and posed for the camera. Unfortunately, the Takahes were on walkabout, visiting the another family of Takahes on the North side of the island.

On Wednesday, we took the cable car up to the Wellington Botanical Garden. We visited the Space Place and learned the universe is 68% Dark Energy, 27% Dark Matter, which leaves 5% of what we can observe. We hiked down the hill through the Botanical Gardens into the city. Lastly we checked out the weird building in parliament and found some embassys.

Evidence of Hashers in the Wellington Arboretum

The Wellesley Boutique Hotel was a block and a half from Parliment in one direction and SAS New Zealand the other way.