Wellington, walking and lord of the rings.

Wellington is like a real city, it has traffic lights as I already talked about in the previous blog. It also has roadworks as any city that make the main roads incredibly hard to travers. There are a lot of busses, as in public transport and those have a new system. It is a very well thought out hub system. So you travel from hub to hub and as a result Wellington now has a special phone number to help the totally lost local and tourist population travel by bus. It might even work if the person on the other side of the line knew what the names of the bus stops where. But the one I got didn’t. it was a good thing that I always look out and have an almost compulsion to read anything with letters or I would have missed the street sign and stayed on the bus for way to long. But that adventure is to come.

First of was getting food for the evening. Small problem, my B&B was on a very steep hill. As in a very steep an long hill. Stayed there for five days and the minimum number of stops on the way up hill was 2. That was the time I didn’t have anything extra to carry.

And of course all the food places are down the hill. That evening I went for something simple and recognizable, Turkish pizza, although it was called something else.

Then up the hill I went to sleep. Small problem the school year had started again so the students in the house next to the B&B where back and having a “small” celebration to start the new school year. It lasted until  about 2 am. And no ear plugs where not enough.

So the next day a pretty sleep deprived and cranky me went to the Wellington museum. Most is free but the special exhibition off the terracotta warriors from China was not. But I always wanted to see those statues so off I went on the first round. And they really are amazing. To bad there where only about 10 of the over a thousand there are. But also a bunch of gold, jade and bronze objects so all in all a pleasant hour spend on that. Then the rest of the museum.

Wetta studio’s made a display of first war soldiers and a nurse. Those are amazing. Bigger than life size, ( think about 3 times) those statues where so life like. I could almost smell the sweat and dirt and pus oozing out.

Luckily for the rest of the people looking on there was no smell in reality.

The Maori displays are amazing as well but no pictures allowed.

After that I went for a walk along the harbor. And I was stunned. Seems like the New Zealand government believes that people have a brain and do not actually have a death wish. Because there was a platform about 5 meters above the water where people where just allowed to jump off. And along the water edge there where no fences and big signs saying that water can be dangerous and wet and forbidding you to go there. Nope just a small sign saying mind the gap and that was it. If you fall in, your problem.

And people where swimming in the harbor. And diving of that platform, kids even where allowed to do so. I was shocked I tell you, shocked. How can any government of city council go from the assumption that people have a brain and no active death wish.

The rest of the day I just walked around Wellington in a daze. In and out of art studio’s, restaurants and pubs. How is this possible? People who are allowed to think about their own safety and if they want to do dangerous things they can. On their own time and because it isn’t organized they don’t even have to sign a disclaimer.

For the next day I organized a lord of the  rings location and Wetta studio’s tour. So early in the morning I went down the hill, walking of course, to the pick up place.

The tour guide had something of a hobbit himself, but he preferred to call himself Peter Jacksons illegitimate eldest son. And okay with a bit of imagination ( or a lot) he did kind of look like Peter.

He had a bunch of good stories. And he knew his stuff. First to the river Anduin. Then to Isengard, Rivendale and the outer shire. Seems the outer shire was real close to my B&B, just a bit further up the hill.

Then off to lunch in a restaurant he claims was a favorite with the crew of Lord of the Rings. If it was I can understand why. And then to the Wetta studio’s for a  short film, a long time in the shop, ( no surprise there), and  tour of the special effects studio’s, but no pictures allowed. Bummer. It was interesting and if I was 20 years younger I might have tried to become a special effects specialist. Because those people have a nice job.  Imagine getting paid to make things look old and worn.

I was afraid I would be bored out of my skull on the north island, because the travel agency only booked two things while here. And on the north island I had a bunch of stuff already booked. That fear was unnecessary it seems.

Day three was up on the cable car to the top of one of the hills, to the botanical garden. There was a line because there where cruise ships in the harbor. But once on to of the hill I lost the crowd soon enough. Went to Zealandia, a nature reserve with a cat/rat/ opossum and ferret proof fence. It really is something from Jurassic park. But it works because plenty of birds and ancient lizards over there.

Last day the weather turned. This was the day with the adventure bus ride to the local zoo. It seems to me that a Zoo should always have a bus going directly from the city center to the Zoo, not first to the local hospital as a hub and then the next bus a bunch of minutes later to the Zoo, but that is the way it is. The fastest way was a bus from the city center to a residential area and then a 10 minutes walk to the Zoo.

Turns out the Zoo was a  bit of a disappointment anyway, and it takes a lot for me to claim that a Zoo is a disappointment. But they had tigers, only didn’t see any, they had bears, but didn’t see any, they had orangutans, but didn’t see any, the chimps where there but killed a sparrow in front of me. Not nice chimps. And the list goes on.

That afternoon I just did lazy with a book. Sometimes being lazy is very important. And I am starting to get impression overload.