Windy in Wellington
Feb 17–22 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
Our next destination definitely lived up to its nickname "Windy Welly"! Although we were lucky to have just dodged the "super wind" event of 90+ mph winds that knocked out services and some transportation (airports, roads, ferries), it was still breeze on for most of our 5-night stay. Luckily, while breezy, the direction was right for a smooth ferry ride from Picton to Wellington of about 3 hours through Queen Charlotte Sound and the famed Cook Strait that separates (and acts as a wind funnel through) the North and South Islands. The large ferry (8 levels) was well appointed with comfy seating areas, bars, and cafes (picture from the water level in the last post).
The AirBnB was right in the heart of town, a block from the trendy pedestrian Cuba Street with eateries, art, and "Op Shops" (NZ for thrift shops). The walkability allowed Cyndee and I who had not been to Wellington before to do the museums and such while the others who had been there before (Stef, Brian, Mark) to catch up with their fitness (gym, swimming) and meeting up with a guide they had met earlier in their travels.
The Te Papa Museum exceeded the hype. It took Cyndee and I two bites at the apple to see the whole place (good thing tickets are good for 48 hours!) with cool exhibits on the volcanos and super volcano (Taupo) that created the Islands, crazy birds and insects that inhabit the place, indigenous art, and very cool Maori history exhibits. There was also a powerful exhibit on the Anzac experience at Gallipoli in WWI enhanced with some stunning Weta Workshop re-creations of real life soldiers and nurses.
As for the "and such", Wellington is teeming with Op Shops (thrift stores) and Cyndee proved to be a savant in the genre. With that and the cool outfitting shops (think REI), now my shopping needs are for another suitcase to make the trip home! Between shopping and sight-seeing, Wellington has lots of fun bars, restaurants, and beer gardens with a good selection of craft beers that we enjoyed (see photos). A highlight was the tasting menu at the hip, Asian-inspired Koji. So much food for only $72pp for our table including wine!
Stef had also booked us for a fun day excursion through the Wairarapa Valley to the wine region of Martinborough with more boutique (read: smaller) vineyards and olive groves. One of the cool features of NZ is the crazy number of microclimates within close proximity. We also marveled that an area at 41 degrees latitude (equivalent in the north to NYC or Chicago and in the south to Puerto Montt where we just sailed in Chile) could grow not only grapes, but limes, lemons, olives, and apple trees! We visited a small winery that had just won an award for their Pinot Noir, a small olive grower, an artisanal cheese producer cheekily named C'est Cheese, and a small chocolatier with some crazy flavors such as fennel, ghost pepper, and several florals (yuck!). We had a fun game of "name that flavor" before buying a chocolate shot for the ride home :)
Another highlight was a visit to the Weta Workshop, home to the incredible company behind the effects in the Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as so many other films and video games. The tour was really fun and showed the incredible detail, effort, and artistry that goes into making incredible creatures/characters/settings come to life (for instance hairs that are placed one by one to replicate human hair and chain maille that was sewn together one tiny link at a time).
On our way out of town heading to Taupo, Mark suggested we tour "The Beehive" which is NZ's funky parliament building. The tour was short and fun, giving us an appreciation for the inclusiveness of the NZ parliament system including the fun fact that NZ was the first country in the world to give woman the right to vote in 1893.Read more