Wellington

Our journey to Wellington was certainly a long one. We left Kaikoura mid-morning day one and drove to a small town called Hanmer Springs where we had a relaxed afternoon with a nice lunch and mini golf in the sun (Beth won!). Early morning day two we began a mega journey that took us 7 hours, following the 'Inland Scenic Route' to Picton. Normally from Kaikoura a 2 hour drive north along Highway 1 would take you to the ferry but the earthquake in November 2016 (have a read about this in Beth's Kaikoura post) devastated the road and the repairs are still ongoing now, meaning a lengthy, and equally beautiful, inland detour is the only option. Our ferry left Picton on the north of the South Island at 7pm and the crossing was through calm and clear waters as the sun set into the ocean. As we arrived into Wellington it was well and truly dark and the city was lit up for the night, giving us our first taste of the North Island.

For our first day in Wellington we woke early and the view from our hillside AirBnB was across the city to where the sun was rising in the East. We were out early to join the commuters journeying through the centre of the city to go to 'The Weta Cave'. A weta is a termite like creature found only in New Zealand and the 'Cave' we were visiting is far from it, as it's actually the workshop of one of the best special effects and props companies in the worldwide movie industry.

Our tour began with strict instructions on no photo taking - they're working on real movies and projects where we were being shown! Also we were told to touch only what we were told we could, as they had only a few fakes and reproductions, meaning the rest were real and had featured in films. The next hour was filled with being shown around the techniques and skillsets used by their talented team to create incredible items, from a Master Swordsmith (one of only 7 in the last 200 years to be given that title, by HRH Queen Elizabeth II) to a lady whose specialism is to add hairs one-by-one to silicon masks, faces and anything else that requires the look. A lot of the tour focused on Lord of the Rings, as Weta provided everything from Sauron's suit of armour to chainmail, arrows and even prosthetics. Through an intro video we were shown we also found out that Peter Jackson is one of the co-founders of the workshop, so it's no wonder they had such a hand in creating so much of the films! More recently they've worked on The Avengers Assemble, Tin Tin, District 9 and Mad Max. It was a really intersting tour and we enjoyed having a good geek-out!

Next we headed for the centre of the city, walking from where we parked along the waterfront area. We found a restaurant-laden pedestrianised street and relaxed with a leisurely lunch in the sun. Just next to where we were sat there was 'The Bucket Fountain' which cascades water down from the top through a series of tipping buckets, giving the occasional splash as it reaches the bottom - pretty good fun! It was only a short walk from there to Te Papa (The Museum of New Zealand), however first we had to stop for an ice cream on the old dock fronts! The museum itself is a large and rather ugly building but contains within it an incredible variety of displays.

We headed first for one of their temporary exhibits about New Zealand's involvement at Gallipoli. We weren't very aware of the detail of the battles there, so for anyone else in a similar position here's a quick run down: In April 1915 during the First World War the British Empire and allies planned an invasion at Gallipoli, Turkey. Over 9 months hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides fought, were injured and died before the allied forces retreated. There were some particularly bloody battles and the exhbition we went to told the story of the campaign from the perspective of the accounts left by a handful of soldiers and a nurse who were from New Zealand. The design and creation of it all was a pairing between Te Papa and Weta Workshop, and centred around 6 incredibly large manakins who had been created by Weta. The manakins were between 2 and 8 metres in size and some depicted different elements of battle, including the grief and fear that accompanied the experience for so many men and women. There were also 3D videos and mini models of things like the beachfront trench layout and a hospital ship donated entirely by the public of New Zealand. We found the whole exhibit sad but it portrayed in a very interactive and different way the stories of those who took part in a terrible time in history. The final manakin was a lone soldier standing in a basin-like area. As you walked around him on a descending slope to his feet you could drop a message written onto a paper poppy at his feet - lest we forget.

The museum also houses a great number of permanent exhibits, so we chose to go to a few of those with the highlights being a simulation of an earthquake that you experience from within a model house (with moving floor and falling objects!). The waters around New Zealand are also home to giant squid, with one that had been caught and preserved on display (it was about 18m at it's longest!). We found ourselves going through a few of the other exhibitis and agreed that we could have easily spent much longer there, and perhaps will another time - it may be the best museum we've visited and easily spent the rest of our day there.

The following morning we were up early to go to Zealandia with our Airbnb host, Ken. He had worked there for a number of years and has since begun work elsewhere however remains a member and very enthusiastic advocate of the 225 hectare wildife sanctuary. We were joined by some of Ken's other guests and began our guided walk of the area. The reserve is set amongst beautiful forest and encompasses two old reservoirs that previously supplied Wellington with water, until it was realised that they're sat on a fault line in a very earthquake-prone area! We learnt that the reserve has specially designed fences and wildlife traps, all of which are in constant use protecting and helping to reintroduce the birds that live within. During our walk we saw, amongst others (and other wildlife) Tui, Kaka and Takahe. At night you can visit and find Kiwi! The reason the sanctuary is so important for the area is because the introduction of a number of animals by the early European settlers caused the near-extinction of a huge number of native animals and birds, which places like Zealandia are now trying to protect. It's also home to the pre-historic looking Tuatara lizard, which we spotted in an enclosure!

We thoroughly enjoyed our walk with Ken and bid him farewell before a final walk through the area before we began the journey 370km north to our next stop, Taupo.

PhilOkumaya devam et