Blown away by Wellington

Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, is nicknamed "Windy Wellington" for good reason.  It has an average wind speed of 26 kph, or 16 mph.  According to one of our guides, on Thursday, the day we bypassed Napier, the wind in Wellington was as high as 120 kpn, or 75 mph.  A sign on the top of Mt. Victoria reported a storm in 1968 when wind gusts reached 270 kpm, or 168 mph.  This Hollywood style sign gives a nod not only to the 5th largest film making center in the world, on the Miramar peninsula of town, but Wellington's windy reputation.  The city lies on the southwest tip of the North Island on the Cook Strait.  It is named for the Duke of Wellington who was the victor at the Battle of Waterloo.  

 Our dock was at the yellow pin.  I love to watch as we get closer and closer to each of our ports.  I usually wake up, look out our window, then throw on some clothes and go outside, either on the veranda, or sometimes up to the outer deck of the Explorers Lounge.  I snap lots of pictures, keeping an eye on the time so I can fit in a shower and breakfast before it's time to head out for our excursion.

The picture above is the view behind us as we sailed in this morning at sunrise. 

It was a sunny start to the day, so we had good light for pictures as we approached the dock, but starting around 2:00 pm, it became drizzly.  (The brown in the foreground is stacks of Monterrey pine lumber awaiting export.)

My first excursion of the day was billed "For Lord of the Rings Aficionados".  Our driver/guide took us to the Weta Workshop Visitor's Center.   Weta is the Maori name for an endemic New Zealand katydid-like insect that fills up the palm of the hand.  The founders of the workshop, Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger, named their company after "New Zealand's coolest little monster".   They started making creatures and makeup effects in 1987, then came to worldwide prominence when producing sets, armor, weapons, creatures, and miniatures for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy.

We could take photos in the first room of the center, but when we were ushered into the area where we were surrounded by weapons, masks, costumes, etc., photos were strictly forbidden.   It was interesting to listen to our guide who had worked there for 14 years explain the materials and methods used in making costumes and weapons for LOTR.  He also told us about the ordeals the actors have to endure to wear those costumes during filming.  It gave me a little more appreciation for what they do.

After our visit to Weta, our guide took us to the filming location for the portion of the 2001 Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring set in the Tortured Forest.  It is near the top of Mt. Victoria in a tangle of Monterrey Pines that had been planted very close together.  He was able to show us several specific places where the scenes were shot and talked about the process of setting up the shots.  (Look at the branches behind him, then at the picture he is holding.)

Our guide then took us to a view point on 196 meter tall Mt. Victoria where we could look out over this very hilly city.  He told us about the 1855 Wairarapa 8.2 earthquake which lifted the northwestern side of Wellington Bay by up to 1.5 meters.  Most of the resulting tidal swamp was systematically reclaimed.  He drove us along the street that originally formed the harbor which is about 3 blocks inland from the present harbor.  Because New Zealand is so prone to earthquakes, laws have been passed that require all buildings where people congregate, be engineered to withstand a magnitude 9.3 shake.  Our guide pointed out several buildings that are slated to be demolished because they don't meet the standard.

Looking down the opposite side of Mt. Victoria, you can see the Wellington International airport.   The runway lies in a north-south direction, but the prevailing wind is in the northwesterly direction, which makes landing here a test of skill.  Nevertheless, he told us that 300 commercial flights are handled each day.

We went to the top of the Wellington Cable Car line which is about a 1/2 mile track. 

The hilly nature of Wellington inspires the use of cable cars to transport residents.  We saw several privately owned one-car lines to take people from their cars to their homes on the hills.  

 I got back to the ship in time to run onboard for a pit stop, then turned around to join David pier side for the included "Highlights of Wellington" excursion.  Although it was a nice drive around town, without too much duplication for me, we were disappointed that the windows of our bus were covered with an advertisement mesh.  We could see out pretty well, but it made picture taking impossible.  

Then we stopped at the Wellington Botanical Garden's rose garden and begonia houses.  Of course, I took lots of pictures of begonias that were twice the size of the ones we grow at our house in Sandy, but I'm not going to bore you with more photos of flowers today.  Instead, I want to share two plants that I thought were out of the ordinary.  The picture on the left is a hanging basket of pitcher plant, and the one on the right is a banana palm.

Back up at the top of Mt. Victoria, the clouds had closed in. 

 (That's the way my hair looks most days on this trip.)

Despite the drizzle, I can't resist sharing this sail out photo at the mouth of this very large harbor.  As soon as we left the protection of the harbor the sea became very rough.  David has gone to sleep while I've been finishing up this post.  That seems to be the best way for him to handle it.  I'm afraid as we sail around the southern tip of New Zealand and on to Australia, that the ocean will be like this most of the time.  Tomorrow we will go on an 8 hour excursion to the Southern Alps to see more of the locations for filming the Lord of the Rings.