Wellington

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Well, the time finally came to say goodbye to the south island. I caught a bus from Nelson back to Picton and boarded the ferry that would take me to Wellington. The weather was fair and the crossing uneventful.

For my time in Wellington I would be staying with John and Andrea, the young couple I met while hiking on the Routeburn track. They have a lovely home and it wasn't too far at all from one of the train stations. We spent a quiet evening at their house and the next day I set off to do a little exploring. After catching the train to the downtown, I headed for old Saint Paul's. This had been the main Anglican Cathedral, but it's now only used for special occassions. It's an amazing building with beautiful woodwork and fantastic stained glass. Definitely worth the visit. From there, I made may way toward the parliament buildings and as I did, I stumbled upon the new Anglican cathedral. A far more modern structure, its beauty was of a stark variety.

I didn't spend a lot of time at the parliament buildings, instead, I headed toward Te Papa (the national museum of New Zealand)...after a lunch of fish and chips.

Okay. Te Papa is amazing. It's a huge facility (five floors), with ample display space. I spent most of the afternoon there. There was lots to see (and I didn't see it all), but for me, the highlight was the Brian Brake exhibit. He was a photo journalist from New Zealand and I think his photography is just stunning.

Drinks and dinner with John and Andrea and then back to their place.

Saturday morning they dropped me off at Weta Cave. Weta is a special effects studio that has worked on a few films that you might have heard of - King Kong, Master and Commander, oh, and Lord of the Rings and Avatar. You can't actually tour the studio, but at Weta Cave they have a small retail space with displays of some items from the films they've worked on and there's also a short film all about Weta. Oh, and visiting Weta Cave is free. I like free. I caught the bus back to the downtown area and headed up to the observatory for a "star show". Then it was back to John and Andrea's for a final evening of hospitality (a barbecue party with some of their friends).

Wellington was a lovely place, but the highlight was definitely getting to know John and Andrea better. Fantastic hosts, and lovely people.

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