Wellington...and the Weta Workshop.

Arrived by Ferry from Picton to the lovely harbor of Wellington. It's like a mini San Francisco. I love it here and am very glad I got to come back one more time.

Windy. Hills. Water. Victorian houses. 

That big structure behind the boats covered in scaffolding is an indoor swimming pool and see the moon rising just by the crane?

Got to swim there twice.

I arrived at the hostel after walking many city blocks, zig zagging, trying to find the darned place, only to walk into this tiny room.

This is the "after" photo because when I first walked in, there was crap strewn all over the floor. Empty bottles. Paper. Clothes. Shoes. Probably some small dead animals too by the smell of it.

I actually exclaimed "oh my God" and walked right back out again.

I went back to the front desk and complained. They sent someone else up to complain then when I went back to the room an hour later, it was neat and tidy with one very pissed off roommate.

Anyhoo, Petra the other roommate from The Netherlands and I wandered about Wellington with a very funny Irish guy....sorry no photo. We were giggling too much to think of it.

The next day I checked into my AirBNB and I had a cozy queen bed with flannel sheets all to myself!

Megan and Joel had a ping pong table and a DVD player so I could finally watch my Hobbit movie.

What did I have for breakfast? A big bowl of Hokey Pokey. 

I read about an underground market. Sounded hip so I decided to go. It's an artsy market in an underground parking lot. 

Once I walked in, I knew I was going to buy something.  

And I did, from this guy. He has all native New Zealand woods and I found a tray that has over 13 distinct woods inlaid. It's gorgeous.

And some motorcycle socks. Merino wool blend.

I got my ear talked off about dyes in China that cause cancer and so on and so forth....

After this, I am headed to Napier. The Art Deco capital  of New Zealand however, Wellington has plenty of these lovely buildings. 

Then I rode the Victoria cable car up to the cable car museum.

If you have not gone to the cable car museum in San Francisco. It's free and super cool. The wheels and cables there are real and not fake like this one.

Then I had my favorite New Zealand lunch. 

Meat pie and Mountain Dew.

OK now is probably the coolest part of my trip. 

The Weta Workshop.

This is the creative company behind movie props and did just about everything for the LOTR and The Hobbit.

Took a bus ride to Miramar and played with some trolls while waiting for the tour.

Bilbo's contract. I read most of it in my hour wait. 

Funny as heck.

Yeah, you know who that guy is....admit it.

The detail on the armor is mesmerizing.

Mini museum.

So unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any photos inside the workshop. Understandable really. They are actually working on movie props and we got to see some but alas, 

we are sworn to secrecy.

Back to the city. Fun pedestrian street called Cuba.

All kinds of stuff made in assemble yourself particle board. 

The Embassy theater where LOTR and The Hobbit premiered.

The inside walkway to the swanky bar.

The swanky bar. $17 champagne. What the hell.

And the bathrooms are pretty cool too.

Decided to see Iron Man 3. It is the best one yet.

I love seeing movies while away because for a couple of hours I forget all about where I am then when the movie is over, it feels like I've just arrived all over again!

So ended a nearly perfect 3 nights in Wellington. I had one last huge bowl of Hokey Pokey. Watched the rest of the Hobbit. Slept in cozy flannel sheets and off to Napier. 

The Art Deco capital of New Zealand.

Milford Sound and Earthquake Preparedness

 Next stop Milford Sound. I came all the way back to New Zealand to see this darned thing and fortunately, it was mostly good weather. 

This boat was pretty neat but it wasn't ours...

....this catamaran was and it included a buffet which had pork belly!

But not before a frantic shuffle between all 4 boat companies, none of which could find my reservation...and there is no internet, no phone, no nothing. $5 dollars later, Trevor had a satellite connection to my gmail and the first desk that sent me away, all of a sudden found me in their system.

But I didn't come all the way back to New Zealand just for Hokey Pokey ice cream and Milford but to see my good friends Leslie and Holming.

And the sound was awesome! 

 

Driving back, had Trevor stop for this photo. Reminded me of the steps to Mordor. 

Mirror ponds.

And this time we got an actual room with 3 separate beds. 

We went for dinner at an Italian restaurant where everyone loved their meal.

Especially me with a bolognaise using local beef.

The girls fell asleep and I just had to take this cute photo. 

(hope they don't mind)

The next day was horseback riding in Paradise but not without breakfast!

The van picked us up in town and drove along the lake. 

This valley was the film spot for the riders of Rohan charging against the hoard facing Minas Tirith

And more gorgeous road to go.

Meet Cort. I was convinced he was one of the dead horses from Dunharrow.

 But in spite of a horse with less vigor and pep than my grandmother it was still a great day because of the awesome scenery.

Rose and Liane were doing well on their mounts.

This was the scene where Boromir dies and Aragorn fights Lurtz.

Its also the scene where Gimley could have been shot in the dark by the Elves.  

And this is the valley of Isengard.  

OK OK, enough with the Lord of the Rings but geeze, I swear, everywhere you look, you can see how it was filmed here. 

We headed back to Qeenstown and found this cool bar. Cowboys.

The next morning I took a bus to get to Christchurch and went by Lake Tekapo. The blue was amazing. Glacier water is different.  

Shortly after this stop, we all got back on the bus and started to panic. My jacket was gone. 

The girl in front of me, napsac was gone.

The guy across from me was missing his bag....

Oops. Wrong bus. 

Gets better. Tire blew out. 

So I decided to take a stroll down this lovely country road. 

Made some new friends. Very noisy ones at that. 

And this nervous horse who likes apples.  

 

I took a little grass break and found this cool mushroom so I took a photo of my travel Hello Kitty under it.

Now I got a bit bored and ventured out behind a house and found these 3 very skinny, very scared dogs. It pissed me off so much that I left a note in the mail box about what I thought of the treatment of these poor animals. 

No visit to New Zealand would be complete without a photo of sheep. There are more of them than people.

Arrived in Christchurch after dark. Perhaps that was for the best too since the city has hardly begun to recover from the earthquakes that hit almost 2 years ago.

Went for my usual morning hot chocolate. They like to put marshmallows on top. 

And the usual meat pie. 

The following photos won't be happy ones but I felt it was a haunting city and quite sobering seeing just how everything can grind to a halt overnight. 

No banks.

No grocery or markets.

No gas stations.

Nothing....except the sound of power tools, bull dozers and buildings being torn down. The locals call it the sounds of progress.

New Regent street was just re-opened that day.

But most of all the store fronts were still empty.

I found a salon on the 2nd floor and loved this sign. You can see my reflection in the glass. 

A common image. Containers are being used to store valuables while homes are rebuilt. Buttress buildings until they can be fortified. 

It really was so depressing...so I turned towards  the park and enjoyed some beauty for a couple of hours.  

A future off road rider....

The rose garden.

Was walking down the path under gigantic trees and these little nuts kept raining down on my head. Ping, pong! 

Finally, a bank. Yup, in a container. 

Arka, are you hungry?

Someone clever decided to use containers as store fronts. The district is called Re:START

And I found a designer fudge shop. 

Not sure why this tree was painted orange but I liked it so....

This was my hostel. Forgot to take a picture of the room. 4 Twin beds and a lot of space. It was great. 

But what is up with these tiny sinks?

So a little word about earthquake (or any disaster preparedness). 

Do it. 

Google the list.

And get off your butt and do it.

At the very least here are my top 5.

Cash. Small bills. At least a few hundred.

Plan B. Have a place to go out of your immediate area.

Gas. Always keep at least half a tank. 

Water (at least 5 gallons).

Food in cans. (enough for a week)

Good luck.