Sorry it was taken me so long to blog. This one has been written for days but unfortunately I have had difficulty getting the pictures. Two unfortunate events have occured that are really bumming me out. Number 1 my camera case with a full memory card inside it went missing at the lodge in Lake Ohau. This had about 80% of my photos from the trip on it. Number 2 my other memory card for my digital SLR camera got corrupted when I was trying to download pictures. This had another 10% of my NZ photos. So I am stuck with only a handful. So the next blog posts may have more video then pictures. I apologize believe me I am more bummed about this then anyone else. Mom I have prayed to Saint Anthony every night. I waiting for him to come through. I NEED THAT MEMORY CARD FROM LAKE OHAU!!!!!! Back to the blog:
Early morning bus call and were off again this time destined for Wellington the capital of New Zealand, and the place where many scenes from all three Lord of the Rings movies were made. It's also the place where all the studio and digital effects were done.
Before I get to all the Wellington stuff, I failed to mention a couple stops we made on Day 5. The first place was called Craters of The Moon and is another geothermal hot spot that resembles the moon as the hot mud pools and steam holes look like a lunar landscape. We trek through a 3km loop and stop and take pictures. The pathway we're on believe or not is made out of wood and raised because the ground is so hot in some places it would burn holes in our shoes. You could definitely feel the heat in your feet and it reminded me of heated marble floors at hotels like the Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton albeit these floors were outside.
The other stop from Day 5 was Huka Falls which is a raging gauntlet of water that then flows over the falls. Many people are stopped on the bridge but our tour guide immediately takes us beyond the bridge for better viewing spot and less people. Bridget knows her stuff!
Now back to Day 6 and on our way into Wellington we stop off at the Dry Creek Quarry this is where they filmed Helm's Deep from the Lord of The Rings movie. Can't really see much from the road so we quickly move on. As we are getting into Wellington the weather is starting to improve and Bridget is getting more and more excited as she is from Wellington. The bus mic keeps going off with comments, "This is where my mum works, this is my favorite bar, etc." Her enthusiasm is infectious so we all get excited.
Pumba starts to take the bus up into the hills where we will stop and see Wellington from a distance in all of it's glory. As we are going he points out these metal tracks in the hills. We are told that's what all the rich people use to hall up their groceries, furniture, etc. as there are no streets above to access their mansions from. This scenery reminds me a lot of Sausalito except without streets. The houses in the hills are amazing at several million dollars a pop. Yep Wellington is the place to be.
We get up to the top the mountain to a lookout point and get an amazing 360 degree view of our surroundings. It is mentioned as we get to the lookout that the very first scenes of Lord of The Rings were filmed in the hills below the lookout. Apparently the crew had to keep filming top secret as all the students from Uni (Aussie term for College) would sneak up on the hill I'm sure to catch a glimpse of Orlando Bloom.
We check into our hotel and get ready for dinner at a restaurant/bar called The Blend. Everyone dresses up and we head off. We sit down and are told our first round of drinks will be comped. Of course I go straight to ordering a Margarita and I'm disappointed when they say they cannot make it. DOES ANYONE IN NEW ZEALAND know how to make a Margarita I'm dying here!
Dinner is ok and the place immediately goes into full on music and dancing mode. We are encouraged to dance on the couches and tables. Everyone obliges and then the games begin. The guys are told to pair up with the females and each girl is given a wrapped piece of bubblicious gum. The objective of the game is for the girl to move the gum from the bottom of our right leg to bottom of our left leg using the inside of our pants. Once it reaches the bottom of our left leg they then must take the gum chew it and blow a bubble to pop it. First to pop it wins the game. Unfortunately that night I was wearing tight jeans making mine and my partner Katelin's chances of winning darn near impossible. We of course lose and my thoughts immediately go to am I on Spring Break again?
After dinner and games we bar hop in Wellington. The streets are packed with people. Every bar and club has tons of people inside and outside waiting to get in. Bridget's connections get us straight through any line. I must have lost 5 lbs dancing that night.
The next day we are awoken to the noise of a down pour. Yep our second day in Wellington was nothing but rain, rain, and more rain. Reminds me of Seattle haha! It rained and it was a cold 60 degrees. COME ON! It's supposed to be summer. With the crappy weather I could really only do 2 things, 1. Test out my new Northface rain gear (thanks Sean), and 2. Go to a museum.
So I threw on all my equipment and headed off for Te Papa, New Zealand's national museum. The gear worked perfectly as I was bone dry when I arrived. I could not say the same for some of my ill prepared tour mates. The museum is huge definitely will be here a couple of hours. It is here that I learn a couple of valuable things about New Zealand. 1. New Zealand is a land of volcanoes and mountains it was part of Australia when it broke off many millions of years ago. Perhaps that's why kiwis and Aussies love each of other so much. Yeah right! 2. New Zealand is a fairly new country in terms of it's modern governmental establishment. The Maori tribe had been in New Zealand a lot longer. But in terms of when New Zealand formed it's own constitution and became a sovereign nation under the protection of the Queen of England, it really wasn't until the treaty was signed by the Maori tribal chiefs in 1840. England had to convince the chiefs they would maintain rights to their land with the agreement they would swear loyalty to the Queen. After lots of negotiation it finally happened and the treaty was sent all over New Zealand for the chiefs' signatures.
The rare and elusive Giant Squid I believe the only one captured and displayed:
The rest of the day and evening was spent catching up on blogs, emails, etc. as the weather made doing anything not really worth it. Give me some sun!
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