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Leaving the Great Green North.

Our last stop on the north island was in Wellington. Unfortunately for me, it is a beautiful city chock full of steep hills and lovely parks. Perfect for tortuous walking. Which we did for one full day, covering 10+ km on our urban hike.

Wellington harbour from the cable car stop at the Botanical Gardens
The cable car. Running since 1902.
Lovely little stop in the Gardens.
Stunning building in downtown Wellington. Read about it 👇
Fooled us too!
Jan 10, 2023.

Wellington is also home to Weta Studios, where some of the greatest movies in history have been made, including The Hobbit trilogy, Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Avatar and it’s sequels.

It was interesting to learn that the technology that went into making Gollum was what brought James Cameron to Weta. He asked if they could make Gollum blue and nine feet tall. Of course they could!

Both Peter Jackson and James Cameron live and work here.

Jan 11th, 2023.
Gollum. Damn freaky-real.
An Uruk hai warrior. Yikes.

Then it was on to the ferry crossing to Picton. It started out a bit rough, but smoothed out in the islands dotting the northern coast of the south island.

The Cook Strait. Jan 12th, 2023.
Calmer waters.

David and Bernadette Harris

2 responses to “Leaving the Great Green North.”

  1. Grace Floisand Avatar
    Grace Floisand

    Fun to see the pictures from Wellington, I remember it well.

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    1. David and Bernadette Harris Avatar
      David and Bernadette Harris

      Like most cities here, there is very little flat land that doesn’t have an airport on it! 😤🙄😵‍💫😊

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