The day that was, and the nation's capital.

Yesterday, Monday 13th January.

As predicted by some App or other - the weather was miserable. That combination of heavy/misty rain that leaves you constantly fiddling with the car wiper settings. 

We opted for the Surf Highway, which purported to hug the coast south of New Plymouth as is wound its way south, east a bit, and then south again. The name at least hinted at coastal views. Unfortunately, in addition to the windscreen-adhering rain, there was also bank after bank of fog rolling across the roadway for the first hour or so. As the fog began to lift, it became apparent that the highway never got close enough to the coast to actually spot the ocean. It did pass an unending number of rural villages, peppered with some fairly elderly structures in a Schrodinger state of potential demolition and restoration. 

The highway eventually started resembling a major roadway about an hour out of Wellington proper. Wellington Harbour is spectacular (even in rubbish weather), with the city essentially lining its shores in an arc - hemmed in by a mountain range of decent proportions. The compressed nature of the cityscape made the search for parking reasonably horrendous. We eventually located a secure parking facility that was only moderately outrageous in price, obtained our apartment key and then our apartment proper.

We did managed to find a Japanese restaurant literally across the road from our apartment (delicious), so the day wasn't a complete wash-out.

TJ Katsu

Today, Tuesday 14th January.

An abundance of sunshine greeted us this morning as we prepared to visit the Weta Cave for the Weta Workshop Tour. Our 9:30am tour time meant we also got to experience peak-hour in downtown Wellington, which was of course a bonus. Jen managed to perform a rear-to-the curb park with ease upon our arrival, with another, less capable driver earning beeps and bellows of outrage from locals after failing on his first attempt. 

Weta Cave (the shop at the front of the actual workshop) is a geeky paradise, with ludicrously over-priced, but very authentic weaponry, jewellery and props generally. I momentarily envisaged how I'd go at Customs, whipping out a small sword of elvish origins when asked if I had anything to declare. Common sense prevailed and we embarked on the tour of the workshop itself.

It was a blast - these people love their work, and it shows. In addition to multiple movies, they described doing commission work - including a massive King Kong replica (sitting in some Kiwi's backyard) as well as a re-sized version of Hobbiton for some guinea pig enthusiasts. They'd also completed a number of giant models for Te Papa (the national museum of New Zealand).

All trolled out - we aimed our google maps at Mount Victoria to get a bit of an overview of the place. We managed to coincide our arrival with the departure of a couple of coach-loads of tourists which meant a little more elbow-room at the lookout.

Our plan initially included jumping on the Wellington cable-car, but a horde of tourists queued all the way out of the building and down the lane-way put us off entirely. Instead, we walked along the promenade and on to Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand.

Te Papa

Te Papa is a really well set-out place, with the section on the New Zealand contingent of the ANZACs comprising in no small part of the enormous models supplied by the Weta Workshop.

The sadly no-longer-with-us Haast Eagle

How detailed were these models?

Oh - about this detailed (down to the individual pore level).

Once dinner was sorted (a gender divide between salad wraps and burgers), the elder members of Team Martin made their way across the city centre to the Garage Project (a craft brewery based in Wellington) Aro Street Taproom. There was an enormous range of brews to choose from, culminating in the Hellbender, an 11.2% American Barleywine (a berry nose, with sweet, almost port-like flavour with a vapour/warm finish - for those interested). I may have been a tad more effusive about the Wellington architecture and Wellington in general on the way back from the taproom.

Garage Project
Aro Street Taproom

Tomorrow morning sees us depart Te-ika-a-Maui (the North Island) and cross the Cook Strait.

Some things that stood out to us during our time here:

There is a really proud Maori culture present (be it in their flag, the incorporation of their language, and their presence across all forms of media). I've found myself grinning on more than one occasion as a result of their genuine warmth and humour (please note that I have resting grumpy face). 

Agapanthus are everywhere. I initially thought some manically-industrious gardener was planting the things along every fence-line on the island - but it turns out they are a actually a bit of a pest here. The native landscape is gorgeous - tree ferns, flax plants and kauri trees.

The petrol prices are devastating - prices in the triple digits is fairly common when filling/topping up.

Compared to our own parenting style (some might say helicopter parenting), the New Zealanders appear to be comfortable with their kids being on a long leash (and I mean hanging off a cliff-face long).

There are electric scooters for hire in every city we've been to - they are saturated with the things. Apparently they are limited to two settings: stopped or careering into crowds.

There's also a weird metal bar bolted to all the pedestrian crossing buttons. I don't know why they're there and it's bugging me.

The mysterious bar.

Aside from a couple of days, the temperatures have been sitting in the mid-teens. We've been in jumpers - but then again, everyone else has been too. An unseasonable cold-snap by all reports.