Been a bit slack with the Trailwalker updates

A Walk around Wellington (6 Feb 09)

After last Sunday’s walk, I went home, packed my bags and headed to the airport to go to New Zealand for work. When I’d booked the trip I didn’t realise Friday was a holiday (Waitangi Day) so I ended up with a day off. I decided to take in some of the sights of Wellington on foot.

I started the day by visiting the Weta Cave. This is the publicly-accessible part of Weta, the people that have done the amazing digital and other effects for the Lord of the Rings trilogy and many other films. It’s situated in the suburb of Miramar out past the airport, so I got a cab there to make an early start. They have a 20-minute film that shows how Weta started and what they’re involved in. It’s pretty amazing and worth a look. There are also many exhibits crammed in their little shop and ton’s of stuff to buy (the Dalek collectable was just too big to fit into the luggage).

From there I started walking back into Wellington itself. Not far from Weta was a post-production company in a rather unique building. Either the architect or the owner have a fascination with Frank Lloyd Wright, as the building is a mix of Prairie House and the FLW Studio in Oak Park. It features an interesting mix of rendered concrete and timber shingles, square/flat shapes and octagonal wings and detailed windows. It was very impressive.

From here I continued walking towards the city. I found an amazing old rusty ship berthed beside a wharf were people were fishing. After a few snaps, I continued on past the airport heading for the city. This part of town, past the airport, is why they call Wellington “windy”. It was blowing a gale and I could see what the artwork here was a form of windmill.

I wanted to walk up Mt Victoria (“Mt Vic” to the locals) but wasn’t sure of which way to go. I walked into one of the parks where one of the Waitangi Day festivals were on but couldn’t find a way up to the peak. In the end I found a narrow path between the buildings that got me there eventually. This was great training for the Trailwalk, with a fairly steep and long climb up to the peak. From the top I could see all around the city, including a magnificent view of the city centre and views over the harbour up the Hutt Valley. I also took in some of the spots where LOTR was filmed.

I walked down into the city centre and fought my way through the crowds dressed in costume for the 7′s (Wellington meets Halloween). I still had a bit of time up my sleeve so I did the obligatory tourist thing; the cable car up to the Botanic Gardens. It was pleasant and the views back across the city to Mt Vic were stunning. Amongst the great botanic exhibits were many Cyathea Medullaris’ (Black Tree Ferns) with one having fronds of four metres. IT makes my post-heatwave-in-Melbourne cyathea look very pathetic. I wandered around there for a while before returning to my hotel and then back to Oz.

I don’t know how far I walked, but I’d guess 6-7 klms. I had the wrong shoes and socks, so ended up with bad blisters which would contribute to the troubles on the following Sunday.

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