Tag 140 - cinematic

09/17/19

- Alex

The night is over. Relatively early, we say goodbye to the place and look for the next water station. After fulfilling our duties and "visiting" the adjacent playground - a sandbox digger knows no age limit - we drive towards Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. The entrance is already spectacular: located directly on a fjord, the white skyline is reflected in the water. The mixture of modern architecture and a lot of plant, green influences gives you the feeling of driving towards a future city. The hills behind downtown are equipped with bright wooden houses. We drive through the city once on the main road, then along the water and stop at a small beach located in a residential area. As already mentioned, this residential area stretches across a chain of hills.

Before we visit the city center, we want to visit Mount Victoria (a lookout point) and then go to downtown through a park that served as a film set for the Lord of the Rings movies.

The biggest challenge of today's trip awaits us right at the beginning. Over 200 steps leading to the "Wellington Hills" demand a lot of fitness from us and after ten minutes we have to take the first break. After that, it continues uphill but without steps and not as steep. After a good half an hour, we have conquered the climb and are amazed from a platform at Wellington Bay - very, very impressive.

Afterwards, we go downhill again through a beautifully designed park with several playgrounds, information boards, and many cycling and hiking trails. After a short disorientation, we find our way and finally reach two original Lord of the Rings locations:

1. The tree trunk/cave where the four hobbits hide from one of the black riders in the first movie

2. The tree where Frodo lies and smokes a pipe in the first part.

For those who are not interested, the places are ridiculously unspectacular, but for a very big fan like me, the visit and the feeling of being there in person were absolutely amazing.

A few minutes later we enter the first "urban" street in Wellington and no more than 200 meters further, we have the impression of being in the heart of the city. Similar to Auckland, everything is very clear, well thought out, and well structured. From the feeling, the city is a little "alternative" compared to its northern sister, but not overly contrived.

We treat ourselves to a snack at the supermarket and decide to give our tired feet a break and go back to the car. Since we want to walk back along the water (like a kind of Kielline in Kiel), we first walk directly to the water and come across the city museum on the way, which has free admission and, as we find out after a short internet research, is really worth a visit. So let's go in again "briefly". "Briefly" because it turns out that the museum is not only incredibly big (4 floors), but also incredibly interesting, so that you almost read every information text that is there.

Excited, we leave the museum and now finally make our way to the parking lot. The promenade by the water reminds us of Kiel and we feel a little homesick. If New Zealand wasn't so far away, Wellington would be at the top of our emigration list.

We arrive at our car and drive to a large camper parking lot, mainly occupied by camper vans going on a ferry. We find a spot by the water and end the eventful day.

- Alex