Middle Earth tour Day 3 Windy Wellington is not a saying

Middle Earth tour Day 3 Windy Wellington is not a saying

Last night I couldn’t stay up any later as I had been falling asleep and the brain didn’t want to work properly at all. Luckily I had finished my blogs and let family know what was going on. I also got a mystery text message that I couldn’t open though it was from my Brother in law with a pic of me becoming an uncle for the first time. For being out of the country reasons I cant open text messages that have pictures and god knows how much that costs. Even on wifi it wouldn’t let me. So I had to wait for it to be facebooked. I woke up refreshed and ready to roll. I could hear the wind outside and I had plans in that wind. I was going to Weta studios for a tour and then doing a bush walk around Massey’s memorial with a walk back to the city to the museum. It never turned out to be that simple at all. My plans never do actually.

Once I was up and about I was ready to head out to get some breaky before catching the bus that would take me to Weta studios. I could hear the wind and mentioned that to the guy next to the reception that its windy out there when I got my coffee. He responded that it is Wellington and is always windy. I was rugged up warmly with my jacket and a jumper underneath it. I didn’t know if it would get cold or be sunny. I wasn’t sure about the wind chill either as I had seen the temp was around 15 or so. I did find a bakery where I bought two pies from a very courteous shopkeeper who was happy. He was Japanese I think and I will go back. My bus wasn’t too far off and I was going out to Mirimar to Weta studios.  I jumped out of the bus at Roxy theatre, which has a connection to Peter Jackson. I was happy to follow Park Road especially when it had a sign to point to Weta Cave. Roxy had a statue of Gandalf out front too that would be a big hint to being part of Weta and Peter Jackson. I did start doubting myself when I was half way down as I hadn’t seen other signs. There was a very quiet area near Park Road studios which had been shown on tours before that it had been involved with Lord of The Rings. It was strange there was very little traffic around and I do think Peter J had bought them as they were being used, but looked like real businesses. At the very end of the street there was a sign pointing to Weta studios and I had found it. If I had stayed on the bus I would have gotten closer.

I did see in the car park that there was a King Kong with his face covered and the gate entrance had two dwarves on the top.  They were the same ones but smaller that I had seen in Auckland airport some years before. Around the corner at the entrance to the shop were the three trolls from The Hobbit. I entered to have a look and approached the staff letting them know I was early for my tour as I had the 1030 one. They asked if I wanted to do the 10am one instead and I jumped at the chance. It started within minutes of me getting there and we were told not to take pictures as there are some current things being built for upcoming movies that they don’t want coming out on the internet. I asked if we could take a picture of the picture that says no photos and were told no. Also a beast would be unleashed to kill us for doing so. We were shown the design phase of things from the computer modelling, the armoury, the make up and effects along with building sets including for the upcoming Thunderbirds show. Some o the stuff were incredible especially when I spotted a Balrog head, Sam Neil in a vehicle, Lord Sauron though not life size and he was rubber not metal. The guide did ask if we had all seen Lord of The Rings. Several had not including a grandma and two children. I said you have to watch the extended versions and the appendices too. The tour was well worth it and once we had finished I was going to see a show about Weta that I had seen every time I visited, but decided not to as I wanted to be off as I didn’t know how long I would be on the bush walk.

I had my handy map with me and I was hoping that I was reading it right. Outside the Weta shop were two signs on the road saying Tsunami safe zone. I would later see many signs like this telling me how far and where the zones were. I had never seen them before and it was interesting. I was walking in the right direction up the hill where I wanted to get onto Karaka Bay Road. There were footpaths telling me where they took me and I knew one of the names of the road I needed plus it would save me a whole lot of walking. I kept an eye out for these signs as they were helpful and some paths were actually pretty steep and not what you wanted when wet. One path I was going to take was confusing so I went further down and found another  path. I did learn that there were not always footpaths. The paths that were there were narrow, but walkable. Once I arrived at Scorching Bay, I went to the cafe that I knew had once been called something else when LOTR movies were being made and Celebs were there. I ordered a coffee and asked for advice where to go for the Massey memorial. I was shown the way to get there on the other side of the point and I asked if the other paths would take me there. The girl didn’t think they would and said they were rough. My plan kinda went out the window from there, but I was told my coffee will get me to the memorial. Woohoo juice on the go.

From Scorching Bay I went walking along Massey road where there was an entrance on the Shelley Bay side of Mirimar point as it seems to be called. I thought I would be smart and not heed the advice and a carpark proved fruitless for a path and then around Mahanga Bay there was a road that took me behind the atmosphere testing station to Fort Ballance though that was a place that was overgrown and vandalised. I went on the other part of the path laughing at the shop assistants at the cafe until I found a huge barbwired fence that went right over the path and up the hill. This meant  was no longer going to be on any path in the bush, but following the road much to my annoyance. I will now explain my annoyance that took me right up to when I returned to the main part of the city, but hang on until I tell you that the paths were narrow at the side of the road and I had the bay to one side and the road on the other. Not much room and I soon made it around the point and where I found the entrance to Massey’s Memorial. The carpark was wet with sea water. I did follow the path and found the huge monument that is George Massey and his wife’s final resting place. I thought at the time that I was not going to go wandering other paths as I was exhausted from walking and had no idea where I would end up or if I could leave like at the prison thats there somewhere.

I think I needed not to walk here against the wind

Now I will explain the wind that was my constant companion. Once I had left Scorching Bay I was not gently buffeted by light breezes these were very strong winds blowing against me and I was afraid I would be pushed off the path onto the road or into the water.   My hat was luckiy that I had a string to draw it up onto m chin or else it would have vanished to Antarctica or Picton at the least. I thought Fort Ballance was my way of getting away from it. No such luck at all. It just got worse including being hit by spray. I had to stop for a rest at Point Halswell looking into the distance as I would see rain clouds. Really not brolly weather at all and my hat being a wide brim was flapping all over the place and my sunnies were caked with spray. I wouldn’t want to be in a car and parking it at the Massey site as waves were coming over and still I wandered on.  The wind didn’t get better once I had walked past the airport, but one thing that kept me sane was my ipod as I had attached it just before going up to Masseys memorial. I wouldn’t have recommended a push bike or even motorbike in this weather at all. I ended up with the choice of going a long way into the city centre or follow the bay all the way around to Oriental Bay and onto Tepapa museum. The mistake was I was nearly tripped over by the wind and I swore I was being pushed backward at times. It would have saved time if I had gone the other way with traffic lights. Before the airport I had done around 2 or 3 kms and was 6.9 kms to city centre. I think it took longer and was further. I did on the way stop at a slip yard that was no longer active and explored before cursing myself for going that way against the wind. I was actually getting hungry and upset at a dairy when the shop keeper was chatting to a customer when I had a drink and a sandwich. I had water with me and that was nearly gone. I was being hit by the wind right until I entered the museum.

I had a mission when I was in Tepapa and I was looking for a motorbike by a bloke called Bittan or something close, but I didn’t have enough time to look as I only had an hour after I had a quick coffee. The museum closed at 6pm and I left when I was told 20 mins to go. I was going to head back to the hostel, but went to find the hostel and got slightly lost once I went up Plimmbers lane going in the wrong direction. One of those tracks from sea to bush or whatever it was called pointed me towards the Victoria University so I took it. I was after The Terrace as well and once there I found Mount Street cemetery that was next door to the university.  This cemetery was one of the early Catholic cemeteries in Wellington and close to burials in the 1940s I think. I wandered it for a little bit getting worried by the going down of the sun and didn’t want to get wet as the weather was threatening to do. I am going to an area thats close by in the next couple of days past the university. I know my way now as all I have to do is go up from Cuba street shopping centre. All very easy and Cuba street was the nugget I was after. I was looking for a place to eat and found a pub that had roasts of the day. The deal was sealed when they included Yorkshire pudding too and mine was a pork roast. It was a decent meal when it came out. The annoying part was that the screen showed golf, but the sound was the footy. It was weird as I kept looking at the TV.

This time I really was heading back to the hostel and I found that I had timed it right as I could feel the first of the rain beginning to fall. Once back in my room I had a shower and realised that I needed to do some washing. I did wonder if the sweaty shirts were smelly. I had ended up wearing three shirts all up as I had worn two when I was really sweating a storm in Brisbane. I like staying at my hostel better than the one next to the train station even though I have to walk. It means I am closer to everything in town including food and the museum. Its not a long walk to anything either other than the Parliament buildings and the national archives. The archives are where I am heading to tomorrow to do some research.