Log> Wellington & leaving NZ

This is me enjoying a 5 hour delay in the Biz Class lounge at Auckland International before my flight (allegedly) departs for Santiago. I squeezed in 5 days for looking through the North Island, and while this was another wonderful excursion, I'm very happy I spent the bulk of my time in the country on the South Island.

I didn't get to do the Tongariro crossing I planned to (which would've equalled Mt. Doom, of course) due to some nastiness that I perhaps carried over from Fiji and needed to have myself checked for in Wellington. Unfortunately, it was Waitangi day (the country's independence day) and the hospital was chock-a-block. I got my antidotes and started towards Napier, Matamata and Auckland.

The day before in Wellington I took my first guided LOTR tour, which was worth every penny. This wasn't just for getting a ride to the locations and getting pinpointed the exact action spots, but also because of the wealth of technical moviemaking detail our guide was familiar with. Welliwood, indeed. I'll post photos soonish.

Wellington is a nice enough town with a good vibe to it, but unfortunately the latter 20-century architecture in the central areas is a proper eye-fuck. Ugly highrises, all designed with details painted with special fade-to-pastel colours dot the skyline sporting the most unnecessary features. Even the celebrated Te Papa museum (containing spectacular exhibitions inside) looks like a late eighties architectural vomit. It was opened in 1997, though.

Enough with the complaints. NZ is my favourite country this far, warts and all. Can't beat the frontier-town feeling you get in many places here.

Next post comes from Easter Island.