February 2014 Val & Andrew spent 2 weeks in New Zealand.
We spent the first week in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital.
We stayed in a flat off Cuba Street, a trendy bohemian area of Wellington, home to an eclectic array of restaurants, shops, and galleries. It is also home of the Bucket Fountain, where some unspeakable incidents have occurred. Val especially enjoyed the countless cafes in the area and her favorite store in Wellington: Frutti!
On our first full day we went to the Museum of New Zealand/Te Papa Tongarewa. This free museum is the national museum of New Zealand, and we learned a ton about New Zealand’s art, history, people, and natural environment. Val came back a second day but still only made it through about half the museum!
We strolled along to the beehive, the center of the New Zealand Government. Then it was off for a fabled cable car ride! And a lovely walk through the Botanical Garden.
Day 2: Weta Cave—where the magic happens! This is where we encountered Gollum and some trolls, and took a tour of the Weta Workshop, where we learned all about the making of weapons, models and miniatures, creatures, vehicles, and chainmaille for movies like LOTR (of course), King Kong, District 9, and Andrew’s favorite, Black Sheep (we saw the prosthetic sheep, for reals). On the way back, we got some food at a “taqueria” and walked up Mount Victoria—beautiful!
Next couple of days: Andrew headed off to Webstock to learn and be inspired. Val explored the city—i.e. more shopping on Cuba St, a brief stop at the cricket grounds, and an excursion to Zealandia, an urban sanctuary dedicated to restoring native species to their natural habitat. Val got to hang out with a couple of awesome Takahe birds in the wetlands and also saw two Tuatara, which date from the time of the dinosaurs! Luckily, no giant Weta were spotted on this visit.
After Zealandia: High Tea at Hippopotamus at the Museum Hotel. So fancy! (Val was pleased to discover that apparently all New Zealanders drink tea.)
Napier is known as the Art Deco Capital of the Southern Hemisphere, as the city was rebuilt in the style after a major earthquake in 1931. We unfortunately arrived around 5pm, and all the shops were closed. But all was not lost! We found an amazing spot to eat called Restaurant Indonesia and pretty much agreed it was the best meal we had ever had. Read Andrew’s Yelp review for the details or check out the 650+ reviews on TripAdvisor!
In the morning, we had another fantastic meal at Mister D. We ordered: 3 eggs, toast, and a donut that came with a chocolate-filling syringe. They poached the eggs instead of frying, as requested, which was totally fine, but then they emerged with 3 extra eggs and 2 more pieces of toast! And the donut was to die for. Val is supposed to write a Yelp review, but seeing as she doesn’t currently have a Yelp account, this could take some time.
So…on to some crazy geothermal adventures. We headed toward Rotorua, by way of Lake Taupo, and stopped at the Wai-o-Tapu Geothermal Wonderland, where we were greeted by mud pools, geysers, and various other volcanic formations. It was colorful, very steamy, and smelled a bit like rotten eggs. Then we arrived in Rotorua, where we met some friendly Pukeko and went to the Rotorua Museum. This was Val's favorite museum—it used to be a bathhouse known as the Great South Seas Spa. According to their website, it is New Zealand’s most photographed building.
We stopped at Hobbiton, the movie set near the town of Matamata for The Shire in the LOTR and Hobbit movies, on our way from Rotorua to Auckland. The many, many photos probably say it all. Fun stuff!
We spent the last portion of our time in Auckland at the home of Andrew’s lovely friends Carl and Katey, their two little girls, and Victor The Cat. We hung out with many of Andrew’s fabulous friends and former colleagues and explored the city. Our biggest adventure was climbing Rangitoto, which was built from a series of volcanic explosions about 700 years ago.
Other highlights: For Val’s birthday, we had a great time at Nicolino’s restaurant for dinner and then found our favorite bar of the trip, Tiny Triumphs! We also went to the Auckland War Memorial Museum and up to the top of Sky Tower. Andrew eyed some lovely super yachts near the “harbour.” We walked up One Tree Hill—which Val learned is not just the name of a teen soap opera (which was apparently named after the U2 song)—it’s also the second largest volcano after Rangitoto. In Cornwall Park, we frollicked with cows. We finally found the elusive kumara fries in Mount Eden. And…Carl and Andrew modeled Carl’s fancy Dr Who scarf.