BoomerGirl Diary

Hotel lobbies are always full of information about local tours and tourist activities. Our Wellington Hotel is no different. From a hallway long rack of colorful brochures we pick two: “Seal Coast Safari” and “Wellington Movie Tour”. Both are half-day trips, and we decide we can do both in one day.

Seal Coast Safari is first up, and to go on this adventure we are picked up at the Wellington Visitors’ Center by a handsome young man driving a rugged looking four-wheel drive vehicle. The back seats of this SUV have been replaced with two long benches that run the length of the vehicle. Up to four people can ride on each bench, with their backs up against the windows, making it possible for up to nine very friendly tourists to enjoy the trip along with the driver. Luckily, there are only six of us on this tour.

We quickly leave the city and climb up into the hills surrounding the bay. Soon we are racing along a one-lane road that continues to climb up and up. We stop briefly at the top of one hill to take in the view of Wellington and the harbor. Just above us is an electricity-generating windmill that we are told was the first prototype windmill for New Zealand. It was so successful in generating power that more were quickly added in the mountains north of town.

We then enter private property; a sheep farm that no longer has sheep, just wild horses. Apparently, the owner makes a living with other activities and, of course, allowing tour groups and off-roaders access to his land.

Now our driver gets out and engages the four-wheel power (Just now?) and we roar along a gravel road, up and down the mountain valleys. There is no guard railing along this road, and occasionally our driver says “Here, I’ll get close to the edge so you can see what a steep drop-off it is!”

I pretend I’m in a plane.

Eventually, we make it down to the shoreline, but the excitement does not lessen, as we spin though deep sand and then bang through areas covered in big boulders. I have seen trucks drive over this type of terrain on TV, but I had never really believed it was possible. Soon (but not before all of our internal organs have been rearranged) we arrive at the outcropping of rocks where the fur seals are napping in the sun.

It feels like a bit of an anticlimax after Mr. Tourguide’s Wild Ride, but we take pictures and stretch our legs. Then we have tea.

We return to the city by driving along the coast, during which we see rocks that have such a high iron content they rust to a red color, and we also see a rocky cliff front that the "Lord of the Rings" crew covered in latex so that a mold could be made and the rocks recreated for one of the movie sets.

We find out why this stretch of beautiful shoreline is deserted. For our tour guide’s last feat of driving skill, he drives up yet another pile of boulders and squeezes our vehicle through a gap in a rock wall that is only inches wider than our SUV. Certainly anyone driving their own car would never drive through “Hell’s Gate,” as we are told this part of the road is called.

No time for lunch, though, as our next tour bus is waiting at the Visitor’s Center. It is a very large, air-conditioned luxury bus with plush seats and video screens. We settle in and expect a cushioned ride to the areas that were the inspiration for the "Lord of the Rings" scenery. I figure they will show us a mountain, and then will play the part of the movie where it appears on those screens hanging at almost every seat, then drive on and repeat.

Our first stop is a park not far out into the suburbs of Wellington. We are told that the pine trees in this park were planted too close together, so most of the branches died and the trees grew extra tall. This gives the wooded area an ancient look, just perfect for several scenes in "Lord of the Rings."

We unload from the bus and begin scrambling down the hillsides in the park. Our tour guide has brought along a laptop computer, and has fastened computer speakers to his belt. First he shows us a tree or part of the path, then he tells us what scene the area is featured in, then he shows us a clip from Lord of the Rings on the computer. To our surprise, he then produces reproduction props from the movie and lets the folks on the tour take pictures of themselves re-enacting the movie scene! Everyone gets a chance to sit on the actual tree branch and pretend to smoke a Hobbit pipe just like … just like … whoever does it in the movie.

Unfortunately, neither my husband nor I are familiar enough with the famous movie trilogy to know just how incredible this opportunity is, and I am having a hard time making it up and down the hillsides. This tour did not even recommend sensible shoes, but I am holding on to the vegetation and the ground to get up and down the slopes. I am wishing I was back on the air-conditioned bus, but it is rather cool to see the path the Dark Riders appeared on, and the hill the Hobbits tumbled down. Movies really can be magic.

After we trudge back up the hill to the bus, we have a quick diet soda (not tea!) and head to the shore to see the boat that was used in the recent "King Kong" movie. Then we are taken to the famous Weta Workshop where much of the magic was done for the "Lord of the Rings" movies, the "Chronicles of Narnia," and "King Kong" movies, among others. No visitors are allowed in the building, and incredibly, there is no Weta Gift Shop. But luckily for us, our tour guild has a brother working for the company, so we are allowed to get out of the bus and take pictures of the main building.

Wetas, by the way, are a New Zealand version of, in my opinion, grasshopper. We are told wetas are more prehistoric looking than grasshoppers and that the large variety of weta is endangered.

The Weta Workshop sign has a weta sculptured out of #8 fence wire. We are told that a good New Zealander can make or fix just about anything with this wire, thus its use in this very creative company’s logo.

After this double tour day, we take a day off and do only a little strolling along Wellington’s harbor the following day. The highlight of this quiet day is the courtyard of the Wellington Museum of Art. Someone has taped out a very large mural of flowers using black duct tape on the courtyard bricks and then colored it with sidewalk chalk. What a great idea! I may have to do this on my driveway at home …

Tomorrow we take the ferry to the New Zealand’s South Island.