Wellington has some weird and wind-y walkways where one would need to walk in order to make their way around. Working backwards, we ended our night by traversing the many secretive and sharply-angled staircases and pathways throughout the Wellington neighborhoods from our fancy dinner at downtown’s Logan Brown back to our suburbanish AirBnB. Ilana almost traipsed right into a creepy cemetery at the edge of the local college campus, since it was too dark to tell what was two feet in front of us. I’m not sure who built these strange and random pedestrian paths throughout the city, but they must have taken inspiration from MC Escher.
In any case, our 5 course dinner (plus a bonus cheese course) was divine, though the speed of service was definitely… relaxed. Perhaps our fast-paced American lifestyle has hastened our attitudes and need for more instant gratification, or in this case, more instant plates of venison. This venison in particular is apparently flown to the restaurant via helicopter after hunting the poor bastard down. The flavors of all our various dishes were superbly put together, and one of the top meals of the trip. Their bar counter also had a built in crab house for a few random crabs to hang out in. After dinner we checked out a bit of Cuba Street, the local hangout strip where all the cool restaurants reside.
The main part of our day was spent in and around the Weta Workshop, being in awe of this studio and the insanely talented people that work there. It is situated smack in the middle of an unassuming suburb, but once you walk through those doors, you are transported to another universe entirely. We went on the official tour, spent far too much time (and money) in the gift shop, took a leather & chainmaille making workshop, went back to the gift shop for a bit, watched a screening of a short documentary of the history of Weta, thought about trying to sneak into the Weta Digital studio space (before being informed of the intense security precautions in place due to Avatar shenanigans for the next 5 years), and took several pictures with ogres. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed pictures while inside, because Hollywood is stupid, but believe you me, it was unreal. Brevin geeked out to his heart’s content, and Ilana just marveled at the extraordinary talent before her.
It is worth noting we started the day with a delightful breakfast just around the corner from Weta. Only worth noting really because Ilana doesn’t want to forget the taste of the fresh crumpets with beetroot & rhubarb compote and whipped honey goat cheese.
