Windy Wellington

This past weekend, we (Jen and Pete) were able to spend a couple days down in the capital city of Wellington. We drove Lauryn down for a soccer tournament to be held in Lower Hutt, which is a fairly large city just north of the port city of Wellington.  But, since Lauryn was with her peers, and kind of shooed us away each time we ventured inside the teenage bubble surrounding her...we had the weekend to ourselves.  Which was great.

We stayed with David Coplon, an American Kiwi who was born and raised and schooled in USA, then emigrated to NZ with family for a job, and has now lived in NZ for the past 30 years. We connected with David through Pete's Mom and her friend Adele.  This was our second time staying with him (last time we also got to see Adele, who was visiting) and we enjoyed the visit very much with him.  He lives in a lovely home with a yard filled with flowers and fruit trees in Whitby, a small suburb just outside of Porirua and 30 minutes north of Wellington.  Thanks for the great hospitality, David! (He also kindly reads our blog!)

Wellington is a beautiful city set on verdant hillsides that rise up steeply from the Pacific Ocean. With a population of 200,000 it has the feel of a miniature San Francisco. It is very hilly and also has colorful Victorian houses built on alongside crazy steep curvy narrow roads.  Indeed, one road we were on was a bit like driving a 2 km long Lombard Street.  Except it was also two way!  Wellington is most famous for its wind, as it gets over 160 days a year in excess of 32 knots!

Our first excursion was to Mt. Victoria Lookout, which is a hill that affords gorgeous panoramic 360 degree views of downtown Wellington and the surrounding bay.  Incidentally, the slopes of the hill provided one of the settings for LOTR.  Atop the hill is a monument to Richard Byrd, who was a Kiwi explorer and the first person to fly over the South Pole in an airplane. We enjoyed the vista although Pete almost lost his hat to the wind.

Here are some pics from atop the lookout, looking out on Wellington Harbor and the city "skyline."

Our next destination was the national museum, Te Papa.  It is quite an impressive and informative museum and well worth the visit.  We had limited time so only saw "Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War".  It is an incredibly detailed and interactive exhibit detailing the tragic and failed invasion of Gallipoli (Turkey) by the Allied forces in World War 1.  The exhibit was done in concert with Weta Workshops, which is a special effects and prop company based in Miramar, New Zealand, that produces effects for television and film.  The company, founded in part by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame, designed incredibly lifelike, proportional soldiers depicted in war scenes, and all abut 3 times the real size. Note the person in the background of this pic...

It was a very moving and emotional exhibit, describing the horrific conditions for the soldiers, the casualty rates and the decisions made by the military leadership. Very sad.  Long ago we had seen the movie "Gallipoli" starring Mel Gibson (before he was a star, incidentally) and so had an impression that this was largely an Australian tragedy.  But, in overall terms, the highest casualty rate was that of the New Zealand regiments, who lost nearly a fifth of their soldiers to death, and suffered a nearly 87% casualty rate of combined injured and dead!

On a happier note we got to see Lauryn play some very good soccer at the national trials for New Zealand's Under 17 national team.  Lauryn was on one of 7 regional teams from NZ that were trying out.  Her team finished third, with one heartbreaking loss when the other team scored a last minute goal.  It was quality soccer with lots of talent and technique on display, and Lauryn was challenged to play in a different position of outside midfielder.  She scored a really nice goal as well!