WellyWood and The Little Town That Could

Having wined and dined properly in Blenheim, it was off to the North Island for both Suzanne and I. We walked to the road out of town and prepared for a good walk until the street was filled with more long distance traffic. On a whim, Suzanne stuck out her thumb anyway and wouldn’t you know it, a car stopped. The thirtyish lady driving was going all the way to Picton and was happy for the company. She was a travelling saleswoman for a medical supply company and would be arriving in Picton earlier than she needed, offering to drive us down the Queen Charlotte Pass a bit, before returning us to Picton. We gratefully accepted and I was happy I would finally get to go down the road I could not hitchhike on before. After a stop at Subway for lunch, we went 20 minutes down the Pass before stopping  for a view and turning back. The scenery was quite spectacular but the ride was another story entirely. I had thought the coastal road through the Catlins was fraught with turns, or the Great Ocean Road in Australia, but this road redefined the notion of twisty-turny. No stretch of road was straight for longer than 10 metres, and turns were rarely less than 90 degrees; all this on a road where the speed limit was 80. Hah! Good luck! Arriving back in the town, we thanked our driver profusely for the sightseeing detour and found our way to a hostel to hang out until our 6pm ferry. Motion sickness is something quite foreign to me as I usually read with ease on most roads, but the Pass is not normal road and even I felt quite sick as we gathered ourselves and planned our stay in Wellington, calling some hostels and checking out some sights. As 6 drew near, we grabbed a couple pizzas and headed for the terminal. For pedestrian passengers, luggage is much like at the airport where your bag is taken, and you are given a luggage return ticket. The ferry passed through much of the Marlborough Sound and as the ferry cruised along we were treated to the sights which we found quite similar to  Doubtful Sound and the Fiordland region. There was not much to do on board the boat except the $10 cinema, so we watched a movie on my computer (the for free option). As is the case with most ferries, everything was overpriced on board so we were glad we picked up some supper before we left.

Arriving in Wellington, we learned from Lonely Planet that InterIslander, the ferry we were on, drops off a few kilometres away from city centre, but provides a free shuttle to offset the inconvenience. Arriving, we learned this was not the case and were directed to a ticket machine where we each purchased a $2 ticket for a shuttle bus. After some confusion, a broken down bus, and some rude drivers, we were told our tickets were good for nothing and we would have to pay $5 to the driver directly, or $7 if we wanted to be dropped off at our hostel. After conferring, we both agreed to pay and were happy to be dropped off at the doorstep of the hostel. Our general state of happiness after wasting money, and feeling slightly ripped off, is another matter. So let this be a warning to anyone travelling as a pedestrian on InterIslander, the shuttle is not free, the shuttle is not the one you pay for at the ticket machine just out of the terminal – just wait for instructions from the drivers as the employees on board the ferry are not aware of shuttle procedures. We were staying at the WellyWood hostel for two nights, a tall seven storey hostel painted with bold zebra stripes on the front. Why WellyWood and why zebra stripes? Peter Jackson has had a large part, but is not the only one responsible for Wellington’s reputation as the New Zealand hotspot for movies. Lord of the Rings and Narnia are only two of the many films that have taken advantage of New Zealand’s vast landscape diversity in a relatively compact area. The zebra stripes...well, the hostel used to be the wild life hostel or something like that, and they just never changed it after the switch – I guess it suits the allusion to Hollywood as well.

The major attraction in Wellington is the famous Te Papa museum. Translating from Maori to “Our Place,” Te Papa is just that, a venue to tell the story of New Zealand, it’s land and the people who have settled it at various times. Te Papa aims at a highly interactive experience to keep the visitor interested and engaged, using videos, sound effects, interactive media, interactive displays, and even an earthquake simulating house to this aim. For the more intellectually interested visitor, there are panels providing ample information, but I found that in many of the exhibits the interactive content was perfect. A full history of the Maori settlement is presented, as well as fair and neutral information on the settlement of the Europeans and the interactions which were to come. An entire section is devoted to the Treaty of Waitanga, where the two officially signed a truce and the Maori agreed to be citizens of the Monarch. It was enlightening, and even after a good deal of reading on the internet I found myself learning many extra details along the way. We entertained ourselves with a brief ride in a motion simulator which presented a brief history of New Zealand along with demonstrations of the plethora of adventure activities which you can partake in the small country. Best yet, the museum is completely free. Like many museums I have run into on my travels, donation boxes are scattered throughout the museum and I believe that an experience  enjoyed is an experience worth paying for, of course to the best of one’s budget. From Te Papa we wandered the rest of downtown Wellington, taking in such sights as the Parliament Building, nicknamed the ‘beehive’ for obvious architectural reasons (when you see the design), the world’s largest all wooden building, and the cable car. Wellington was built on a narrow strip of land with the harbour on one side, and mountains on the other. In order to expand the city, it was deemed easier to fill in harbour than knock down mountain, so fill in they did. Many suburbs of the city exist at higher elevations however, and the cable car was – and in one instance still is – the choice method of transportation to these higher altitudes. We found ourselves riding with other snap happy tourists, but also some locals returning from a day at work. From the top of the hill there are wonderful views of Wellington, a well maintained park and an observatory which was unfortunately closed for renovations. All in all, not bad for $5 return considering that riding an elevator taking you to a similar elevation in other cities costs upwards of $20. Once back at sea level, we went to a Thai restaurant for a tasty treat before heading back to the hostel and crashing after a day full of a lot of standing and walking.

I knew my trip North was going to be a quick one and decided to leave Wellington the next day. Having more time in the North Island than I, Suzanne was unsure but decided she’d had enough of Wellington and came along with me. We were heading for Napier on the East Coast, a twisty 4+ hour drive away. Checking in at hitchwiki.org, I learned that Wellington is not an easy city to get out of as drivers are prohibited from stopping on the motorway until well outside of city limits. The soonest they can stop is when the highway becomes the main road of a place called Upper Hutt, our initial destination by regional train. The ticket cost only $6 one way and we were soon 40 minutes out of the city. Furthering Suzanne’s good luck, we quickly got a ride another 10km away from the city and waited only a few minutes before being picked up by a lady going all the way to Napier – what luck! I dozed in and out during the twisty ride which took us through mountains and valleys while Suzanne chatted away.

We were staying in the Stables Hostel, a converted – you guessed it – horse stable. With plenty of character and the bonus of free internet, it was a great stop. We stayed in the hostel only long enough to drop our things before heading out to explore the town. Napier is famous for its art deco styling, featured throughout the old district, well maintained, and indeed, celebrated. Nearly the entire town was flattened by an earthquake in the late 1920’s, and the whole town needed rebuilding. New buildings were constructed in the style popular at the time, art deco. Unrecyclable rubble was dumped at the edge of the beach and filled in, forming gardens for which Napier is equally famous. Every year, the town plays host to an art deco festival featuring 1930’s cars from all over New Zealand, people dressed in period clothing, food, drink and film. Apparently, visiting during the festival feels exactly like stepping back in time. But a visitor need not visit during the festival to catch a glimpse of 1930’s living; locals (especially of the older generations) enjoy nights out dressed in 1930’s garb and cinemas year round show period films in and around authentic art deco buildings. A not too strenuous walk from the centre of town is a lookout providing views over the port area and ocean beyond, but not, surprisingly, of the town itself (as I expected it would). We refuelled at BurgerFuel (haha...?), a New Zealand chain of burger joints we ran into for the first time here. With burgers like the ‘Bastard’, and the ‘Freakout’ on their menu, they are obviously a chain trying to be different, and indeed their burgers are good, but even they are no competition for the famous FergBurger (if you are not familiar with the FergBurger, I wrote about mind blowing FergBurgers in my entry on Queenstown). For Suzanne and I, this was our last day together as I would continue on the next day inland to Taupo, and she would continue up the coast to Gisborne. We had a couple of beers and watched a movie on my computer to celebrate our travels together.

Napier was nice, but my travels north had to happen a bit faster than in the South Island. I’m not sure if I could have actively filled another day in Napier but was quite content with the day I had. For anyone who enjoys the art deco style, Napier is an obvious destination. For those short on time, Napier might not be in the list of top NZ destinations, but has a charm all its own you can’t find elsewhere in New Zealand. In short, it’s cute, but that’s all.