Middle Earth From Bottom-of-the-Earth

I don't believe I have a single photo from today (did manage to scavenge a few in the end). Most activities weren't camera-suitable, so the camera sank to the bottom of my purse.

The day started inauspiciously....M & N's rental car wouldn't start. So the eight of us piled into the luckily-8-seat van and headed over to DS's house, 3 miles or so inland. DS, SS, HS, and RS led the way into Wellington.

The first stop was the top of Mt Victoria, up a set of switchbacks that were reminiscent of the Sicilian road up from Taormina, just with different architecture lining the roads (classic Mediterranean buildings that clearly stood the test of time, vs Kiwi "if I hammer one more nail in here, I think it might last the winter" structures!)

The view from the top was lovely, with blue skies and a panoramic view of Wellington and its almost circular harbor. To the south, we could see a bank of fog lurking off shore. We would soon get to know that fog really well!

The following map shows the entire exploration of the area for the rest of the day....B is Weta Cave, the white dot north of it is The Chocolate Fish (approx).

Back down to sea level, we headed off to The Chocolate Fish, a pure-Kiwi run down but charming restaurant/cafe. Outside on the lawn and paved area, adults lounged on bean bags and kids hurtled around on an extraordinary array of wheeled/pedal devices. What a marvelous place for families with young kids! Because we no longer fit that criteria, we settled into a patio area round the back, and most of us had fish sandwiches of one sort or another.

Just updated with a few photos I took, belying the idea that our kids are too young...

Then, off for a drive along the coast. Still bright sunshine when we left, but once we arrived at the coast, it was foggy. It remained foggy the entire rest of the day, thick enough fog that Wellington airport was shut down for the rest of the day. The news the next day described the fog as "bizarre"!

We got to Weta Cave at 2:30 for the tour of their model production facility, including models for things like Lord of the Rings, Halo, and District 9. Fascinating. And especially fun because C and Z met us there.

Then back into Wellington for coffee at the Te Papa museum coffee shop (we'll do the museum itself another day.) We were hoping for sun, but the fog had overwhelmed all of Wellington by then. Then to the Roxy cinema to see the Hobbit, which was better than I expected.

Back home via a fish and chip shop!