CHAPTER 17
Wellington was our first view of New Zealand’s “other side”. Up until now we had only experienced the remote beaches, untamed mountain tops and vast wilderness that make up most of the South Island. Wellington, by contrast, was a buzzing, hectic, modern metropolis, with almost half as many residents as the entire population of the South Island. Being that this was the “big city”, we were shocked to discover an RV camping site right in the middle of the downtown on the waterfront. It worked out perfectly, and we had a fabulous 4 days walking all over the city searching out the best it had to offer. We took the funicular up to a great lookout over the town, then walked down through the immense botanical gardens. We took a tour of the New Zealand Parliament and prime minister’s offices, and then stopped by the Bank of New Zealand Museum where we were offered baggies of old shredded money as a souvenir- they used to burn it, but now that it is made of plastic, they cut it up and pawn it off on tourists. We took a drive through the suburbs, visiting the world renowned Weta Studios, the special effects masters of the Lord of the Rings movies. And we browsed the many galleries of the Te Papa Museum, coming face to face with an enormous giant squid floating in a big tank of formaldehyde.
Our first impression of the North Island was shaping up to be a good one and we were eager to see what else it had to offer. We basically had two choices in front of us, head up the west coast or the east. We would see both sides eventually, so on the flip of a coin, we turned to the left and set our sights on Cape Egmont and the towering Mt. Taranaki.
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