Fiji was beautiful and the people we met there were amazing but it is time to move on. We celebrated Diwali with the family, they told us that we were their favorite guests, then said our goodbyes. The next morning, we jumped on an island hopper to Taveuni, waited as some school kids saw the inside of a plane for the first time, then boarded again and returned to Nadi. Two short-ish flights and a dash through the airport later, we arrived amid howling gales at the Wellington airport.

This was one of the customs officials at the airport. Lovely chap. Bad breath though.

We hopped a taxi to our hotel, the Cambridge, dropped off our bags and headed out for a late dinner. Just a hop, skip and a jump away from our hotel, Melissa led us to Sweet Mother’s Kitchen and we sat down to a delicious meal in New Zealand, the first of many delicious meals. We both had a special, Melissa the po boy, me the pork belly. I'm of the opinion that you should always order the special at a new restaurant, a secret I learned from Mr. John Harper. We were not disappointed. Very good meal with excellent service.

We made our way over to Malthouse for a beer before calling it a night. There is an incredible selection and a massive beer bible explaining the different types of beer and the process of brewing. The service here was less cordial but we eventually got our brews. Melissa enjoyed the Baylands Brewery Red 5 and I had the absolutely delicious Mike’s Double Shot Vanilla Coffee Porter. I think the latter is a local fave as another customer, upon seeing they had it on tap, exclaimed, “Mike’s VCP! Of course I'll take that!”

Malthouse. Good brews with a beer bible study group.

The next day, we had some errands to run for our upcoming trek on the Queen Charlotte and we had booked a tour at the Weta Cave, so there was a bit of running around to do. We jumped over to Cuba Street for a long black at Midnight Espresso, which was very Capitol Hill, a nice little reminder of home. Disinterested, neo-punk servers dourly accepted our orders but the coffee and snacks were quite worth wading through the attitude.

Cuba Street, where the "dirty hippies" hang out according to the Cambridge Hotel deskman. We quite liked it.

After our errands were complete, we jumped on Weta’s There and Back Again tour. Our driver, Nathan, was a nice guy and has been working for Weta as a tour guide for a long time. He was even an extra in some of the LotR movies, playing an elf in a few scenes. The Weta Cave and workshop were really cool. These pics are just from the Cave (a very neat, glorified gift shop) not from the workshop. Sorry, no photography allowed in there, so you will just have to visit yourself. Our workshop guide is also an artist at Weta who gives tours when the work is slow. It's always great to get first hand knowledge from a place like this. I do recommend going if you can.

Weta is short for Wetasomethingorother, which is a nasty looking insect native to New Zealand. The word means "creature" in Maori.

These nice guys greet you out front. Stupid people pose next to them doing stupid things.

The detail in the nose AND eye snot is amazing!

Aaaahhh! I'm a tourist! That's our tour van in the background, that's how you know.

"Charge!" to the counter to buy this maquette.

I'm no Lords of the Rings scholar but I'm pretty sure that's King Spike Crown and his buddy Sarnamin. Right?

One of the dwarves from The Hobbit that likes to kill helpless creatures. "Murderer." as Golum would say.

We were dropped back on city and headed down Cuba Street again to Fidel’s for a late, and very good, lunch. The food overall in the city was surprisingly tasty. Even the street food we had that night in the outdoor night market. I love fried ice cream and I ate it and it was delicious and I want more please and thanks.

Not Fidel's but a cool mural none-the-less. It is near Fidel's, does that count?

Wellington on the whole has a very Seattle/Portland vibe. Lots of boutique shops, little cafes and restaurants with a nod to the growing organic/vegetarian/vegan/real food consumer. It's a very walkable city with well defined crosswalks and traffic lines, which helps as we are still getting used to cars driving on the opposite sides of the road. From the little we saw, it's also a very clean city.

Statue of a man admiring the cleanliness of the city. Made by a person who works at Weta.

A major difference is that there is no fear of using color on buildings here. Unlike the Pacific Northwest, which paints itself in blue greys layered on more greys, this place is vibrant with colorful buildings to contrast the cloud blanket that often lays on the city.

There are three buildings with color in this picture. That's two more than Seattle. And, of course, we found rainbows.

Unfortunately, we only got to hang here for one full day and two nights. It's definitely a city we could see ourselves visiting for a longer stretch. Wellington, we’ll be back someday. Thanks for the small, but very delicious, taste.

That boat is called "Eat My Shorts." That's not even a joke.