Wellington

16.5.

This day we rose early in a bay in the city of Wellington as we had an important point on our agenda: exploring the place where Anduril and Sting were forged together with the shields of Rohan and Gondor. If you are now saying wait, those are all very different places in Middle Earth, you are correct. However, in the realm where Middle Earth is called New Zealand, this is all one place: the Weta Workshop. Here, craftsmen of various guilds come together to create the most stunning artifacts. We were so eager to learn more about the makings of these things that we arrived 45 minutes before our time slot. In front of the round doors we were greeted by the three trolls Bert, Bill and Tom who are starring in the hobbit and the lord of the rings. It was quite sunny that day, so we were not in any danger to be boiled, squished, fried or cooked in any other way. Inside we met the very kind and knowledgeable inhabitants of the Weta cave (they are not trolls). They even gave us an earlier time slot and so we were soon guided in the sacred halls of Weta. Here we learned much about the different crafts of movie prop design and making. We even met a lady who could make a dragon out of aluminium foil and watched one of the few swordmakers of the cave start work on a new sword. Our guide let us hold the different swords made out of different materials (for a hero shot you get a fancier sword) and we marveled at the miniature versions of various magical places. In the end we still wandered a bit through the shop and were tempted by about everything in it. But while Bert is carrying our burdens now, there is still a month to come where we will take it back and so we left with just our memories. We returned to our over night spot for lunch as we wanted to spend the afternoon exploring the settlement of Wellington.

After lunch we left Bert and climbed the Mount Victoria. We gained a beautiful view over the city but much more importantly we came across the way of the Nazgul. Further down the road from that spot we came across the place where Sam, Frodo, Pippin and Merry hid from the Black Rider . It is much harder to recognise than we would have expected as the tree under which roots the halflings hid has not survived the past 20 years. Yet with the help of the surrounding trees we found the exact spot where Pippin broke a carrot. From there we ventured on into the city. We explored a book store (or two), walked over the seaside promenade and learned about the history of New Zealand in the Te Papa museum. When we returned to Bert it was quite dark and raining so we snuggled up in our blankets and watched Vikings.

17.5.

The following day we wanted to meet a friend who we had met in Vietnam and came across once more in Australia. Marcel is from New Zealand and they were now our trusted local in Wellington. But before that we had to replenish our stocks and take a shower. So after heading to the market of all things we headed to the ocean. Some elderly locals were gathered there and we were suprised to learn that they were a group of friends who regularly go for a swim here… and were meeting to do that now (it was about 10 degrees). We liked the idea and decided to do the same. We were quite proud of us as we jumped headfirst into the icy sea and stayed in for about one minute. However, we were quickly humbled by the group of seniors who had cheered at us for jumping in but who were now chilling in the sea for at least 15 minutes. Well… never underestimate the power of age.

Afterwards we headed to meet Marcel. Together the three of us left to explore some World War II fortifications and deserted bunkers. All of these had absolutely stunning views and were really cool places. We also met some friendly cows next to an old prison and ate some wild fennel. Afterwards, we headed to Newtown and finally got some fish’n chips for dinner. We learned that day that getting „fish’n chips“ in NZ does not mean that you actually get fish and chips but rather that you get chips and something fried. Sometimes that is fish, sometimes that is something else. We got some Kumara chips, some regular chips, a stuffed mushroom, and a pineapple fritter. Marcel also showed us the concept of a chips sandwhich which is apparently a really New Zealand thing to eat. That night we watched a movie together and stayed with Bert in front of Marcels house. It was amazing: we could use their kitchen and have a hot shower in the morning.

18.5.

We left Marcels place quite late the next morning. We still had to finish some to dos and also were hold back by a comfy couch and fluffy blankets… Miss those things so much while travelling. But eventually we said goodbye to our friend and headed West towards the Path of the Dead. Here Aragorn raised the Army of the Dead to fight for him in the Battle on the Pelennor fields. The Pinnacles (as the Path is known in this realm) are quite impressive but we could not stay too long as we wanted to see more that day. Our next stop was Rivendell. It is one of the few places that is easy to find as there are actual signs leading towards it. Even better: when we found the place where the house of Elrond once stood there were boards showing exactly where which room was located and which tree you could see in the movies. Tree #119 plays a big role by the way, otherwise tree #117 is also half a movie star. From there we ventured on towards the gardens of Isengard. We have already seen much of Isengard in the past month, but we have not made it to the gardens where Gandalf and Saruman talked about the danger that is rising in the east. Sadly Orthanc is also just visible from here if you use your inner eye but that is sufficient for us.

19.5.

We headed further North that day. First we passed some other parts of the Pelennor fields before settling in a library to gain access to the invisible library of all things and the fuel needed for the magical devices to access the library. We also did some laundry and planned our journey onwards. We knew our general itinerary for the our next stops but we had not planned it in detail. Our next stop would lead us into Mordor. We knew that. What we did not plan was the weather… In Mordor there are multiple things to do, but most importantly there is Mt Doom in Mordor, where the One Ring was forged. The Ring we carried with us through the whole world, which we set out to destroy and which was growing heavier and heavier the closer we were getting to Mordor. Mt Doom is in both realms an active vulcano that is very hard to climb. The Ring had made us believe that it would probably be impossible to climb it anyways and we had basically decided that we wanted to keep it anyway. However, we found out that it is not impossible to do… as long as the weather would be alright. After checking the weather it became clear that if we would actually want to finish our quest we would have to climb Mount Doom on the following day. The rest of the week had too bad weather to do this. We were not prepared for that. There were still two other filming locations in Mordor which we then would have to see without the ring and also we would actually be done with the quest. But we had to climb Mount Doom. That is what we set out to do right? But could we actually destroy the ring?