Picton & Wellington ... again

So I'm in Picton again, to take the ferry to the north island. I did the same here as I did last time. I stayed a few days and relaxed. Picton is a lovely small village with great views of the Marlborough Sounds, good hostels and better weather than the rest of the south island. This time I stayed in a hostel with a massive garden, hot spa and free apple crumble and ice cream. I went on a few smaller walks and I used the bike from the hostel to go mountain biking again. This time I had a bike with actual working gears but not very effective brakes. So the up hill parts were a lot easier and the down hill parts a lot scarier then the last time. I socialized a lot with the other backpackers in the hostel and I had a good talk with a German journalist who is in New-Zealand for the third time and I spoke to a very nice, well spoken and bright American. Despite the fact that this trip was his first one outside of the USA he knew what's going on in the world. My fate in people from the American Midwest grew stronger talking to him. Especially when I compare him to all the other Americans that are all over New-Zealand at the moment. Almost all of them fit the stereotype a had of Americans.

During my stay in Picton I also wanted to plan the last leg of my trip. During those 2 months on the south island I didn't think for a second about the north island. But now my return to the north island was getting really close and I needed a plan. The plan I made was to head for Tongariro National Park and walk the Mordor hike, then go through the center of the island to Auckland and spend the last 2 weeks in the subtropical wilderness north of Auckland. But then Mt. Tongariro erupted and they closed the park. 'One does not simply walk into Mordor' Boromir says in the first Lord of the Rings book and it seems he is right. The new plan is to wander into Taranaki on the west coast and stay close to Tongariro as long as possible, in case the park opens again in the near future.

I arrived in Wellington a few days before the world premiere of The Hobbit and the entire town is getting Tolkien mad. There are heaps of people visiting Wellington at the moment and some of them even wear elven ears. But it is quite a shock to be honest, I'm not used to this amount of people anymore. But I tried to endure them and visited the Hobbiton artisan village. That is just like a Christmas market but with a different theme and without the alcohol. Loads of stalls selling overpriced merchandise and Christmas gifts and heaps of people eating hamburgers and buying all that stuff. Peter Jackson is more a business men than a director now a days. That's why I'm a bit septic about the movie. 3 movies for a story that's 4 times shorter than Lord of the Rings. Jackson is milking it a bit too much I think. But at the market I also saw the latest trailer and a lot of making of footage for the movie and i must admit it looks gorgeous.

While in Wellington I took the opportunity to visit some places I mist out on the last time I was here. I went to the National Art Gallery, which has some excellent photography exhibitions, I looked at Civic Square from a few angels I didn't try last time. Civic Square is a fascinating place. It's an eclectic mix of classic and modern architecture, Maori and Pakeha styles and every building material imaginable is used. But all those different things fit together wonderfully. It looks different every time, depending from which corner you enter I also went to Te Papa again. The national museum is so big you can easily spend 3 days there. So now I took my time for the exhibits I rushed through last time and even saw a totally new one that wasn't there the last time.

I also ended up in a Free Gaza protest and die in (it's like a sit in but everybody plays dead and get their profile chalked on the ground). It was all very civilized and boring compared to how these things go in Belgium. Even when 2 Jews showed up to tell us quite loudly that we were wrong nothing got out of hand. The protesters just sang their slogans louder and some of us started a discussion with the opposition until the 2 Jews were friendly but firmly asked to leave by the police. Kiwis are way too nice to each-other.

Marlborough Sounds

Picton 

The Embassy in Wellington, venue for the premiere

Interview with an Orc

Random street art

Free Palestina protest, that guy with glasses is Jewish and he didn't like us