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Woke up at Picton rugby club for our ferry ride to Wellington nice enough free campsite with decent loos which is always a luxury!
We set off to the local library stuck doing annoying flat sale carry on for our solicitor back in England - noisiest library ever! Load of foreign cruise types face timing families much to the dismay of locals.
We headed to the ferry terminal, our ferry is delayed half an hour so we make use of the showers at $2 a pop - bargain can't beat it, amazing how much we take such simple pleasures for granted eh?!
Ferry is then actually delayed an hour due to the tail end of cyclone Pam affecting the waters and what a bumpy ride it is! Jacq finishes her book "gone girl" which she highly rates - and her stomach is swaying so bad with the waves she can't manage to step outside to see the dolphins, Matt sees them all but struggles a bit with the motion of the ocean himself, big old boat with lots of facilities like a cafe and cinema but we're dying to get to Wellington
We pull in around 6.30 and follow our essential NZ apps tips on spots to look at, first stop is the studio where the Hobbit was produced, Park Road Productions. We drive through the mount victoria tunnel and towards the harbour spotting the Hollywood imitation sign of "Wellington" set in the hill. We find the studios with ease and pull up outside the production sign for a quick cheesy selfie.
The last Hobbit movie was produced here and Peter Jackson is heavily involved in the set up and running of local films - who walks out just as were about to pull off - the man himself! It's 730pm and he's donning a man bag specs and a proper "I'm a filmmaker look" Matt and I pause for about 5 secs then go into "it's him isn't it? Is it him? God it looks like him? It's bloody him!" mode. Matt gives him a wave and thumbs up getting a peace sign in return. We drive on a bit stopping regretting not getting a snap and shaking his hand so we reverse and he's gone - disappeared in our haste - dammit!!! Was it him?
Matt's buzzing anyway and so glad he got a response and we trek onto Mount Victoria which supposedly has the best views of the city - it's not a lie get up there they are stunning!!! We find a spot erected that has a pillar donated from the original Waterloo bridge. You can see the harbour and gorgeous shape of Wellington.
Then it's off north to Lake Taupo ready for our day of fun by the lake - we park up in a free campsite set in woodland called Urchin and crash.
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