Finishing February Back in Wellington

Back in Wellington and I had one full day left with my family. We spent our last day together doing one of the Lort of the Rings tours. The weather though not great was better than the day before so we still managed to get lots of photos at various locations. I decided at the start of the tour to play tourist and not let on that I lived there. This lasted all of an hour since on our first walk through Mt Victoria my brother announced it for me. The inevitable questions followed with one person joking that we had probably driven past my house, to which I answered, yes we actually had! Though the first half of the tour took me to familiar places it was interesting to hear the stories about the filming that went with them. Even going back to the Weta cave was interesting as it was a different tour from the one I had taken a year earlier, though the guide still had a sword and I still wanted to steal it.

Post lunch and we were off to new territory for me. It was fascinating to hear how they took multiple locations and digitally layered them to create a whole new landscape that would come to be middle earth. We even got to play with some makeshift ‘props’ and re-enact some memorable scenes. At the end of the day one advantage of being outed as a resident was that we did get dropped off at my front door and so escaped the walk up the hill, woo!

Once home we celebrated our holiday with some bubbly before heading out for our last meal. This time we made it to Ombra and though it was a squeeze we elected to take a table for two for the three of us rather than wait or go elsewhere. It as a delicious and happy meal as we remembered that great holiday we’d had. Not being in a hurry to end the night and thus the holiday too soon we elected to go to a bar recommended by our tour guide. There we enjoyed delicious cocktails and big brother and sister in law tried to work out where they could buy all of the new gin’s they had discovered over the last few weeks. Eventually though tiredness got the better of us and it was time to walk home together for the last time.

The next morning it was time to go and collect big brother and sister in law for the last time. I met them at their motel and we headed out for breakfast. Since it was our last meal we made and occasion of it though we drew the line at a champagne breakfast and stuck with tea and coffee. Much too soon though it was time to collect their stuff and send them on their way. Our holiday was well and truly over. They had long trip home and the next day I was back to work and before I knew it out fabulous holiday was already a distant but very happy memory.