Days 63-65 - Wellington

I will be staying in Welly for the next few days. The last big city on the trail. The next major town I’ll go won’t be for a month unless I do some side trips. So I’ll run some errands, eat as much food as I possibly can, and do some tourist things. Time to relax a little and enjoy doing things that don’t involve walking.

I went to the popular Te papa museum which was a good overview of NZ history with a particular focus on Māori culture. It was free too, how good. 

I met a couple walkers in my hostel who got injury’s from walking, one with a back injury and one with a knee injury’s. The doctors say they are unable to finish trail, and are flying back to their respective countries soon. Right before the South Island, shame. One gave me all his food and fuel which he doesn’t need anymore, nice. 

Weta workshop is in Wellington, a special effects/design company that works on major movie productions, including LOTR. So obviously I took a tour of that. 

I have not actually completed the North Island yet. I still have 10km of walking from Wellington to the southern tip of the island. I met up with Joren and Florian and slack packed the last 10km. An enjoyable walk through Wellingtons park system. 

Walking the last kms to the terminus and concluding the North Island was filled with a reminiscent feeling of the past two months, and excitement for the southern island now visible on the horizon. While I pasted the halfway point in kilometres for the Te Araroa already, the end of the North Island has always been the real halfway point. At the beginning of this journey completing the North seemed a far far off distant goal. Not unachievable, just too far off away to think about. Now that I’m here it’s a weird feeling. It feels like Cape Reinga was only days ago, and yet I’ve experienced and seen so much since then. That being said it is still only halfway and I’m looking forward to the next island very much. 

At the terminus

It’s hot in Wellington these days. So hot I’m sitting on the city beaches and swimming most of the time, watching the dolphins in the bay. Come to think of it I don’t think I’ve been rained on while hiking for nearly a month. Turns out summer in NZ does exist. Wellington is a really cool city, probably the first place in NZ I could see myself living in.