Thunderbirds are go!

Wellington put on quite a show for the final two days of our North Island road trip. The weather played its part with sunny skies and light winds.  We also got lucky with a last minute change of hotel.  I used some loyalty points to book us into the Doubletree by Hilton. This is a new venue.  It opened last year in a restored colonial building directly opposite the Wellington Cable Car station.

Thanks to my Gold Hilton Honors membership the hotel upgraded us to a spacious corner room that was pure decadence.  My status also gave us a free breakfast each morning which proved to be an impressive daily buffet.  We also received a couple of free drink coupons.  For a free room, we certainly felt rewarded for our loyalty!

Our first full day in town was spent riding the Cable Car up to Kelburn where spent an hour or more exploring the Cable Car Museum.  I can't recall visiting this attraction before but it proved to be an interesting insight into the history of Wellington's early suburban development and the public transport that enabled it.

A leisurely road tour along the city's coastal roads eventually led us to our lunch destination.  We bought Fish & Chips from Huckle & Co in Seatoun and spent an hour relaxing on the harbour foreshore at the nearby Wahine Memorial Park.  The fish was as fresh as you can get it.  We literally watched the chef fillet it before tossing into the deep fryer.

We then spent the afternoon at Weta Cave, the home of Peter Jackson's famous special effect studio.  We booked the classic behind the scenes tour and followed this with its Thunderbirds set tour.  Both tours were fascinating.  We learnt how Jackson created many of the special effects that made his Lord of Ring trilogy so epic; before getting up close and personal with its Thunderbirds miniature sound stage.

Our final day in town was devoted to a leisurely morning of shopping before making our way to the airport via the Mount Victoria lookout.  The view from the summit was as stunning as ever.  Wellington really does sparkle in the sunshine.  Before we knew it, our flight was boarding and our vacation was well and truly over.