Windy Wellington?

Ask anyone who doesn't live in Wellington and they might tell you Wellington is known for its wind.  Ask anyone who lives in Wellington and they will speak only of its perfect weather.  Funny, the wind turbines never seem to be moving...So, this morning, we woke to a windy, stormy morning and as outdoor furniture was being moved across the porch by the force of the winds, we decided to go for a walk instead (bike riding in wind does not equal fun).  We bundled up in warm clothing (in which we really promptly overheated in about two block's time as the sun came out and we were shedding clothes faster than the wind was blowing)!

 We have a theory that the wind turbines around here might have the brakes on...

WETA is an impressive collaboration of a whole lot of creative, happy people doing what they love- and making great movies in the process!

We walked over to the neighboring area of Miramar, and went to the WETA Cave.  Well, first we went to a cafe Graeme had taken us to a couple weeks back that we couldn't seem to get out of our minds called Cafe Polo.  It supposedly has one of the top chefs in Wellington and the meals that come out of the wondrous neighborhood cafe do not lie!  Fresh, delicious, and affordable in price, it has quickly become a favorite. 

 Cafe Polo is a delicious neighborhood cafe in Miramar that delivers on all accounts.  Well, we don't know if they actually deliver, but you get the point! A worthy, enjoyable spot!

WETA is an inspiring story about a group of folks, passionate about the creative side of film, got together in the early 90's and created a production facility known for employing the talent of Peter Jackson and creating films such as Lord of the Rings, Avatar, X Men, The Lovely Bones, and about 100 more.  The museum was free, which was awesome, and included a 20 minute video about the facility and the people behind it.  We really had no idea how big WETA was and the technological advances they are responsible for.  One example is that WETA has more computing power than NASA.  They have their own complete armory, where they make all the authentic armory for the movies.  An example of how much time a movie such as Avatar takes just for the digital component alone is impressive.  It took 1,000 working hours to make 1 second of animation for Avatar, which was 3 hours long, which equated to over 1,500 digital animators working on that one movie alone.  It is the most expensive movie ever made, at $450M however no worries for James Cameron as it has brought in over $4.5B in the first six months of being out in movie theatres.

We walked back to Seatoun, meandering through the neighborhoods and over Worser Bay, dropping down to Seatoun from the surrounding hills and enjoying the weather a lot more than if we were on our bikes. We sat at the end of a little pier, still amazed by the clarity of the water and the ability to see the bottom! We even saw a jelly fish meandering under the pier in the beautiful aquamarine water.

View of Seatoun from Worser Bay