Green with NZ: Weekend in Windy Welly (Feb. 10

Wellington, NZ’s capital, is located on a somewhat J-shaped peninsula of land dangling from the southernmost reaches of the North Island into the Cook Strait. It’s a hilly and windy city, and compared to Auckland it is relatively compact, as it’s hemmed in by mountains and the sea, thus preventing the typical urban sprawl. We found Wellington to be a fun and cosmopolitan city though, with tons of cafés, bars, and cultural activities (we even managed to make it to a museum!). Luckily, after our Courchsurfing drought of the past few weeks, we were fortunate to find a place to Couchsurf in Wellington.

The view from George's, at the top of Mount Victoria

Our host was George, a former California dude who’s been living and working in Wellington for about the past six years. To show what a small world it is, George has relatives in Lititz, PA, and was telling us about this great ice cream shop in the woods near there that his aunt and uncle took him to when he visited them a few years ago. He was shocked when we recognized it as the Jigger Shop in Mt. Gretna, where Becky’s mom and sister live. It’s funny to go halfway around the world and run into someone who’s been to your little neck of the woods.

Cheesecake with George

George works at WETA as a rotoscoper doing special effects in movies and moved down to NZ to work on the Lord of the Rings films. He loved the lifestyle there so much that he hasn’t left, and doesn’t intend to, as he’ll probably apply for citizenship sometime soon. Having been in the smog and traffic of LA recently, we can certainly understand the appeal of the quality of life in Wellington. Especially as he lives near the top of Mt. Victoria, which affords terrific views of the city. Indeed, he lives about a block from the lookout on top of the mountain.

An interesting home in Wellington, constructed with shipping containers

What can we say about George but “wow!”, as we were amazed by his hospitality and energy. George is in his early 40’s, but you’d never know it to talk to him, as he has the enthusiasm of a kid, which we mean in the best possible way. He’s an interesting guy, having moved to NZ from California, working at McMurdo Base in Antarctica in the past, starting a few web businesses, and currently preparing for a trip back to the States to visit national parks and shoot nature footage. In his house, George put us up on a bed which has been set up semi-permanently in his living room right now. He’s only been doing Couchsurfing for a few months, but already has hosted a dozen people. We’d say he seems to be pretty much unstoppable, and we’re looking forward to spending more time with him on our way back through Wellington some day.

As an aside, we would like to reiterate our continued gratitude to CouchSurfing. What a tremendous website! Each host that we’ve stayed with has been an exceptional human being. We’re actually kind of sad that with all our gushing we haven’t managed to convince a single friend or family member to sign up. For shame. (Excepting my sister Marie, although I don’t believe she’s used it at all since she signed up.)

On our first full day in Wellington, we followed George around as he helped a friend shoot some scenes of a documentary, and then he took us out for brunch at a great café, Chocolate Fish, right on the water. We also checked out George’s workplace, and he showed us a little of how they create the movie magic at WETA. We’d say more…but the security guard made us sign confidentiality agreements and sometimes it’s fun to hold out on you guys, hehe. We apparently inspired George to do some serious cooking, as we made chili, penne arrabiata, and most importantly, cheesecake this past weekend. George claims it wasn’t one of his best attempts, but we thought it was really pretty good (and has inspired Becky to master the skill of cheesecake-making). George’s friends were also really great, and one of them, Jen, a Michigan transplant who also works at WETA, barbecued for us at her house on the waterfront on Sunday night, a beautiful location worth every dollar in rent.

Filming the documentary, Malcolm and George

Other things we did in Wellington…Well we did all the typical touristy things, riding the cable car, going to the national museum, Te Papa, seeing NZ’s unusual government building, the Beehive, and of course, visiting Mac’s, the local brewery. We packed a lot into just a few days in Wellington, but we had a blast, thanks in no small part to George, who went way above the call in the hospitality he showed us. Gracias George, hope we cross paths again.