Kai and I ventured to Wellington for some mother-son time. It was an easy sell; he was allowed to check out of school for 2 days!   In addition to thoroughly enjoying the city, I learned a few things about my teenager.  He’s good at navigation when pressed, likes having a schedule, never tires of basketball shoe shopping, and doesn’t mind being the brunt of jokes by semi professional stand up comedians.   He’s not so good at standing for long periods and listening to lectures on information systems and web analytics.  We covered a lot of ground and I had a great time with my travel partner.

 

No trip to Wellington is complete without more time at the Weta Workshop.  It’s home to the prop and animatronic production division that has worked on hundreds of movies. The best known are The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, District 9, Iron Man, Mad Max,  and Avatar.  A talk on prosthetics and a private tour was a highlight.  Of course, we made fake blood and chain maille with our guides Matt, and Mark, who was an “extra” Hobbit in the movie.  Yes, they make lots of weapons.  We held all sorts of imitation rifles, axes, and silicon hands and arms.  Kai thinks designing  at Weta could be a future career.  Mark and Matt’s advice to my future special effects artist- learn 3D printing!  

Weta Workshop is across the harbour, but luckily the public transportation is robust and we mastered the MetLink bus system.   There are endless vintage shops and quirky stores along famous, Cuba Street, and we hit them all.

Friday happened to be “Open Uni Day”.  The university campuses are open for tours and talks with the students.  What luck!  It was pouring down rain and the hike was straight up hill.  But that wasn’t enough to turn our plans “to custard” .  The first campus was Victoria University.  The students were bright and bubbly and imparted some wisdom. Have a backup plan if you major in design/art!  Seriously, they were forward thinking and understood the need for many skill sets if you are going to be an innovator: marketing, business information system, communication, etc. 

Then it was on to Massey University’s  College of Creative Arts. The campus is very cool. We toured several art departments and favourites were the industrial design centre and the Fab Lab Wellington.  

 

Dinner at Nicolini’s and a night at a very intimate comedy club capped off our time in Wellington.  The Scruffy Bunny Theatre presented 5 person improv show and then a game of Simpson trivia between 2 rival comedy teams.  There were a few American jokes  as the Kiwis find us a bit nutty.

 

Happy Birthday Kai!