wellington

As it turned out, I didn’t have to wait very long to return to Middle-Earth. Two weeks after my sojourn to the Shire, I received an e-mail from Vic’s wife, Raewyn, inviting me to join the August Red Carpet Tour group for the Wellington portion of their 12-day adventure.

By mid-August, I had been living in Wellington for more than a month. Even though it was a bigger city than any I’d ever lived in, I was comfortable there on my own. I spent many long afternoons allowing myself to get lost downtown in order to discover the quirks that make Wellington the city that it is.

Unlike the small towns I’ve lived in in Ohio, Wellington seems to be designed with the curious pedestrian in mind. A sunny afternoon in the city offers itself up for a stroll down Taranaki Street to Lambton Harbor, where active Wellingtonians can be found paddling bright yellow kayaks and rigging up small sailboats in the deep blue South Pacific water.

Continue on along the shore to Oriental Bay on a spring weekend, and you’re bound to see dogs ambling along with rollerblading owners in tow, children licking away at towering cones of brightly colored gelato, and lanky teens playing games of pick-up rugby in the pearl-white sand.

Even on the not-so-nice days (of which there are more than enough in “windy Wellington”), there’s plenty to do. My favorite place to go in my free time was Cuba Street, the center of all things culturally eclectic in Wellington. There are restaurants representing an array of nationalities – including The Matterhorn, which was named the best restaurant in New Zealand by Cuisine magazine – pubs, art galleries, fresh fruit stands, and a variety of stores ranging from the $2 Shop to boutique fashion establishments.

A stroll down a few Cuba blocks yields an entire sensory experience. There’s the smell of the Sushi Takeaway restaurant at the corner of Cuba and Vivian, followed by the bright orange posters and adverts of EFF-JAYS Adult Shop. Street performers often lay their open guitar cases outside of Farmer’s clothing store, strains of their strumming mingling with the tip-tap of women’s boot heels and the repetitive “thu-thump” of skateboard wheels rolling over the bricks that line the street.

But the aspect of Cuba Street that really makes it a prime destination on any day is the people found there. There are teens in school uniforms exchanging text messages; bohemian college students looking tragically artistic in their skinny jeans and Converse tennis shoes; international travelers toting overstuffed backpacks and clutching city maps; and business men and women rushing to catch the next bus. One afternoon, I was accosted by a young, long-haired, long-skirted Hindu woman trying to get me to make a donation in order to get a “free” copy of the Bhagavad Gita. Another afternoon, volunteers armed with orange smiley-face balloons and clipboards offered to register me to vote in the upcoming national election. They were, perhaps unsurprisingly, disappointed to find out that I wasn’t even a citizen. On another memorable evening, a likely homeless, possibly drunk man named Pete with flowing black hair and very few teeth offered to buy me a drink.

And, though the sights and smells and sounds of the city enchanted me, I found it was the even smaller details that gave Wellington its charm. Being a “Lord of the Rings” fan in the city where director Peter Jackson lives and works, I found delight in noticing the veiled – and often not-so-veiled – references to the city’s involvement with the films. They often appeared in unexpected places, which made it that much more fun to spot them. There’s the “Mordor” pizza you can order off the Hell Pizza menu, in case the “Lust,” “Mayhem,” or any other themed pizzas don’t appeal to you. There are the few yellow “Go Wellington” buses with phrases like “Go win an Oscar” and “Go film a trilogy” emblazoned on their sides. One day, I even came across a sign outside a beauty parlor that said, “We wax everything, including hobbits!”

It seems that, for many proud Wellingtonians, “Lord of the Rings” has become a part of their everyday lives. Immersed as the city is in New Zealand’s cinematic past, present and future, it is therefore rife with “Lord of the Rings” filming locations, production studios, and people who were involved in the trilogy. And, for the sort of fans that can be found on Vic and Raewyn’s Red Carpet Tours, this makes Wellington a trip highlight.