[This article contains affiliate links. By clicking on a link and purchasing an item, I may make some money. However, it will not cost you more than going to Amazon on your own.] The Weta Workshop and its partner companies are responsible for some of the greatest special effects and movies of all time. They’ve worked on shows from “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” with Kevin Sorbo to the “Thunderbirds Are Go” reboot for a new generation. They’ve done effects for the Lord of the Rings trilogy and are working on James Cameron’s Avatar series. They’ve accomplished this from the production lot near Wellington, New Zealand, which is a complete movie studio capable of delivering everything a movie production needs.
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New Zealand: The Christchurch Earthquake: Unexpected Conflicts and Congregations
In 2011, Christchurch experienced a devastating earthquake that left 185 people dead and destroyed much of the center of town. As the city started its recovery, local businesses created a shopping mall out of shipping containers. They sprang up organically, and according to many locals, they gave the shopping area a unique appeal providing Christchurch with something that few other places in the world could boast about. There was a debate about the area, but in the end, the city planning committee decided to remove the containers and build a new shopping mall. Those containers are gone.
Continue readingNew Zealand: Royal Tiki Tour with Royal Albatross Centre Delivers All the Birds
Taking the Royal Tiki Tour with the Royal Albatross Centre is one of the best decisions we made for our trip to New Zealand. The Royal Albatross Centre allows visitors to see the only mainland colony of nesting royal albatross in the world while also providing the opportunity to learn about the equally endangered red-billed gulls and see little blue penguins returning home in the evening.
Continue readingNew Zealand: Rotorua’s Alpin Motel and Conference Centre Provides a Great Place to Stay
Rotorua’s Alpin Motel and Conference Centre was our favorite motel in New Zealand. It had all the comforts of home and added a hot tub filled with geothermally heated and mineralized water. The room was large, had a kitchen, and the couple in charge were really nice. The motel was the only place we stayed that provided a French press, or plunger, and ground coffee to go in it. (Everywhere else had instant coffee.)
Continue readingNew Zealand: Christmas Photos and Video
New Zealand celebrates Christmas on the same day as the U.S. does, but I also heard that Boxing Day was a bit of a bigger deal. Either way, it’s the summer time when Santa comes around, and Jolly Old St. Nicholas is still wearing a heavy red coat. The decorations were up in November when we arrived though not all of the trees had been completely decorated. Here are some photos from the Christmas side of New Zealand.
Continue readingNew Zealand: To See Queen Street You Have to Move Beyond the Sidewalk
If all you do in Auckland is walk down the sidewalks of Queen Street, not only are you not seeing all of Auckland, you’re also not seeing all of Queen Street. What you will see is plenty of construction as the city tries to improve the harbor area. There are dozens of shops available to rent. There are lines of people who are waiting to get into internationally famous, upscale (read: exorbitantly overpriced) stores that apparently provide a personal salesperson for every shopper.
Continue readingNew Zealand: Auckland’s Best Café on Queen Street?
Stark’s Café at the Civic Theater in Auckland, New Zealand, ended up being our favorite coffee and breakfast spot in Auckland. The weekday employees were friendly and efficient. The mochaccino and flat white were tasty.
Continue readingThe Mystery of the Brown Goo: A New Zealand Suitcase Caper
When our bags came off the plane in Auckland, one of them had a putrid smelling Korean sauce with the consistency of jelly spilled on it. The brown sauce covered about six square inches with a spicy-smelling stain. It stank, and we had no idea where it came from. People aren’t supposed to bring food into New Zealand; it’s a huge deal. If the food isn’t declared or disposed of, you could face a $400 NZ fine. We got rid of our food in Seoul.
Continue readingNew Zealand on a Budget: Land of the Freebies!
If you’re planning a trip to New Zealand, you need to make sure that you budget for the trip of a lifetime. You don’t want to miss something just because you don’t have the money to go see it. That means you should take advantage of some of the best free things to do in the country.
Continue readingNew Zealand: The Dunedin Railways’ Taieri Gorge Train Trip
We went to the iSite in town to make sure that we hadn’t missed any penguin experiences. In Dunedin, there is the Royal Albatross Center and its nightly return of the little blue penguins, and there’s the Penguin Place with the rarest of penguins: the yellow-eyed penguins. We were told that we had pretty much done everything penguin related, so we needed to find something else to do. We chose the Taieri Gorge train trip with Dunedin Railways.
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Penguinate! Positive Creativity 