Australasia Archives - Anna S. E. Lundberg

Melbourne: The world’s most liveable city?

19 December, 2014 By Anna S E Lundberg 4 Comments

If this had been 20 years ago, the biggest draw of Melbourne would have been a tour of the Neighbours soap opera set. Aside from that, I’ve often been told that Europeans usually love Melbourne: it’s the cultural capital of Australia, artsy, international, and the number one city in the world according to The Economist’s “liveability index”. While I enjoyed my stay, I have to say: I’m definitely a Sydney girl.

Melbourne street art — My apartment was on Southbank, where I enjoyed walking every day, past the restaurants and hotels. This is one of the officially sanctioned areas for Melbourne’s street art.

Southbank, Melbourne — Walking along the river did remind me somewhat of being in Paris, and I can see why Europeans would feel at home here.

I continued the French theme and my cultural experience of Melbourne with a visit to the National Gallery of Victoria for the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition.

Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition — Only a little bit creepy, an animation of Monsieur Gaultier himself wished us *la bienvenue* to this voyage through his career.

JPG teddy bear — Jean Paul Gaultier’s original muse, his teddy bear Nana, wearing a prototype of the iconic conical bra later made famous by Madonna.

JPG perfume — A display of the first perfume bottles designed by JPG.

The first, and only, time I’ll ever be in the front row of a JPG fashion show.

Melbourne Christmas tree — It’s Christmas! And summer! At the same time! I did do a little bit of shopping but this time limited to my first pair of Toms, after I had just finished reading the company founder’s book, Starting Something that Matters.

Looking back on the city centre from the calm of the Royal Botanic Gardens. I think I’ve been to more botanical gardens on this trip than I ever have in my whole life before!

The Shrine of Remembrance, built as a place where families could mourn the loved ones they lost abroad in the First World War.

But where is the ocean?! My favourite part of Sydney, or of any city, unfortunately missing from Melbourne city centre. As a result, I took a boat trip out to Williamstown, a suburb of Melbourne, to get closer to the sea (and I had fish and chips again!).

Williamstown harbour — Arriving at the little harbour of Williamstown.

Path in Williamstown — A walk along the coast, having left behind the skyscrapers of the big city.

Williamstown Botanic Gardens — Botanic Gardens again! Very small, these, though…

The Ball Tower used to help seafarers to calibrate their chronometers: from 1858 to 1926 the ball would drop at exactly 1pm.

Williamstown Ferry — Returning to Melbourne on the Williamstown ferry.

On my last day in Melbourne, my flight wasn’t leaving until 3am and I had already checked out of my apartment the previous morning. What to do? Late night cinema showing of Interstellar, of course. (For the record, as much as I love wormholes and relativity and space in general, I really didn’t get this film for all the hype it’s had. Nowhere near as good as Gravity, which really moved me as well as being ground-breaking in terms of the filming itself.) Although my flight was a little delayed, my free upgrade to business class made up for the inconvenience. A glass of champagne and a short sleep on a horizontal bed later, and I arrived in Kuala Lumpur for the next part of my trip…

The practical bit:

National Gallery of Victoria: The Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition is on until 8th February 2015; $22 for an adult ticket.

Williamstown Ferry: The ferry leaves from outside the Southgate shopping centre; $28 for an adult return ticket.

Apartment: I booked a studio at Melbourne Short Stay Apartments and got a free upgrade to a one-bedroom with a balcony. Very nice, and great location by Southbank.

5 Things to Do in Sydney – when you’re visiting for the second time…

16 December, 2014 By Anna S E Lundberg 1 Comment

[It’s impossible for me to post this today without offering my condolences to the individuals and families involved in the Sydney hostage situation that unfolded in the past 24 hours. My thoughts are with those affected, directly and indirectly. This type of isolated incident can clearly happen anywhere; I hope that realisation makes people travel more, and not less, as a result.]

The first time I came to Sydney was almost 14 years ago. I remember driving up to some viewpoint and standing at the top of a cliff, breathing in the crisp ocean air, and I loved it. Now, after my second visit, I can confirm: Sydney is one of my top three cities. The others? New York and Stockholm; I think I’ll put London at number four since it’s less exciting giving its proximity for most of my life…

Last time I came, my friend Kirsten and I did all the touristy things you’re meant to do: we did a tour of the Opera House, went to the Aquarium, took a boat to a seafood restaurant, visited the Blue Mountains… This time, I hadn’t planned anything and so I felt that I could relax into it. I stayed in a serviced apartment instead of a hotel, which meant that I felt a little like a local doing my shopping in a supermarket and eating breakfast or cooking dinner ‘at home’. I went to museums, I went to the theatre, I even did a bit of shopping…

1. Visit the Rocks Market at the weekend

The Rocks is not a bad place to stay if you want to be close to the main attractions, the bridge, the harbour, the Opera House… I went there for the weekend market, which spills out onto the streets on Saturdays and Sundays with a foodie version also on Friday, where you can buy lunch at the various food stalls and explore the various arts and crafts on display. I fell for some unusual jewellery at one stall, where I had a long chat with the French lady there whose husband had created these pieces using resin and gold and silver leaf. At another stall, a family business offered unique pieces built from different parts of old mechanical watches. I also bought a bag that I could wear across the body for the next part of my trip that would take me to Asia. And I had a mini cupcake. Yum.

From The Rocks, I went up onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge, where I had planned to climb up to the Pylon Lookout. When I got there, though, I found that this involved climbing up a set of stairs inside the pylon (duh!) with no windows, and this time my claustrophobia won out – so I passed. There is also the more famous BridgeClimb, which looks like it would be spectacular.

Sydney Harbour Opera House from the Sydney Harbour Bridge — In fact, the views from the main part of the bridge are pretty stunning already, and these are free!

2. Take the ferry to Manly

The boat ride to Manly takes about an hour one way and if you sit at the back (and then at the front on the return journey) you get fabulous views of all of what Sydney has to offer: the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, and the skyscrapers of the central business district. Manly itself has several beaches as well as a number of trails if you have more time. I had a performance to get back for, so I settled for a nice stroll along the coast with an ice cream for company.

To get to the ferry from Haymarket, where I was staying, I took the opportunity to walk down to Woolloomooloo Bay and around the Botanic Gardens. I passed Mrs Macquarie’s Chair – impossible to miss with all those Chinese tourists clamouring to take a photo – and continued round to Farm Cove where you can get all the selfies you could possibly need in front of the classic panorama of the Sydney Opera House and the neighbouring Harbour Bridge.

View from ferry to Manly — Tada! The best harbour in the world, according to my neighbour on the boat to Manly. I’d be tempted to agree with him…

Manly Beach: still very touristy, but not as bad as Bondi…

3. Get a bit of culture

Make that a LOT of culture in my case. I went to the Australian Museum, where I was pointed in the direction of the Albert Chapman minerals collection – born in 1912, he began collecting at twelve but was a tad more persistent then I was and by the time of his death in 1996 he had amassed a huge collection; my favourites were the blues and greens of azurite and malachite. (Tip: Pick up the free Sydney guide at the airport, as it has all sorts of discounts, including one that I used for the museum.) On the way, I passed through the ANZAC Memorial, built in art deco style in the early 1930s, where an informative guide encouraged me to explore the museum underneath. I also went to see the Chuck Close exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, following a recommendation from an arty friend.

My night at the theatre was especially magical after I had the luminous green Ozmopolitan cocktail in the interval. (“Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe…”)

Having only done the tour during my last visit, this time I booked a ticket to see a matinee performance at the Sydney Opera House, The Nutcracker ballet, my favourite and the ultimate sign of Christmas (though it was strange to exit the theatre into a hot summer’s afternoon!). And, as luck would have it, my apartment was just across the road from the musical Wicked at the Capitol Theatre; so, how could I resist, I went to see that as well. Best seat in the house and a magical night; even better was the shortest ever walk home across the street afterwards… Oh, and I went to see the Mockingjay film at the cinema, if that counts as culture!

4. Shop ’til you drop

After all that culture, I needed to bring the level down a bit with some less highbrow activity. I admired the Christmas windows and had a lovely paleo lunch at the David Jones department store (– one of the bonus reasons why I love Sydney, the amazing healthy food that you can get!). At Myers, I successfully replaced my broken sandals with a new pair (and maybe some other things while I was at it…). I also topped up on shampoo at Toni & Guy.

My more extravagant purchase that I had planned to make was an opal in some form or other. I’d been thinking about it since my encounter with a Native American shop owner in Cusco, Peru, who had recommended that I buy a fire opal, and it also happens to be my birthstone; so given its prevalence in Australia I thought what better time than now. Cathy, an elegant French lady in OpalMinded, accompanied me on my personal journey to find the right stone.

“May I ask what kind of price range you’re looking at?”

“Oh, I’m not really sure how much they are…”

“Because that one there is $20,000.”

“Ah. Well not $20,000.”

She graciously steered me towards some much smaller stones as well as the doublets that consist only of a thin layer of opal against a black backing and are therefore cheaper. We also briefly considered buying a loose stone and having someone back home design a ring or necklace, but that seemed like a lot of work to me… In the end, we settled for a simple silver ring with a small but lovely opal. It was a little less than $20,000…

5. Go for a drink at Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour is where you can find Sydney Aquarium, Sydney Zoo, Madame Tussauds… so I steered well clear of that area this time around; until my last evening. I had met an old school friend for a drink at the bar down in front of the Opera House (also a great spot, by the way) and we decided to continue on to Darling Harbour, where I ended my time in Sydney with a bang – there were fireworks – with dinner and drinks. I felt only a little old with the loud music and the students around us who were drinking shots and getting flirty…

Sydney, I love you! If only you weren’t so far away…

The practical bit:

Meriton Serviced Apartments: Although I booked via Booking.com, the guy at reception insisted that it would be cheaper to book directly next time. They have apartments in different locations around Sydney – mine was on Campbell Street, in Thai Town (next door to Chinatown). Another recommendation from a friend is for The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel (you have to email as they don’t have online booking, crazy, I know).

The Rocks Market: Every Saturday and Sunday as well as Public Holidays, 10am-5pm.

Ferry: Manly is in the outer zone so you’ll need a MyFerry2 ticket at $14.80 for an adult return. The ferry leaves from Circular Quay and takes about an hour one way.

Windy and Wonderful Wellington: The end of my northern kiwi experience

12 December, 2014 By Anna S E Lundberg Leave a Comment

We had originally intended to do our road trip from Auckland at the northern end of the North Island down to Wellington at the southern end. We found, however, that it was more expensive to leave the car in a different destination than it was to fly there and, on top, the main attractions we wanted to see were clustered up in Waikato around Auckland. And so it was that we left our lovely little BMW Z4 in Auckland and took an Air New Zealand flight down to Wellington. (The best part? Watching the security briefing. Oh, and having a can of L&P.)

Although smaller than Auckland, Wellington is, in fact, the capital city (and, as I see now on Wikipedia, it’s the world’s southernmost capital city at that). It’s the country’s political centre, housing Parliament and the various government departments, as well as being a centre for art and theatre including, of course, being home to Weta and ‘Wellywood’ over in one of its suburbs, Miramar.

With only a day or two in Wellington, and with my friend Annie back at work, I was left to explore the city, spending much of that time on the Lord of the Rings trail. I did venture off that quest, though, to visit the national museum, Te Papa. (I see now on the museum’s website that if I had arrived a little later I could have continued to explore Middle Earth with an encounter with Azog the Defiler, who’ll be resident at Te Papa until March next year.) Here, I learned more about the geology and logistics of New Zealand’s volcanoes and earthquakes in ‘Awesome Forces’ (failing badly at the computer game where you had to secure different parts of the house in the event of an emergency). I found the ‘Blood Earth Fire’ exhibition particularly enlightening, with insights on the changes that have been brought to bear on the country including the introduction of different species as well as deforestation and the transfer of land ownership away from the Maori population.

I’ve been told, to my surprise, that Kiwis will claim fush and chups as their own. So I found myself having travelled across the world to sample this local delicacy – having never, I don’t think, eaten fish and chips in England. Shame on me. The popular Mt Vic Chippery now offers an online ordering system (though the times given on the site for pick-up were disregarded since they were “so busy mate”), with a bewildering array of different types of fish, and chips, to choose from.

What Wellington is most known for, perhaps, is its weather. As a result of its exposed location, Windy Wellington is a windier city than the Windy City itself, Chicago, according to my internet sources, and as my friends explained to me that wind means that the weather can change very quickly. I experienced this directly with a first day of cold and rain followed by a stormy night and a second day of blue skies and glorious sunshine. Perfect, then, for an itinerary of museums on one day and harbour walks and ice cream on the next.

Mount Victoria Lookout from below — Looking up at the Mount Victoria Lookout – it was pretty hard work to get up there! The eye, by the way, is not the eye of Sauron but that of a dinosaur – a temporary exhibition at Te Papa Museum.

Wellington from Mount Victoria — At the lookout at the top of Mount Victoria, you’re rewarded with a fabulous view of the whole city.

At the Mount Victoria Lookout — Windy Wellington is right! I almost got blown away…

View from Mount Victoria Lookout — Looking out across Wellington Harbour, from where the ferry leaves to go to the south island.

The perfect spot along the Oriental Parade to stop for a Magnum Marc de Champagne.

All in all, a worthy end to our New Zealand adventure, which I now left behind as I continued on alone to one of my favourite cities in the world: Sydney.

Road Trip in New Zealand: Waitomo Glowworm Caves – and back to Auckland

9 December, 2014 By Anna S E Lundberg 1 Comment

Waitomo entrance — Waitomo means something to the effect of “the entry of water into the cave”, and it was here that the first explorers entered the beautiful home of the glowworms.

Visiting the glowworm caves in Waitomo: another item on my bucket list, albeit a late entry.

The glowworm caves were first explored in 1887 by local Maori Chief Tane Tinorau accompanied by an English surveyor; our guide on the day happened to be that Chief’s great grandson.

Waitomo Caves — The caves are much better developed than I had imagined, with concrete steps and metal railings – a blessing, given my claustrophobia!

He first took us through the upper level of the caves, where he told us about the history and geology of the area. In The Cathedral, the largest cavern and known for its great acoustics, we were treated to a Maori song, accompanied by a traditional flute, the kōauau. Both concerts and weddings are held here. As we returned through the space, the strains of the Indian national anthem came floating towards us courtesy of the group that followed us.

The stalactites are eventually going to touch the ground while the stalagmites are reaching ever upwards (- one of the few things I remember from geography (?) at school!). Our guide pointed out the face of a dog, the profile of an elephant, a young family, and even Casper the friendly ghost. Well, you find whatever patterns you want to…

Glowworm threads — These sticky threads are put down by the worms to catch their food. The brighter the glow emitted from the end of the worm, the more hungry it is!

It’s hard to believe that the beautiful glow that we see in the caves is the result of a creepy crawly. The glowworms are worms – duh! Their lifecycle: from egg (3 weeks) to glowworm (3 months) to pupa (2 weeks) to adult fly (just 3 days! As an adult, it has no digestive system and so must survive on the energy ingested as a worm.).

Waitomo glowworm caves — The experience was – and I’m sorry but there is no better word for it – MAGICAL. Some glowed more strongly than others, appearing like constellations in the night sky.

The last part of the tour, the part we’d all been waiting for, involved getting onto a Willy Wonka boat which our guide steered around and through the glowworm grotto. We were asked to keep quiet, as the glowworms are best enjoyed in silence; the baby on board did not get the memo, however.

There are actually three sets of caves that you can visit, not just the glowworm caves, and you can also be much more active than we were with real caving, black water rafting or tubing.

After the spectacle of the glowworm caves, we passed through the town of Te Awamutu, ‘known’ (?!) for having spawned the Finn brothers of Crowded House ‘fame’ (apologies but I’ve not heard of them…).

Rose Garden, Te Awamutu — One attraction in Te Awamutu I did enjoy was the Rose Garden, where the roses had names like Big Purple, Ingrid Bergman, and Disco Dancer.

The drive back to Cambridge, where we were staying, was glorious. I realise now, however, that I didn’t take any photos. What?! Well, Annie did do quite some filming with my GoPro (we’ll see what’s come out of all the filming I’ve done on this trip when I get home); and we also parked at one point in order to pose for a Thelma and Louise photo opp. (We’ve since discovered that our photo looks nothing like the original, but it does look like our OWN original, which we took at university many moons ago..)

Thelma & Louise — Then and now: 2002-2014

The final day of our road trip saw us driving along a pretty boring road back up to Auckland. We did what we could to make it more interesting, though, squeezing in a few more attractions…

Another garden, and a fabulous one at that: Hamilton Gardens. A huge space, of which we only explored a small part. Here, it’s all about the design of the gardens, with the Paradise Garden Collection, for example, housing a Chinese Scholars Garden, a Japanese Garden of Contemplation, and an Italian Renaissance Garden, among others.

Italian Renaissance Garden — If the sun had been out, I would have felt completely transported to Lake Como. A great place for a wedding…!

Alice in Wonderland statue — The gardens had an Alice in Wonderland feel to them – and, indeed, whom should we come across…

Riff Raff statue, Hamilton — No, I didn’t have to pee. I’m putting my hands on my hips and bringing my knees in tight, obviously. On the plaque is written: “It’s astounding! Where we stand is the birthplace of
The Rocky Horror Picture Show. On this site stood The Embassy Theatre, the home of Hamilton’s ‘Late Night Double Feature Picture Show’ and the barber shop where Richard O’Brien cut hair and daydreamed from 1959 to 1964.” Hamilton itself is not a place where we’d like to have spent more time…

Final stop: Raglan. “New Zealand’s best-looking town’ according to LP, in the sense of the fitties who are said to be wandering the streets. We didn’t see any but we did have a nice bagel for lunch.

Alas, then it was time to return our baby (the BMW Z4) to its owner and we were once again without wheels. Next, we took to the skies…

The practical bit:

From Hobbiton we continued on to the Cambridge Coach House, where we stayed two nights in order to explore Waitomo and the surrounding area. We had a lovely little villa with gorgeous views of the countryside. It’s a little outside of town, though, so you do need a car (but, then, you probably couldn’t get here unless you had a car!). We received, and followed, two dinner recommendations: pizza at Onyx followed by fish at The Nash at the National Hotel, the latter with a menu from a former NZ Masterchef contestant.

Waitomo: The highlight of all the caves is the Glowworm Caves; tours depart daily every half an hour – adult price $49. We had lunch at Huhu Café across the road, which had a lovely terrace and view.

*NOTE: You can’t take pictures inside the caves, and that includes photos without flash or video. The pictures in this blog post taken inside the caves came from the CD that I bought in the shop after the tour – I was assured that this gave me full rights to use the pictures however I wanted.*

Hamilton Gardens: Open every day of the year, with free entry; less than an hour from Hobbiton, just outside the town of Hamilton.

Visiting the Hobbiton Film Set and Weta Workshop: A not-so-unexpected journey into Middle Earth

2 December, 2014 By Anna S E Lundberg 1 Comment

The Hobbit was one of my favourite children’s books, The Lord of the Rings when I was a little older. My mum and I were obsessed with the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of the trilogy, a 13-hour dramatisation from 1981, on cassette tapes and then CDs. It had John Le Mesurier as Bilbo and Ian Holm (who would later play Bilbo in Peter Jackson’s films) as Frodo; oh and, as I’ve just discovered, Bill Nighy as Sam Gamgee! Then the three films came out while I was at university, giving me something to look forward to each of the three years of my studies. I always love finding out about all the behind-the-scenes secrets and I immersed myself in the extra films and interviews. I watched the extended versions with audio commentary by the actors (with anecdotes from the likes of Orlando, Elijah and Billy Boyd) more times than I can remember. All this to say that of course one of the main reasons I came back to New Zealand was to visit the Shire in Middle Earth.

The location that Peter Jackson and his scouting crew selected for the land of the hobbits was the Alexander Farm near Matamata on the North Island, still a working sheep farm today. The national army worked hard to adapt the site to match Tolkien’s description, turning a swamp into a grassy field to house Bilbo’s 111^th birthday and transplanting the party tree itself into the right place. Animals were brought in, apple and pear trees turned into plum trees, and an artificial oak tree built atop what would become Bag End. As news of the location spread once the films came out, the Alexander family discovered that people were drawn to the home of Bilbo and Frodo, and they have gradually gone from taking three or four people on the back of a truck to the more official operation that is in place today.

Welcome to Hobbiton sign — The Hobbiton tour is two hours long, including a short bus ride down to the set, where a guide took us round Hobbiton. In our case, the guide was Curt with a C, freshly arrived from the UK to spend the best six months of his life in Middle Earth.

Gandalf's Cutting — We entered Hobbiton at Gandalf’s Cutting, where Frodo jumps onto Gandalf’s cart as he arrives for Bilbo’s party. Forced perspective was used to make Elijah Wood appear smaller, along with body doubles for the close-ups.

Hobbit hole — The hobbit holes were built in various scales – three-quarter size, for example – to allow Gandalf to appear tall against the smaller-sized doors and the hobbits much shorter against larger parts of the set.

Sam's house — Of course, the ‘holes’ themselves do not exist: that is, the doors open about a foot or two so that the actors could get inside, but otherwise the scenes inside Bag End were filmed in a studio. The chimneys and windows are positioned around the area to give the impression of depth to the hobbits’ homes. (This one is Sam’s home, which you see briefly as he tends to his plant at the beginning of the first film.)

The highlight, of course, was seeing Bag End, where Bilbo and Frodo lived.

The Green Dragon Inn, viewed across the lake from the party field.

'Green Dragron' and 'Hobbiton' sign — “Gandalf, which way to Mordor?”

The Old Mill was demolished by Saruman in the books but luckily for us it was not so in the films, and so there it was.

Beer at the Green Dragon — At the end of the tour, you get a complimentary beer at The Green Dragon (“It comes in pints? I’m getting one!”) where they also serve food; and you can dress up as a hobbit if you so desire. (You don’t get to keep the mug but you can buy one back in the shop.)

My tour of Middle Earth continued at the Weta Workshop in Miramar just outside Wellington. You can visit the shop and watch a film about the company and all the films the team has worked on for free – but I paid in order to also do a tour of the workshop. This gives you access to quite a small hall with tours run by employees. Our guide wasn’t great, telling not-so-hilarious anecdotes about her colleagues collecting human skulls and animal skeletons, but she did know a lot about the props and the process from concept through to use in the films. For film fans, I do think it’s worth it: the hall is filled with props from The Lord of the Rings films as well as other Weta productions like Prince Caspian and Avatar. Yes, they’ve worked on all sorts of films including also Tintin, Superman, The Rise of the Planet of the Apes… In fact, they finished work on The Lord of the Rings twelve years ago! I. Am. Old.

I particularly enjoyed the life-size Uruk Hai, Lurtz (terrifying!), Aragorn’s sword (which Viggo Mortinsen used to bring along to restaurants in order to really feel one with it, as his character would have done), Eomer’s helmet, and Bilbo’s Sting dagger, as well as the head moulds of Ian Holm, Bernard Hill, Andy Serkis and Elijah Wood (who has a beautiful head! He would look good bald…). The full-size armour of Sauron was also impressive; one set was plastic and weighed 8kg, worn by actor Sala Baker in the scenes where he was mobile; the other weighing 68kg was used by ‘Tall Paul’ in close-ups where he didn’t have to move around. Also interesting was the chainmail developed by Weta to be a quarter of the weight of the real thing to allow actors to be more comfortable (though, of course, good old Viggo wore the heavy stuff. A method actor through and through…).

Gollum — Although you’re not allowed to take photos in the workshop itself for confidentiality reasons, you can do so in the shop and museum just outside. “The rock and pool, is nice and cool, so juicy sweet! Our only wish, to catch a fish, so juicy sweet!”

Hobbit feet — 1,800 hairy hobbit feet were made for the film trilogy; these were worn by Bilbo.

Stone troll — Thank goodness this troll had been turned into stone!

I continued my private Lord of the Rings tour in Wellington city centre, where I had coffee at the Embassy Theatre, in which Peter Jackson held the world premiere of The Return of the Ring in 2003. Sitting there in the renovated art deco theatre, empty on a rainy Tuesday afternoon in November, it was hard to imagine the place buzzing with the cast and crew of the film. The only evidence that remains is in the form of photos of actors like Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan on the walls; a small echo of the huge crowds of more than 100,000 who lined the red carpet down Courtenay Place eleven years ago.

Mount Victoria path — I also made the hike up Mount Victoria (pictures from the lookout at the top to follow in a later post), where scenes were filmed including the hobbits hiding from the ringwraith (“Get off the road!” – which, yes, I shouted at various points along the path).

My final connection to the film franchise came in my friends’ tantalising declaration that their flat, where I was staying in Wellington, had been home to a hobbit – or was it an elf? or a dwarf? – during filming. Alas, the details seemed to have been forgotten, but a little Wellywood glamour brushed off on me with this (albeit incomplete) knowledge…

And with that, #16 on my bucket list is DONE!

The practical bit:

Hobbiton Movie Set Tour: An adult ticket is $75; book ahead to ensure that you don’t miss out during high season. There are umbrellas at the entrance to Hobbiton in case of rain! There is also a shop but I have to admit I was disappointed – there is a big jump from the cheap tat at the bottom end of the spectrum up to the very expensive jewellery (the one ring, of course, as well as Arwen’s necklace and the hobbits’ elven brooch). In the end I settled for a fridge magnet (‘No admittance except on party business’).

Weta Workshop: Weta is located in Miramar, a suburb that lies south-east of Wellington city centre. You can visit the shop and watch the film for free, while the 45-minute tour of the workshop is $24 for adults. I did the ‘There and Back Again’ tour for $65, which included pick-up from and drop-off in Wellington, since I didn’t have a car at this point.

Melbourne: The world’s most liveable city?

5 Things to Do in Sydney – when you’re visiting for the second time…

1. Visit the Rocks Market at the weekend

2. Take the ferry to Manly

3. Get a bit of culture

4. Shop ’til you drop

5. Go for a drink at Darling Harbour

The practical bit:

Windy and Wonderful Wellington: The end of my northern kiwi experience

Road Trip in New Zealand: Waitomo Glowworm Caves – and back to Auckland

Visiting the Hobbiton Film Set and Weta Workshop: A not-so-unexpected journey into Middle Earth

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