Fire, Flood, Pestilence

The Best of Wellington - 2020

Our daughter contacted us while we were at the New World supermarket to explain that they wouldn't need us to do any leafleting at all that afternoon or any other day that week for that matter as her fiancé's show was a total sell-out; there was even some doubt as to whether they would be able to find two tickets for us on any one of the days it was on.

They couldn't believe how popular it had been at the booking points both online and at various places in Wellington; so much so that the fringe managers were trying to insert a few extra shows in for him so as to accommodate the increasing number of people on his waiting list.

As there was now some doubt as to whether we would see his show at all, our daughter suggested that we should join them at the Best of Wellington 2020 at 10:00 pm that evening.

This was a show held every week in one of the city's larger venues where 4 or 5 of the more popular comedians would be invited to do a 15 minute slot to give audiences a taste of their comedic style.

The idea is that if the audience liked what they saw they could book the full-blown show later, but in the case of our future son-in-law and another comedian invited to perform at that taster session whose show had also sold out that week, it would provide the public with an opportunity to see a mini version of their stand-up routine if not all of it.

We agreed to join them for that later then we would all drive home together afterwards and have a late meal at home with a few glasses of Marlborough.

That is what they wanted as they would clearly be tired; they also asked if we could pick up bread and sandwich fillings for them as there was no time at all to pop out for lunch in between admin, interviews, rehearsals, health and safety updates, technical issues and the rest.

If extra shows would be inserted in addition to the original one then they would be even busier than before but that was obviously a good thing; it meant that our future son-in-law's comedic style had struck a chord with New Zealand audiences and had proved to be a great success.

With that in mind we walked around that supermarket again and did a proper food shop so we could provide meals for them at the end of their evening as well as packed lunches and snacks.

We then returned home, put everything away and I prepared a tomato and pepper ragù with roquette and tomato salad for dinner later.

Our excellent landlady had not only hung our washing out to dry in the sun on her terrace but she had folded it and left it in a laundry basket outside our front door.

It was such a kind thing to do; some Airbnb hosts really do go above and beyond to make sure their guests are comfortable.

We returned to central Wellington at 9:30 pm and met our two charges at 9:45 then all four of us walked to a venue which I think was called Te Auaha Tapere Iti where we enjoyed our very first Wellington show.

It was pretty crowded as this was clearly a popular bar for people of all ages (which we were pleased to see) and the atmosphere was excellent.

The first comedian we saw was extremely funny.

He was an Australian comedian from Melbourne called Matt Harvey; we laughed so much at his dry repartee that we booked to see his 1 hour show later that week.

The other two comedians were also good and we would have loved to see their shows as well but one was sold out and the other was on so late that we thought it best not to commit to such a late hour in advance.

We had already booked ourselves into quite a few shows for that week and we did also want to do other things as well.

Of course our future son-in-law was amazing and that is definitely not just family bias.

He received a standing ovation, loud cheers and several requests for more.

It had been an excellent start to what was proving to be a very successful week for him at Wellington's iconic Comedy Fringe Festival.

Saturday 29 February 2020

Mount Victoria Lookout 

https://www.newzealand.com/uk/feature/mount-victoria/

Inevitably it had been a late night for all of us the previous evening after our comedy show at the Te Auaha Tapere Iti theatre followed by dinner at home and excellent Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc.

Our daughter and her partner were keen to keep up their almost unbroken record of Saturday park runs but the closest park run to where we were staying was in Lower Hutt which was a good 15 minute drive from Wadestown.

We therefore offered to drive them to Lower Hutt early that morning and even cheer them on as we had done in Queenstown the previous Saturday.

Unfortunately the weather on that occasion was rather more inclement that it had been during their Queenstown park run.

But we drove them there as promised and they joined all the other stalwart Saturday park runners and pressed on with the run in spite of the driving rain and raging winds.

We, however, decided that a coffee and a croissant in a charming café close-by, would be preferable to cheering on the runners in the driving rain. 

We had an interesting encounter with a window cleaner originally from Liverpool in that café.

We chatted about Liverpool and how we had visited the city recently with a good friend from Birkenhead.

He told us that his mother had been a good friend of Ringo Starr's mother as they all lived in the same neighbourhood when he was growing up. 

He said he had met Ringo himself a few times in his youth but couldn't really call him a friend.

He ended up in New Zealand as his daughter had emigrated there several years previously and when he visited her, he liked it so much that he stayed. 

It's extraordinary the people you meet when you travel.

By 9:30 am we were all back in Wadestown where the runners had lovely warm showers and I made them a well deserved scrambled egg and smashed avocado brunch.

After breakfast our daughter's partner said that he should get to Bats Theatre as soon as he could as he had a few urgent admin issues to sort out with the venue manager then he had found a gym near the theatre which he wanted to try and join for the rest of that week if he could, so my husband dropped him off with a packed lunch and a few snacks for later if required.

Our daughter was free for most of that day so she and I decided to embark on a long, invigorating walk to Bats Theatre then meet my husband and drive up to Mount Victoria.

Fortunately for us the weather improved throughout the day. By mid afternoon it was even sunny and warm so our walk was certainly far more enjoyable than their run had been.

There are lots of excellent walking trails all around Wellington; we managed a few that week but for us the walk from Wadestown to Bats Theatre then up at Mount Victoria Lookout, was one of the  most invigorating of all.

"Mount Victoria provides stunning 360 degree views of Wellington City, the harbour and the sea to the south".

"Maori legend has it that Wellington harbour, originally a land-locked lake, was home to two large and very active taniwha (sea monsters)".

"One taniwha forged a passage to the open sea creating the entrance to the harbour".

"The second, named Whataitai, tried a different route but it became stranded and died".

"It is believed that Tangi-te keo (Mt Victoria) was named after the soul of Whataitai". 

"Mount Victoria is part of the Wellington Town Belt, which was land set aside in 1841 by the colonial New Zealand Company for a "public recreation ground for the inhabitants of Wellington"."

"It's a great place for walking, jogging and mountain biking", we can certainly confirm that.

"At the end of the summit road, near the viewing platform, is a striking memorial to the American aviator Richard Byrd".

"Byrd mounted numerous Antarctic expeditions from his base in New Zealand".

"In1929 he made the first flight over the South Pole".

"More recently, Mount Victoria was used as a filming location for the first film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy directed by Peter Jackson - who is himself a devoted Wellingtonian".

"On the slopes of the mountain, just minutes from the sophistication of modern Wellington, terrified hobbits hide from Black Riders in dense forest undergrowth".

Definitely the perfect location for any type of woodland filming