A Trip to Australia and New Zealand
Wellington
We found Wellington to be a proud city and justifiably so. It is clean, the people are friendly, and the setting is magnificent. There seemed to be a modest amount of new construction underway, but nowhere that we visited was there any sign of urban blight. Like many cities around the world it looks as though Wellingtonians have discarded their older buildings in favor of steel and glass and that is too bad. We saw a couple of the older structures here and there and wish that there might have been a few more, but Wellington is not any different in this respect than most other big cities around the world.
Wellington is a very modern city with all of the attractions that might be expected in a major international center. These include the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Royal New Zealand Ballet, the New Zealand School of Music, several universities. a lively theatrical scene, several well known comedy venues, an extensive schedule of festivals, numerous museums and art galleries, movie houses, a varied sports schedule, and, to top it all off, the city boasts that it has more cafes per capita than New York City. In addition, it is the home of the national government and an important economic and commercial center.
Sir Peter Robert Jackson was born in Pukera Bay, not far from Wellington in 1961. He became interested in film making at a very young age and made movies on his own before going to work in a Wellington newspaper. In 1987 his first commercial film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and rights to it were sold to film companies in twelve countries. The New Zealand Film Commission financed several of the movies that followed his success at Cannes and in 1997 he began work on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Among the accolades garnered by the film trilogy were eleven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. Although Lord of the Rings is the most noteworthy result of the stimulus provided by the New Zealand Film Commission this government organization is very active in promoting other New Zealand films and attracting international film companies to make their movies in New Zealand. Today, Wellington, where much of the New Zealand film industry is concentrated, is sometimes called "Wellywood."
