23. Wellington, New Zealand

Join Jon and Jackie on their exploration of WETA Workshop, I mean Wellington New Zealand.  Come and be charmed by a cable car that goes uphill, marvel at the most exotic plants and animals, and celebrate the “All Blacks” Rugby Team.

Jackie Reilly: Host
Jon Schaller: Host
Charles: Producer
Email: cozynookexplorers@gmail.com
Instagram: @cozynookexplorers

Community Shoutout:
Zealandia
Ponga (Plant)
Little Spotted Kiwi (Bird)

Mentioned in this episode:
Wellington, New Zealand Tourism Website
WETA Workshop
Lord Of The Rings Haka
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
World of WearableArt (Website)
World Of WearableArt (Video)
Squash Stitch (WOW)
Human Pin Cushion (WOW)
Wellington Cable Car
Reparations In New Zealand (Planet Money Podcast)
Wellington Botanic Garden 

Transcript

Jackie: Hey! Jackie here with a quick word at the top of the episode.  We talked about the Battle of Gallipoli during this podcast and I made an error that I wanted to be sure to clarify. I say that 2,779 New Zealnders suffered injuries from the battle, but I meant to say that 2,779 New Zealanders died during the battle and many others suffered injuries. Apologies for that. It’s obviously a very important subject and we want to be as accurate as possible. And with that- onto the show. Enjoy. 

INTRO

JACKIE: I’m Jackie 

JON: And I’m Jon 

JACKIE: And we are the Cozy Nook Explorers!

JON: Welcome to our show where we explore the world from our cozy nook here in a guest room in Southern CALIFORNIA using the power of the internet!

Jackie: Yes and it’s Wednesday which means it’s time for another exploration!  

Jon:  Today we are going to Wellington, New Zealand.  

Jackie: Also, yesterday was election day here in the USA. Jon and I both voted and we hope that you did too if you’re American. 

Jon: Yes, we do.  And that’s all we will be saying about that. So, Wellington- 

Jackie: Yes- Wellington! Ahhh I’ve been SO excited to tackle this city because I’m a HUGE Lord of the Rings fan and the cast and crew were based in Wellington for filming, so I’ve been fascinated for years.

Jon: You have an aggressively large Lord of the Rings poster. I’ve seen it.

Jackie: I sure do. It came all the way to California with us.

Jon: … Yes it did. 

Jackie: Lord of the Rings was everything to me in high school! I used to watch the extended DVDs with commentary basically every night. 

Jon: How will people know you’re a true fan?

Jackie: Well, I’LL know if THEY are a true fan if they know what the game Tig is.

Jon: You can’t tig on a tog. 

Jackie: No, you can’t. Especially if you’re Elijah Wood. 

Jon: So, Jackie, what’s keeping you cozy this week?

WHAT’S KEEPING YOU COZY

Jackie: Looking up recipes.  It’s one of my favorite ways to relax! I love rifling through cookbooks and taking a look online to find something new to try. 

• What types of recipes do you like?
• Is there something new that you have tried recently that you enjoyed?

Jon: Lying on the floor after a workout

• What makes lying on the floor so special?
• Do you prefer to lie directly on the floor or do you want a pillow and a blanket to make it extra cozy?

LET’S GET INTO IT 

Jackie:  So I know you wanted to start with something today...

Jon:  I did, so there is an Airport in Wellington New Zealand.

Jackie:  Ugh, you and Airports! No we are going to talk about the WETA WORKSHOP MUSEUM O-M-G… I CAN’T.

Jon:  I am telling you you are going to want to know about this airport in Wellington.

Jackie:  WETA Workshop made Lord of the Rings come to LIFE!!!!

Jon:  I know and they made this airport too

Jackie:  They designed an airport?

Jon:  Well part of it

Jackie:  Which part?

Jon:  The giant Gollum statue is 40-feet long and about 10-feet-high  

Jackie:  (Overjoyed) What?  How did I miss that?

Jon:  I don’t know. It is big and he is grabbing a very large trout

Jackie: REALLY?! Peak Gollum! Can you touch him?

Jon:  Weird that you would want to, but no.  It looks like he is coming out of the wall very high up.

Jackie:  Ok now I have to see this.

Jon:  They also have a sleeping Smaug the dragon that is floor level.

Jackie:  SMAUG! (Squeals with joy)

Jon:  And he occasionally opens his eyes.

Jackie:  (Squeals with joy again) WHAT?!  What else do they have?

Jon:  What else do you want?  Like, they made a Massive Gollum and a crazy dragon that scares people by waking up.  What else do they need to do to impress you?

Jackie:  Your right that is impressive enough. Sorry Weta Workshop.

Jon:  Well they also put a life sized Gandalf riding on the back of a  giant eagle suspended from the ceiling.

Jackie:  Ok now that is the first thing I want to see when we go to Wellington.

Jon:  Well that’s pretty easy because it is in the Airport.

Jackie: Do you think anyone has ever been saved by a giant eagle in real life in New Zealand?

Jon: No. 

Jackie: Ok, now I want to talk about WETA Workshop! They were responsible for CREATING Middle Earth and all of the creatures that live there.  Richard Taylor and the team are the GOATS of creativity AND you can go visit while you are in Wellington because they offer TOURS and they have a SHOP!

Jon: WETA workshop was also behind Avatar and King Kong. Which tour will you be taking when you visit New Zealand?

Jackie: Oh, I’ll be taking the full experience tour that’s 4 hours long. 

Jon: I’m not surprised. 

Jackie: There are also lots of photo opportunities including taking a selfie with a statue of Gandalf!  

Jon: I can tell you are excited.

Jackie: There’s just SO much magic in this city! Welcome to Wellington, New Zealand! The urban and metro areas of Wellington total 707 square miles which is about 905 Disneylands!

Jon: Wellington, New Zealand oh I got a bone to pick with you.  You were supposed to be an easy one to research because you are around 200,000 people.  But I was so wrong there is so much to this place.  Never mind that I have never seen a city with cleaner streets or cleaner air but you had to have too much culture to shake a stick at. 

Jackie: Yeah, we figured New Zealand isn’t very large, so even though we knew Wellington would have a lot to offer we didn’t expect this much. I was truly overwhelmed by the amount of beauty and culture that this city has. This episode will cover just a drop in the bucket.

Jon: New Zealand is made up of two islands. The North Island and the South Island. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and is located on the south west tip of the north island on the water.  It is the most Southern Capital City in the World. 

Jackie: Like Australia and other countries in the southern hemisphere, their winter is opposite of countries in the northern hemisphere, so their coldest month is July. 

Jon: New Zeland’s indigenous culture are the Maori people and they arrived in New Zealand between 1320 and 1350 by canoe. 

Jackie: The Maori people are Polynesian and the only thing I knew about their culture before this episode was that they do a traditional dance called the Haka that’s EPIC! You can feel the energy flying around the room even when you are watching it on a computer! 

Jon: And let me guess- you knew about that because of Lord of the Rings?

Jackie: Of course. The Haka was performed for the cast and crew before the 2002 Oscars which was a great honor. I’ll include a link in the show notes.

Jon: I think my favorite part of the Maori culture is hongi which is a greeting where you touch noses. 

Jackie: Me too! I thought that was really sweet! Such a warm way to say hi. 

Jon: So, when the Europeans first arrived in New Zealand in the 17th century it was mostly peaceful, but by the 1860’s there were land confiscations. Between that, social upheaval, and diseases the Maori population dramatically decreased. 

Jackie: Over the past 35 years, New Zealand has been creating a reparations system for the Maori people with the hopes of making amends for the past. 

Jon: They also apologized. 

Jackie: Yes they did. There’s a great podcast called Planet Money- it’s one of my favorite podcasts actually- and they did an episode on reparations for the Maori people. I’ll include a link in the show notes. It was really informative and the system they are using is very interesting. 

Jon: That is a great listen. Also, in regards to money, New Zealand has their own currency called the New Zealand dollar that is different from the Australian dollar and the currencies are not interchangeable.   

Jackie: I saw that. I honestly wasn't sure before looking that up. 

Jon: Well I assumed because they are completely different countries.

Jackie: But, the euro. I thought maybe they had an oceania  version of the euro. 

Jon: Good point I guess.  So to switch gears back to the Weta Workshop there is this Museum called Te Papa.

Jackie:  Actually it is called Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

.

Jon:  Yes it is do you know what that translates to “treasure box”.

Jackie:  I saw that it was “Treasure Container”.

Jon:  I think that is the same thing.

Jackie:  Is it? Because the museum describes itself as “our container of treasured things and people that spring from mother earth here in New Zealand”

Jon:  Anyway to switch gears again.  In this incredible museum there is this exhibit called “Gallipoli the scale of our war.”  Gallipoli is in Turkey by the way. 

Jackie:  Oh that exhibit is heartbreaking and very big.

Jon:  Well World War I was a big deal and there aren’t a lot of happy stories.  This exhibit is particularly hard to look at.

Jackie:  It is because the statues look so real.

Jon:  Yes we have researched a lot of places with a lot of statues but these are the most realistic.

Jackie:  There are 8 statues and they are giants.

Jon:  They are 2.4 times scale so think 14 and half feet tall.

Jackie:  When we say realistic I mean realistic.  You can see hair and pores and sweat.

Jon:  Blood and most painful of all-facial expressions.

Jackie:  You get to see in the faces of the statues the horrors of war from the 8 month Gallipoli campaign. Jon- this is not very cozy. 

Jon:  No but it is important. And one of the soldier statues is not in Gallipoli this one is in the Somme in France 

Jackie:  He is the one standing in the petals.

Jon:  The poppies yes 

Jackie:  And you can also see a statue of a field medic.

Jon: A guy on the ground firing in the air while clutching a wound.

Jackie:  A guy eating fly infested corn beef.

Jon:  Three guys around a machine gun, one loading one of them firing the machine gun, one not alive

Jackie:  A nurse on a hospital ship who has been told her brother has been killed

Jon:  That last one where you can see the tears is heartbreaking 

Jackie:  2,779 New Zealanders died and many others suffered death and injury both mentally and physically and there are statues depicting many of the tragic scenes. 

Jon:  It took 24,000 hours to complete the project and the level of detail in this is something you have to see to believe. What is really cool is when you see people standing next to them you get a sense of just how large and just how life like these creations are.

Jackie:  One of the things that struck me about New Zealand history is that they don’t have an independence day from Britain.

Jon:  Yes though today they are independent from Britain it happened very gradually to a point where there isn’t a single day that it happened.  I was a bit dumb and kept trying to look up where Zealand was in England.

Jackie:  Oh my goodness, (laugh)  because you didn’t know it was in Holland.

Jon:  No it is not even a city in Holland it is a region.

Jackie:  That’s hilarious. The reason it is called New Zealand is because the Dutch were the first to make it to New Zealand.   So the Dutch Explorer Abel Tasman named it in 1642.

Jon:  I admit it was a mistake 

Jackie:  Well the Flag of New Zealand does have the British Flag on it.

Jon:  But I was still wrong.

Jackie:  Yes you were.  We should talk about some more modern things like the cable car! 

Jon: Let’s take a quick break and we can talk about that when we get back.

Jackie: See you soon!

Ad: lying on the floor after a workout

Jon: I am ridiculously out of shape {pants}  I need to  {lay down} lay down {pants}

Jon: I ammar prestar aen

Jackie: His body has changed

Jon: HAn matho ne nen

Jackie: He feels it on the floor

Jon: Han matho ne cae

Jon:  He smells it in the air 

Jackie:  He has worked out so hard that he cannot move. So he chose to lie on the floor. For 5 whole minutes, he lay there defeated. Until, he was picked up by the most unlikely of creatures. Jackie, a 5 foot tall woman from New Jersey.  For his time had come, for a shower.

LOTR Intro.

Jon: Jackie- we couldn’t afford the licensing fee.

Jackie: Aw bummer. 

LET’S GET INTO IT 2

Jackie: So, right from the heart of the city there is this adorable red old fashioned cable car that you can take! You pass scenic views as you ride it up the hill! 

Jon: There are a couple of stops, but once you get to the top you can either take the cable car back down or you can walk down. One way you can walk down is through the Wellington Botanic Garden! 

Jackie: Jon, would you want to go to Wellington on Opposite Day and walk UP the Botanic Garden and take the cable car down? I think that would be such a fun adventure! 

Jon: No.

Jackie: Ok- no problem- you can take the cable car up and I’ll go the opposite way and when we get to the middle we can WAVE at each other!

Jon: This seems involved.

Jackie: I KNOW! It’s such an iconic piece of Wellington because it’s been around since 1902! I can't wait to see those views in person one day.

Jon: I am really looking forward to walking down Cuba Street.

Jackie: Oh, yes! Cuba Street looks amazing! It’s a walking street that doesn’t allow cars. The walkway is red brick and it’s filled with so much color and life. There are lots of places to eat, vintage clothing stores, book stores, record shops…

Jon: They also have a nautical themed haunted house called Fear Factory.

Jackie: No, thank you.

Jon: Charles, will you go with me?

Jackie: And that’s a no from Charles.  Moving on, I’d love to go to Midnight Espresso which is an iconic coffee shop that has tons of drink options and lots of vegetarian and vegan treats!

Jon: Midnight Espresso looks great. I’d love to look at all of the sculptures on Cuba Street. There is a ton of street art that would be awesome to see in person. 

Jackie: Did you have a favorite sculpture?

Jon: Definitely Bucket Fountain.

Jackie: Yeah!! So, they have a fountain that is made of literal buckets that fill with water and splash people as they walk down the street! It’s been there since 1969. I would love to go get a splash!

Jon: There are SO many pieces of street art and art installations in Wellington that it’s impossible to go through everything, but I would like to at least mention the Rugby Statue.

Jackie: Fun Fact: The Rugby Statue was designed by Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop! The country LOVES rugby, so it makes sense that they would have an epic statue to honor it.

Jon: The statue commemorates the All Blacks 2011 win of the Webb Ellis Cup at the final in Auckland and depicts two rugby teams coming together trying to get to the ball.

Jackie: It’s pretty epic! There is a gap in the middle of the statue that represents New Zealand’s earthquake fault line.

Jon: It is hard to believe but Earthquakes happen literally everyday in New Zealand.  I am not being figurative because the country is on two major tectonic plates. On average there are about 15,000 earthquakes per year and you can feel about 100 to 150 earthquakes a year. The rest of them are tiny. 

Jackie: Yes, most of the earthquakes aren’t that big of a big deal, but the 2011 Christchurch earthquake on the south island caused a lot of damage because of the quakes location.

Jon:  Yes, that was very sad to see. Our Producer Charles would resign from the show in protest if we didn’t talk about the World of Wearable Art.

Jackie:  He is jumping up and down as we speak.

Jon:  So how do we even describe this show.  I am at a loss for words.

Jackie:  It’s like ummm picture Lady Gaga and the most elaborate outfits of the Met Gala- or Billy Porter on the regular- and then multiply that by a factor of about a thousand and 14 and you have a pretty good idea of what this show is.

Jon:  It is an international competition that is-

Jackie:  Oh yes so there is a WINNER- SO you could have the BEST wearable art. So, it’s like the Met Gala, but there’s a PRIZE! And no theme.

Jon: (Hehehe)  Yes it looks they have dozens of designers and even more models, or I guess dancers, or actors.

Jackie:  We could describe them as wearable artists.

Jon:  Well there dancers in the sense that every single piece of wearable art is infused with choreography.  Incredible lighting.   Moving music.

Jackie:   My favorite piece was called “Squash Stitch," by Natasha Macaulay of New Zealand from the 2018 competition. She took squash rackets and made a floral needlepoint out of them- AND the model wears it! So cool!

Jon : My Favorite was called Human Pin Cushion because they were a human pin cushion with a thimble for a helmet.  You guys really need to check this out. We will include a link in the description so you guys can see this.

Jackie:  This is all that Charles has been talking about since we finished the research for this show.

Jon:  Yes he deeply wants to submit an entry after the pandemic is over.  So that he can be a part of the world of wearable art.  His initial idea is to have two people each with a different body type.  And they are wearing body suits that imitate the other person's body type.  He calls it- The Switcheroo! 

Jackie:  Oh, interesting. We will see how that works out for him. Well, that’s all that I have. Anything else?

Jon: Wellington is considered the windiest city in the world.  Anything else?

Jackie:  Wellington has more restaurants than New York City per capita around 400 total.  Anything else?

Jon:  Their Parliament building is called the beehive and was originally designed on a napkin by Basil Spence.

Jackie: And on that note we will back with our community shoutout after a quick word from our sponsor. 

Ad: Recipe Matrix 

Jackie: Where am I?

Jon: You’re in the recipe matrix.

Jackie: Oh, cool! That’s fun!

Jon: You have two choices. If you take the blue pill and you go back to eating pre packaged desserts where you do not control the ingredients.  You take the red pill and you see how far down the recipe matrix goes.

Jackie: I guess I’ll take the red pill then. Oh! It’s a jelly bean!

Jon: It is a cherry cordial Jelly Bean that I made from scratch.

Jackie: Oh I can see the recipe matrix. I can see what every dish is made from.

{Gasp}  I know macaroons

Jon: Show me… The recipe matrix~ because unfortunately no one can be told what’s in the recipe matix. You have to see it for yourself.

COMMUNITY SHOUTOUT/OUTRO

Jon: Every episode we like to research and highlight something special in the community that we are exploring. 

Jackie: Today’s community shoutout is Zealandia!

Jon: Zealandia is amazing! I don’t think it’s possible to explain it better than read a quote directly from their website.

Jackie: Agreed, they say, ZEALANDIA is the world’s first fully-fenced urban ecosanctuary, with an extraordinary 500-year vision to restore Wellington valley’s forest and freshwater ecosystems as closely as possible to their pre-human state. The 500+ acre ecosanctuary is a groundbreaking conservation project that has reintroduced 18 species of native wildlife back into the area, some of which were previously absent from mainland New Zealand for over 100 years. 

Jon: Well, isn’t that just astounding. 

Jackie: So many birds, so many plants, so much WILDERNESS! Just like Wellington itself, there is so much information on Zelandia that it’s impossible to go over all of it here, but I thought we could pick our favorite bird and plant that are in the sanctuary! 

Jon: For favorite bird we chose the Little Spotted Kiwi!

Jackie: This bird is SO cute! There are a few types of kiwi birds and they are why New Zealanders call themselves kiwi’s! The little spotted kiwi is a grey bird that is little, flightless, nocturnal and very round. It has a really thin and really long beak! It doesn’t look real~ It’s like a little alien bird. And of course it has spots!

Jon: A fun fact on the Zelandia website is that the female Little Spotted Kiwi’s lay eggs that can be up to 20% of their body weight which is more than any other species of bird.

Jackie: Wow! So, our favorite plant is Ponga!

Jon: Ponga is so cool. It is a silver fern plant that creates this beautiful circular shape. Because of this it almost looks like snails at first glance. It looks like it should come from another planet as well.

Jackie: Ponga is native to New Zealand and an iconic symbol of the country. It’s used in a lot of places including on sports uniforms.

Jon: It’s such a unique looking plant, so that makes sense. Ponga’s underside turns silver with age. This reflects in the moonlight at night and is stunning.

Jackie: That’s amazing. I would LOVE to have the chance to see Ponga at night!  Zelandia is very accessible from the heart of Wellington. There are public buses you can take and there’s even a free shuttle bus that you can take from the top of the cable car we talked about earlier! 

Jon: You can visit the sanctuary yourself and they also have some guided tours that are available. 

Jackie: We will include a link to the website in the show notes so you can check it out and donate! 

Jon: We will also include direct links to the Little Spotted Kiwi bird and the Ponga plant! 

Jackie: Sounds great. Well, that’s the show. Thank you so much to our dynamic producer Charles. 

Jon: Thank you Charles. And thank you so much to our listeners.  It’s so neat that you spend time with us and listen to our show. We really appreciate it. 

Jackie: If you’ve been enjoying this podcast please take the time to subscribe, rate us, and write a review on apple podcasts. It helps the show, so we’d really appreciate it!

Jon: Also, you can follow us on Instagram @cozynookexplorers or send us an email at cozynookexplorers@gmail.com. We’d love to hear what’s keeping you cozy and where you think we should travel to next.

Jackie:  We will be back in TWO Wednesdays with our next exploration.  

Jon: Yes, on Wednesdays we explore!

Jackie: Stay cozy, and we’ll see you soon.