Wellington & Christchurch: Day 9
After several days full of Lord of the Rings adventures on New Zealand’s north island, we made our way to the south island in preparation for even more wonders ahead! To do so, we flew from Wellington to Christchurch, and found more treats for us LotR fans in the airport!
Weta Strikes Again
The Wellington airport is one of the smallest I’ve seen, but holds some larger-than-life characters! Upon entering, we snuck past a sleeping Smaug statue.
Farther into the airport, Gandalf flies astride one of the giant eagles with another great eagle following behind.
Gandalf’s giant eagle snatching up my sister and me! 
A giant eagle soars through the waiting area of the Wellington airport
Weta provided even more sculptures in some of the shops, where trolls jostled a line of shelves as if to steal all the goods away!
Willowbank Nature Preserve: Christchurch
Our one-hour flight to Christchurch left us with ample time to visit other creatures of flight (and flightless birds) at Willowbank, a lovely nature preserve with an artfully arranged series of pools and enclosures for a variety of creatures both native and agricultural. Here we came in close quarters with the native pukeko wandering with its adorable fuzzy offspring.
We also glimpsed New Zealand’s national bird, the kiwi. Kiwis are flightless nocturnal birds, so their enclosure was kept quite dark for their comfort. These birds are also the only ones to have nostrils at the end of their long beaks, which enable them to sniff for their food along the ground. Although we had some difficulty seeing them in the simulated night of their exhibit, we were grateful to hear them rustling around, as it is very rare to encounter one in the wild anymore due to predators introduced to the island.
The next day would take us to another major highlight—Edoras—and an unexpected adventure!
Journey to Middle Earth Series:
Day 1: Living Like Hobbits (Auckland)
Day 2: To Middle Earth and Beyond! (Port Waikato & Hot Water Beach)
Day 3-4: Hobbiton (Matamata)
Day 5: Geothermal Wonderland (Rotorua)
Day 6: The Forests and Rivers of Middle Earth (North Island)
Day 7: Weta Workshop & the Forests of Middle Earth (Wellington)
Day 8: Paths of the Dead (Putangirua Pinnacles)
Day 9: Flight of Fantasy (Wellington & Christchurch)
Day 10: Edoras, Capital of Rohan (Mount Sunday)
Day 11: Lake Pukaki (Laketown)
Days 12-14 part 1: Queenstown (Isengard, Lothlorien, Ithilien, and more!)
Days 12-14 part 2: Queenstown (Argonath, Dimrill Dale, Rohan, and more!)
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