What to do on a rainy Saturday? It was too wet to cut the lawns, or do anything outside. Why not take a ride on the big orange Airport Flyer bus to Wellington Airport? The bus soon filled up with a mix of retirees like us out for a free ride with their pensioner Gold Cards. Plus a fair number of travellers boarding the bus with huge back packs and large suitcases. Luckily the bus has a special area for storing bags so that they are safely off the floor and not lying about waiting to trip up unwary passengers.
We had heard about the large Gollum statue suspended from the ceiling at the airport. And there he was, hung over the food court seating area as he reached out to catch a fish or two for his dinner. The patrons didn’t seem too worried about Gollum hovering over them as they ate their lunch, played on their IPods, read the newspaper or just generally chatted happily amongst themselves. A few people were taking photos, like us, no doubt to share the story of meeting up with Gollum at the airport, when they returned home from their journeys.
Gollum catching fish
The sculpture of Gollum was designed by Weta Workshop to mark the coming release of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”. The installation consists of nine separate components created by 18 sculptors, model makers, painters and other artists. The portion consisting of his head and outstretched arm measures about 42 feet and weighs over 2,500 pounds; each of the three fish he reaches for is about 12 feet long.
There were other reminders of Peter Jackson and The Lord of the Rings films dotted around the airport, just waiting to be discovered. A couple of very large trolls had taken up residence in one of the gift shops
.
Lucky those trolls didn’t come after me
And we got a glimpse of Gandalf leading his bunch of merry men, they are probably still looking for that missing ring.
Gandalf and assorted friends
We had joined the “Wellington Airport VIP Club” and got a good deal for our lunch, with 10% discount off our food charges - every little bit helps. Our choices of lasagne and panini were delivered piping hot and were very tasty. And for dessert we can thank our friend Geoff C who told us about the Donut King Gold Card special – buy a coffee and get two free donuts! Great tasting coffee and those hot donuts were delicious!
Freshly cooked donuts
The rain was still coming down but the planes kept arriving and departing. We watched through the large windows as a Jet Star plane was refuelled. One end of the hose went into an underground tank and the other went into the underside of the wing.
Refuelling the aircraft
With our lunch eaten, and the last sip of coffee drunk, it was time to board the bus and return home. The weatherman has promised a better day for tomorrow, so we’ll get back into the packing and lawn cutting mode then.
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