Miramar

 Hi there

The weather forecast said it was going to be beautiful sunshine the entire day today.  Wow, I was going out to experience all that sun.  However, there was no sun -

above:  Inner harbour.  Photo taken from Miramar Wharf area. 

 The scenic seaside road leading around the Miramar Peninsula is directly to the right of photo.  It's a sort of loop.  The Chocolate Fish Cafe, an iconic place on the peninsula, is about a five minute ride along this road. 

Ive been told The Chocolate Fish is a Peter Jackson-owned place. And apparently the land beside it could be where he is going to build his new movie museum.  Rumours have been swirling about the whereabouts of the projected museum site for years.  He also owns a huge plot of land at Lyall Bay, opposite The Warehouse store.  Buildings have been  cleared from this site over the past year.

Some of Jackson's collectable memorabilia was lost in a storage fire a few years ago.

Scorch-a-Rama Cafe is on the other side of the peninsula, at Scorching Bay, about 20 minutes car-ride away from the Miramar wharf.   Walking takes over an hour to reach Scorching Bay, and its about another half hour to walk over the hill and back to Miramar.  Or keep walking past Worser Bay to get to Seatoun shops and transport. Take note that on much of the peninsula seaside road, there are no houses..

above:  same area but looking down towards the Airport runway and Cobham Drive.  Cobham Drive is named after a past Governor-General.  It was a time when all governors-general were sent to us from England for a certain number of years.  Now we always have a New Zealand governor-general.  The governor-general is the King's representative.

above  Miramar:   straight ahead is the main road leading out of Miramar, through the Miramar Cutting. On the left is Stone Street.  Stone Street Studios are where the 'Lord of the Rings", "King Kong" (and others)  were filmed.  There is a track leading up the hill above the studios and I traversed the hill whilst "King Kong" was being filmed - the outdoor scene that I saw was set around a fake lake, and obviously on The island.  At about the same  time, I also trekked up a very steep hill from the back of the Massey Memorial at the tip of the Miramar Peninsula and saw the cave set for King Kong.  When I had reached the top of the hill - puffing and panting -  I was immediately ordered back down again by the King Kong security people.

When I got home from today's wander, the sun came out.  I remember that one of the guys at Hataitai Beach used to call Jay and me "The Cloud Twins", because often when we arrived at the beach for a swim, it clouded over.