Forever envious of New York, Wellington has its own suburb named Brooklyn with a Central Park. (I even saw a girl wearing an "I heart NY" t-shirt.) Brooklyn is known for having New Zealand's first wind turbine. The idea is to convert the wind, a natural and abundant resource, into energy. Read more about wind power in NZ here. On a rare sunny day, I decided it was high time to do something outdoorsy and visit the turbine. What did you say? I'm the least outdoorsy person you know? New Zealand; New Maureen! (I only have 6 TV channels.) I left the house and a bird promptly crapped on my pinkie finger. Maybe Old Maureen was right.
Located on top of a mountain, the wind turbine is visible from many parts of the city, so I thought we could simply walk towards it. Many hours and miles later, a sweaty young Kiwi male jogger pointed us in the right direction. I was dismayed to learn this involved an actual hiking trail. I was neither properly dressed nor hydrated. It was steep. It was rocky. It was hard work. My only sustenance was a Willy Wonka Fabulicious Sherbert Fizz (soft raspberry licorice tube with a chewy pixy stix-like middle) found at the bottom of my purse. It was all very Don Quixote... deliriously fighting against phantom windmills.
The view from the top was beautiful... but equivalent to that seen from our couch. The wind turbine is big (32 meters tall) and noisy. When you look straight up at it, you get dizzy and feel like you'll fall off the mountain. Interesting to see once, but not worth a repeat visit.
The first sign of trouble
On the trail
Turbine in sight
I almost died.
Views from the top
Tile in Brooklyn sidewalks
1 comment:
this reminds me of bermuda and us thinking it would be an easy walk to the lighthouse because we could see it from the street. thank god for the kindness of strangers.
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