Chicago is famous for being the windy city but I have to say in my short experience I think that title should go to Auckland. 

The wind in Auckland is pretty relentless and never lets up. And just when you think you have made it through the windy season, there’s news that there is more to come.

Now, you see this is a little unsettling for someone like me who has been pretty sheltered for the past 11 years living in a consistent 34°C tropical climate. The only extreme wind I would experience would be that from the old uncle down at the hawker centre after a nice curry.

But here in Auckland, living with the wind is all part of normal life and no matter how many trees or inflatable pool unicorns are blown around everyone and everything just carries on. 

It was this blasé nature to the chaos left behind after every storm that reminded me of an idea that came about because of a storm called Gertrude. She hit Northern Ireland hard in 2016 and in her wake she threatened the Irish tourism industry forever.

The storm happened at a time when Ireland had found itself in the middle of a tourism explosion due to the popular series Game Of Thrones. This cult-like show based it’s filming locations all over Northern Ireland for season 6 and because of this fans from all over the world flocked to Northern Ireland to see the place that brought their favourite show to life which in turn massively boosted tourism numbers to the emerald isle.

One of the most popular tourist destinations was a place called The Dark Hedges, famous not just because it was a scene in GOT Kings Road but because it was also a 400 years old heritage site.

But on that dark stormy night in January 2016 the Dark Hedges would be changed forever. Gertrude came ripping through Northern Ireland including the Dark Hedges and in her wake, she left utter chaos and destruction which unfortunately had uprooted a few of the famous 400-year-old beech trees from the Dark Hedges and destroyed them. All that was left the next morning was wood and a lot of it.

Fortunately for Tourism Ireland, someone had a great idea to repurpose this famous 400-year-old wood and in so doing not only saved one tourist attraction but helped make another one that would be just as popular.

The Doors of Thrones was born and is possibly one of my favourite ideas ever made. The 400-year-old beech trees were repurposed into ten intricately carved bespoke wooden doors. Each door represented an episode of GOT season 6 in all its bloodied glory.

They didn’t stop there though, they then installed each one of the episode doors in a pub that was located near one of the filming locations spread across Northern Ireland from coast to coast. They then launched The Journey Of Doors, a tour across Northern Ireland that took GOT fans from village to village one pub at a time.

I love this idea not just for the execution and craft that they put into each door or the stories they created around it. But the main reason is out of destruction someone had the vision to take what was in front of them and not only save one tourist attraction but in the process created many more across the whole country.

The ultimate journey for GOT fans is not only one of my favourites but is possibly one of the best tourism campaigns to date bringing millions of new tourism numbers to the whole of Northern Ireland.

I Wish I Had Done That.

Gary