Occupying a Full private region utilising the LI bonus, Cap Thunderbird is held by Buzz Thunderbird (BuzzFlashMcQueen) and offered as a public setting for all who wish to visit. It is a location of two distinct halves, separated by a high curtain of cliffs cutting almost completely across the region from west to east, but each half nevertheless equally accessible to the other, and both fully open to visitors to appreciate and explore.
The main landing point sits within the southern half of the region, which has been designed by Buzz as a wedding venue and parklands. Whlist the wedding setting offers plenty to see, it is northern part of the region on which I wish to focus. This can be reached by teleporting over the cliffs – there is no hard-and-fast landing point – or by crossing the bridge from the main landing point and then heading west, past the wedding pavilion before re-crossing the stream and following the path under the stone arches and around the western feet of the cliffs.
This northern part of the region is presented as a romantic park with something of a water theme. It is rich in detail and – for me at least – somewhat mindful in part of places such as Yorkshire’s Fountains Abbey (even though there is no direct similarity), thanks to the large ruins sitting along the west side of the region. Built using elements from The Chapel Ruins from The Looking Glass (and a personal favourite of mine, having frequently adorned my island home).
Buzz’s build makes good use of elements from the Chapel, allowing an extensive structure to be put togethe without any sense of repetition. It sits before a body of water cutting into the landscape, the drowned pillar and walls of more ruins (also re-uses of the TLG Chapel Ruins) rising above the waves as if gasping for air.
Nor is the abbey the only gathering of ruins; across the waters of the inlet and over the grasslands to the east sits a further ruin. Its thick walls suggest it may have once served a defensive purpose – although the wide window bays say otherwise, as do the buttresses that still support parts of its remaining walls, both speaking to this having also been a religious building. These ruins are abutted by the remnants of a water mill. Of wooden construction, it stands roofless but with wheel intact and steadfastly turning in opposition to the waters of the stream passing below.
Offering a step-by-step description of what to see / where to go isn’t really useful here, given teleports within the region are so open – but there are various points of interest that should be noted. The first is that the main landing point can furbish visitors with a teleport HUD.
Whilst somewhat on the large size, given its functionality, the latter allows visitors to hop to a number of points of interest in the region, including the Hidden Gardens and the Underwater setting, located beneath the waters of the inlet. A further location available via the HUD and also directly via a board at the region’s main landing point, is Desolation, a small diorama sitting in the sky.
Birds and waterfowl have clearly made this park their home and can be found throughout, whilst deer roam the grasslands. Across the landscape lie pools and lakes of flowers adding broad swathes of colour to the setting, some of them caught in the shimmering fall of beams of light.
The latter fall from a sky which (together with some of the wildlife) betray this place as not being a part of England’s northern counties, but somewhere otherworldly. Cloud-like in form, this sky is cut by an arc of brilliant white, whilst beneath the cloudly backdrop hang sparking points of light, perhaps stars set againts the cloudy grey of a nebula, whilst as the time passes, so the arcs of Moons (or other planets) can at time be seen.
Those wishing to explore this land via other means than using their pedal extremities can do so using the teleport HUD already mentioned, or by using the little motorboat to putter around the waters, or partake of a flying bubble available from the rezzer hidden amongst the trees, or via a sedate ride in a hot air balloon. The latter two offer the means to hop up and over the cliffs separating the two sides of the region, thus offering an alternate means of exploring both.
With multiple places to sit and relax, and finished with a suitable soundscape, Cap Thunderbird offers a relaxed and romantic setting with multiple opportunities for photography and – of course- an engaging wedding venue. My thanks (as ever!) to Shawn Shakespeare for the landmark!
SLurl Details
Serena Riviera is rated Moderate
- Cap Thunderland main landing point
- Cap Thunderbird Park (mind the snappy squirrels!)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 