Up until about a year ago Wellington was the only new
Zealand city I’d heard of. Well, maybe I vaguely knew about Queenstown, but I
wouldn’t be able to spot it on a map.
Why did I know about Wellington? It’s where Peter Jackson,
director of Lord of the Rings, has
his movie studios based. Yep. Once again, Lord
of the Rings is my informer about New Zealand.
But. So. Anyway. Wellington.
I found myself en route to Wellington towards the end of my
North Island travel. I’d been on the road for nearly a week, and was looking
forward to getting to Dunedin so that I could stay in one place for two weeks,
fully unpack and sprawl in a space of my own. But first I had about 48 hours in
Wellington. I was looking forward to it, although I had no idea what I’d do
once I got there.
My bus pulled into Wellington around 8:30, though it was
still light out, the sky was overcast and there was a persistent almost raining
feeling. It felt like a full on storm might break our at any moment. So I made
a beeline to my hostel, walking with a German I’d sat next to on the bus. (He’d
just finished studying economics in university, and took 8 months to travel
before going back to do his masters).
I spent the night trying to decide what I’d to the next day.
Rather quickly, I found two things that I absolutely had to do. One was visit this super cool-looking Eco sanctuary
called Zealandia. The other was to go on a Lord
of the Rings locations tour. (You’re all shocked, right?)
The next morning I got up a little early to get to the
tourism information center when it opened in order to book my tour. There was a
spot in the afternoon tour, so I did a little dance and then wandered around
the wonderful, amazing, clever pedestrian walk around the harbor before
catching a shuttle to Zealandia.
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| Sight of the harbour |
For now, I’ll just tell you that my visit at Zealandia,
although short, was absolutely amazing. I will write something longer about it.
I promise. Zealandia needs its own post. Inspired and invigorated, I took the
shuttle back to the center of Wellington, bought a hot dog from a cool little
street stand for my lunch and waited for my Lord
of the Rings tour to start.
I only joined in on the second half of the tour, so I missed
going to some places—locations for Isengard, Helm’s Deep, and Rivendell, but I
still got to see some really cool things. First on the list was exploring Mt.
Victoria, a rather large hill just beside Wellington, where a lot of filming of
the four hobbits leaving the Shire was done. We had a good old time, recreating
some of the scenes.
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| Some awesome strangers and me recreating a scene--try and guess which one! |
Then we went over to the side of town where all the filming
studios are. That was cool. If you weren’t told about them, you’d never expect
what the nondescript warehouses contained—rooms and rooms of high tech
equipment, sets, and storage.
Then we went to what’s known as the Weta Cave, which is a
little mini museum (read: big souvenir shop) that Weta set up. (Weta has worked
with Peter Jackson on all the LOTR films—they are the guys who do a lot of the
props/designs/costumes/prosthetics stuff) and then we got a tour of a little
corner of the Weta Workshop itself.
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| A stranger recreating a scene with me. |
Imagine stepping into a big room packed to the brim with old
stuff used in movies—swords, shields, guns, costumes, cars, bizarre animals,
model castles. Some things, like the costume of the Witch King of Angmare,
you’ve only dreamed of. Other things are from movies you’ve never seen.
The guide who led us around this little corner of her job
was originally from California, having moved to NZ after applying for and
getting a job at Weta. Her job interview pretty much consisted of helping the
head of Weta do a full body cast of a goblin for a day. Afterwords he told her
that there was a job at Weta for her if she wanted it.
It goes without saying that I’m supremely jealous of her
job.
She took us through a little path of the space, talking us
through the process for creating a prop. We looked through a window at the guy
who makes all the swords (the actual, real, could kill someone swords) and at a
machine another guy had made out of parts he’d found that basically works as
something like a 3D printer.
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| Me holding an actual elvish sword. |
It was wonderful. And also a big breath of inspiration.
That was the end of the tour. So I found myself back in
Wellington and had a wander around the famous museum there Te Papa, before
getting some dinner.
Then next morning I spent wandering around the beautiful
harbor, walking and picnic lunching away the morning before having to catch my
plane to Dunedin.
Of the people I’ve talked to, Wellington has got mixed
reviews. Some people love it to bits. Others find it a little too quiet, a
little too boring for their tastes. Each to their own, I guess. I think I could
have spent another day or two or ten there.
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| My picnic spot. |
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