Written by Kim
This is our second time in Wellington so we thought we should do a Lord of The Rings tour since Peter Jackson filmed a lot of the movies here and in other parts of NZ. We are not huge LOTR fans – Alex has read the books and seen the movies. I tried to watch the first movie on the plane over but it just isn’t my thing. First a stop at an overlook for some gorgeous views
Robbie, our tour guide, was a huge fan. He worked as an extra for 4 years on all 3 movies so had lots of stories and first hand experiences to share about the filming. Our first stop was Mt Victoria, a huge park with lots of walking and mountain bike trails. Many scenes were filmed here.
It was really cool that Robbie could share stories about how scenes were filmed, etc. Since I never saw much of the movies I just enjoyed the beauty because I didn’t even know the characters he referred to
After several stops in Mt Victoria we made our way to the Weta Workshop which is the company that did a lot of the special effects, props, costumes and prosthetics for LOTR, Avatar, and many other films. This part of the tour was very interesting as it showed us how they make various props, costumes, prosthetics, animatronics, etc. The best part of this tour was Sully, our guide who had the passion and excitement of a 7 year old as he explained everything. He is a huge LOTR fan and loves his job. We weren’t allowed to take picture in the worshop but got a few in the gift shop
Wellington is nickname Wellywood for its booming movie business so they have a sign similar to Hollywood.
Our LOTR tour was only half day and we had a long day in port so we decided to do another Voice Map self-guided walking tour. We really enjoy these tours – we just counted this is the tenth one we’ve done. The tours are normally written by local people who narrate a tour that plays over your phone and uses GPS to provide directions. They even tell you if you go the wrong way. They are a great way to see a city and are very inexpensive, typically $6-9. This tour started downtown in the government district.
Similar to Dunedin, Wellington has a Centotaph, or empty tomb, for fallen soldiers. They also recognize the Polynesian settlers who found New Zealand. New Zealand was the last large mass of land discovered by humans.
Our tour took us down Lambton Quay the central business district. It was Sunday so many stores and businesses were closed.
The city has lots of sculptures throughout along the street.
Wellington sits on a fault line so they have between 15-20 earthquakes a year. The hills and earthquakes make it similar to San Francisco.
Our tour ended down at the waterfront which was bustling.
In one park there was the below sculpture which is intended to depict the 2 islands of NZ. In one legend the demigod Māui pulled up a huge fish from the sea, which became the North Island. His canoe became the South Island, and its anchor Stewart Island. Whatever the legend, there’s quite the rivalry.
Tomorrow we’re in Picton / Marlborough. Until then….
