So one sunny afternoon I decided to go for a visit. I caught the number 2 bus to Miramar... scenic trip in itself.
The bus goes through a slightly scary stop/go tunnel. That is a bus in that dot of light at the end of the tunnel screaming towards us...
A bit concerned about how someone managed to get this graffiti on the tunnel wall - if a bus comes along... hope they can run fast!
These are the types of houses and dairies (that is corner shop, not milk producing factories) that are found in this area.
And this is how I find my way around town. It is quite difficult to remember and track when you need to get off the bus without a map so...
Very pretty route past some bays...
... and the airport... Yes, that green mound is the start of the runway and then a road and then water! It is a rather scary landing coming into Wellington. If you can avoid the gale force winds, then you still need to deal with a sudden landing - as you are coming into land all you see is water, water, water, water........"okay, where's the runway(!!)"... water, water... "omg, we are going to have a water landing(!!)", water, water... ... ...earth&touch ground...
Anywaaay, then just a short walk from the bus stop... things like this indicate that the creativity capital is close by.
The Weta Cave...
Very Lord of the Rings, but I was surprised by how many other things they have going on.
Everything is done with so much detail...
Greeted at the door by a LOR beastie.
They have also worked on District 9...
...Jane and the Dragon...
...and hundreds of other things...
But I guess they will always be famous for LOR. Strange that there was no Avatar stuff there. I even know someone who won awards for her work on the Avatar movie backdrops...see it's all happening at the bottom of the world!
Love the way they have used the walls and ceiling in this place. A goblin above the cashier counter about to take out the blond!
And gollum. Incredibly lifelike!
Creepy! This so looks like a real hand - an old one, yes, but I'm very impressed!
Then of course, the is the merchandise on sale. There was plenty from Tin Tin compilations to, that's right, Hobbit ears!
They show a short behind-the-scenes of Weta every half hour or so. Was very interesting, but no cameras...
And that was my day at the Weta cave...
Just another example of random Wellington fixtures... on Courtenay Place...
Before I ran for the next bus back to town, I grabbed a couple of postcards. These were my favourites...
New Zealanders have a very strong taste for foreign food...postcard taking this a bit too literally Weta-style...
And the NZ national bug...no, made that up, but there are a lot of these things that come out in summer. They are kind of slow moving, very loud and some can get pretty big!
1 comments:
That's so cool! Gollum is a bit creepy. Weren't you tempted (even a little) by the Hobbit ears? I can't say that I've ever thought about Hobbit EARS... did they sell hairy feet/shoes? :)
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