WETA Studios

I am a Tolkien fan – it’s kind of hard not to be actually. He was one of the absolute forefathers of high fantasy. He made the template which today is still recognisable throughout the fantasy genre. I think it was he that helped spark my respect, even fascination, with world building (before my love for Terry Pratchett took hold, before I read any David Eddings). No matter what the subject – if there’s good and detailed, coherent and consistent world building, I am with you until the end.

So when I watched the high fantasy movies derived form such a world and completed with such superb attention to detail…I was blown away. I got a little bit nerdy. I started to learn everything I could about the making of the movie; all the trivia, puppetry, the design and processes involved.

Now moving on to New Zealand where those epics were filmed! And you might see where this is going, I had already visited Hobbiton (the village created for the movie – a now permanent feature for tourist purposes), I had seen Mount Ngaurhoe (mount doom for the purpose of the movies) and now I was at Weta Studios. This being the visual effects workshop that did so much to capture and hold my imagination.

It was always going to be a really cool place and I did not leave disappointed. Only perhaps in myself for not buying the make your own chainmail key chain kit ( I may make my own anyway as I now know how to make it from plastic washers..) I wandered around the shop and admired the figures on display, resisted the urge (just) to swing around some replica Andúril (Aragorn’s sword) and took pictures of the trolls outside.

The most fun was to be had on the tour however, we had a lovely guy brandishing a katana prop and describing his plans for the zombie apocalypse. We walked past their 3D printer, got shown props from a ton of movies I actually didn’t know weta had been involved in and talked to a guy modelling themed guinea pigs dressed up as darth vader, Jack Sparrow..

I was incredibly sad to leave as the place was utterly charming.

 

I’ve been going on an adventure!

It’s rather damp here. One might go so far as to say; soggy. I’m sitting in my hostel in Taupo and I don’t care. It might be soggy, it might be flooded, it might remind me strongly of an English winter. But that’s ok, I am honestly having a great time in New Zealand. I may have bought a raincoat my second day in this fair country, I may have gone charity shopping for jumpers today (good haul btw – whoop whoop for op-shops!) And yet I am happy. I haven’t had a bad experience yet. 🙂

It all started when I got into Auckland and decided to go on a hike on Rangitoto island – my first volcano in New Zealand. I took the ferry over which was lovely, then started the walk. Within about 10 minutes of starting the climb I heard music – and a group of boys not dressed for hiking sauntered past – proudly holding their atrocious boom box. Which was, yes, spewing a techno beat. Really in keeping with the surroundings, I mean. Honestly. I muttered a few choice swear words and pulled off to one side to read an info panel, letting them pass, and this is where it started getting good. Because through shared annoyance I bonded almost instantaneously with a lovely couple from America! Isn’t it nice when that happens? Shared dislike opening a beautiful, lichen covered, volcanic rock strewn pathway to friendship. We caught up with those boys. One of my new friends politely asked them to turn it down. They turned it off – happiness ensued and, after calling back thank you, we carried on our merry way chatting.

We had an awesome time, getting to the peak and taking in the view, then walking round the crater at the top (how cool is that? crater top!) My favourite part, however, was exploring the lava tunnels. These were so cool! I felt like an intrepid explorer climbing through and down, then out the other side. :3 So yeh, I spent the time with two performing poets, one who was in the film industry. Both really interesting people, good times. I have their email and will hopefully be keeping in touch!

I moved on from Auckland quite quickly – I’m not sure there was much to do there and, after Melbourne, it was a bit of a city let-down. So. I caught the bus. From Auckland, to Rotorua… Stopping at Hobbiton! 😀

Not that I’m a Tokein fan or anything.. It’s not like The Hobbit is one of the first ever books I can remember my mum reading to my sister and I before bed. pfft. noooo… 😉 (She did the voices, the songs and everything. Mad skills.) So yeah. 🙂 I got off my bus at somewhere near the half-way point. A place called Matamata, and what first struck me was the ISite!

Look how awesome that is! It had the green door, a statue of Golem inside and all! But it didn’t compare to what came next. It was awesome wandering round the set of Hobbiton. Round doors on different scales, themed hobbit holes, gardening, the party tree and last but not least. The Green Dragon. Did you know that they had the oak tree for LoTR made? Yep. It’s a model. But, even better, in the Hobbit they realised they needed to make it look younger. Meaning that the costliest prop on set was the tree on top of Bilbo’s house which was on screen in the movie for all of 20 seconds! How cool is it that I know that now!? So I fangirled my way around the set (even when its started pouring it down and we all got soaked). I had fun. Hobbiton! Whoo!

Next stop; Rotorua! Suprise, suprise, I had a good time here too. It’s a really popular thermally active spot of New Zealand with a big lake, it’s surrounded by some small mountains and redwood forrest. The first day I was there I didn’t do all that much, I wandered around town and had a good time checking out the view of the lake and the short walk of some of the coast. The day after that was my busy day. I had, the previous afternoon whilst exploring, wandered into a Jade shop hoping to get a tour the isite had said was available. I wandered in an hour early, so not only was I there at completely the wrong time, eveyone was on lunch break. Nevertheless a lovely lady was very apologetic and bid me to come back the following day. Which I did! This was an awesome thing to do as I got in and started chatting away to one of the on site carvers. He was so cool! Really informative and interested in my own carving experiences in India as well as my mum’s flint napping. I got a run down on the different rocks and how to tell the difference between them, his techniques and his tools. A personal tour was definitely not expected when I entered the shop – but that is what I got! A real New Zealand hospitality experience, I think.  He wouldn’t let me go away empty handed either, giving me a cement nail and a piece of sanding stone he just took off his bench for me. My own mini starter kit. Mum – I make the jewelry, you put it together and sell it?

So that was lovely. Afterwards I had planned to go on a hike round the nearby redwoods so headed up to the ISite (really useful things, honestly) and enquired about walks and how to get to said walks. I was recommended a particularly good one and sent off to another ISite where they start from. It was a lovely walk, meant to take 3 and a half hours, I romped a little bit and cut it down to about 2 and a bit. The views from certain points were wonderful over Rotorua and the lake. It was really good to be out in the fresh air like that. I loved the trees, so huge and (suprisingly) red in colour. Once you got out on the path a bit it really slimmed down and it felt like you were adventuring.

Unfortunately as I was heading back it absolutely bucketed down, but I had time to grab a shower before the evening plans I’d made.  I mentioned Kiwi hospitality before, it is a thing of wonder. I experienced Maori hospitality when I did the Tamaki village experience. And it was a complete experience, I’m so happy I did it. It started with a bus ride where the bus driver was an absolutely fabulous host – teaching us about some of their culture and a few words in their language. She picked out a chief for our waka (bus) and generally told us what to expect. We were formally greeted (and intimidated) by warriors then let in by the chief. What followed was being split into groups and being talked to about different aspects of their tradition, you could participate in games, it was really good fun. Then came some traditional dance and song, along with a traditional hakka.

Then.. There was the feast. My eyes mist up just thinking about it, there were muscles, lamb, chicken and fish along with all the trimmings. Then there was desert and never-ending pavlova. Seriously. The pavlovas just. Kept. On. Coming. So happy. I was introduced to pavlova officially in Australia and it holds a place in my heart ever since. On the bus ride back we sang country appropriate songs and generally kept up the merriment. I really really enjoyed it and would recommend!