Roger's Walkabout : Te Araroa 2/12/25

Day 70, Rest day in Wellington.

Very windy again but sunny as I spent the day doing various touristy things.

Gandalf and Frodo models

First a bus trip to the Weta Workshop where the props, models and prosthetics were made for the Lord of the Rings films as well as numerous newer ones.

A selection of expensive LOR swords

The tour was good but it probably would have been better if I had known about some of the films they talked about.

Radio controlled goblin head

They use various modern techniques including computer simulation but a lot still uses clay, silicone and hand sculpting.

An interesting servo controlled hand

There is a single lane bus only road tunnel under Mount Victoria that we used on the trip in and out of the city.

Bus tunnel under Mount Victoria

I then went to the Museum of New Zealand, a huge modern building with very interesting historical displays spread over five floors.

Stone troll outside Weta Workshop

There was an fascinating section devoted to the Gallipoli fiasco where there are some five times lifesize models of soldiers that were made at the Weta Workshop, very atmospheric, the only thing that was missing was the Eric Bogle song although I suppose that was too Australian.

Five times lifesize

A big section on New Zealand wildlife concentrating a lot on the damage that has been done by introduced species. Like most museums now, a lot of education stuff.