Today has been a Lord of the Rings Hogan tour day.
We started off at the Weta Workshop, Luke was very, very excited!! The Weta Workshop was where they made the computer special effects, props and prosthetics for many big films including Lord of the Rings, the new Narnia films, District 9, King Kong, Avatar, Tintin...
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| Oriental Bay, Wellington en route to Miramar for Weta Workshop |
They have a Weta Cave where there is a shop selling models, books, miniatures, props etc and there is a small cinema where they show a 25 minute film about the workshop.
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| The Weta Cave at Weta Workshop |
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| A very excited Hogan!!! |
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| Narnian armour |
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| Saruman and the Witch King models from Lord of the Rings |
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| Luke and Lurtz from Lord of the Rings |
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| Gollum or Smeagol and Luke |
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| The Rings jewellery collection |
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| 2 of the Rings |
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| Rivendell miniature |
From here we drove around the coastline to Lyall Bay which is where one of the sets was for "Dunharrow".
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| Lyall Bay, Wellington |
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| Lyall Bay, Wellington |
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| "Dunharrow" at Lyall Bay, Wellington |
From Lyall Bay further into Wellington to Mt Victoria, a mountain preserved for green space very close to the city centre. From the top great views over the city are seen on a good day, unfortunately today was a we low cloud day so the views were not as spectacular as they could have been.
Do you remember Frodo saying "GET OUT OF THE ROAD" well this filmed on one of the many walking tracks on Mt Victoria. The hobbits sliding down a bank to discover mushrooms and the hobbit hiding place under the big tree roots were both filmed here as well as some sets for Dunharrow.
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| "GET OUT OF THE ROAD" on Mt Victoria, Wellington |
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| Hobbit's hiding place, Mt Victoria, Wellington |
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| The bank which the Hobbit slip down to find mushrooms at Mt Victoria, Wellington |
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| The Hobbit's hideaway, Mt Victoria, Wellington |
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| An interesting shaped tree on Mt Victoria, Wellington |
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| The cliff through the trees was also "Dunharrow" on Mt Victoria, Wellington |
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| The misty view over Wellington from Mt Victoria, Wellington |
After all this excitement we relaxed in the national museum, Te Papa, browsing with a cake and coffee drying out a little!!
Next we headed north up the main Highway 2 towards Upper Hutt where we will spend the night at "Isengard" or Harcourt Park!!
love the tree shors
ReplyDeleteThanks, remember those bits exactly. Can you send a shot of the two giant statues either side of the river (Fellowship of the Ring)...?? ;)
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately Peter, they were digitally animated and do not quite exist....would be cool if they did though!!!
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