” You shouldn’t have lent him that. ” Commented Paul, pointing at Tom and his newly acquired toy. ” You’re never going to see it again.”
I totally agreed.
The Wellington Rover was going to pick me up at the Civic Center at 8:30, so I had to get up early and take the bus around 7. I packed up the lunch I had made the night before. I didn’t think were going to be stopping anywhere – and I would learn my lesson for making that assumption around 12:30.
I was almost at the bottom of the hill when I saw a bus pull up. Luckily the bus saw me and waited for me. I had expected to take the 6:30 bus, but I must have caught the 6:14 one instead because I was sitting in Victoria’s Cafe, across from the Center by 6:45. I’m always early.
I’m starting to realize that every cafe thinks the only vegetables that exist are tomatoes, spinach and mushrooms – with the exception that a tomato is a fruit.
“Would you like that on toast? What kind?” Asked the friendly owner. He was about 40, some hair around the sides. He had shorts on – I swear all men’s shorts are above the knee here and not one sags. That’s either really great or just really weird.
“How about wheat.” I said, everybody knows wheat right? Wrong.
“Wheat..that would be like…” He was obviously confused by the word.
I chuckled a bit, and replied with ‘whole grain’. A short while later, I had tomatoes and mushrooms on sourdough bread.
“After all that I got it wrong anyways! ” He exclaimed.
I told him it wasn’t a problem at all. I sat, watching outside the windows, ate, and drank my tea until about 7:30. I think I sent Jay another SnapChat photo, or did I try to and it failed?
For the next hour I wandered around the Civic Center courtyard. I wasn’t sure where the Rover would pick me up. I kept looking for a sign, and walked around the corner to the other side, and down the street a bit. Around 8:28, the Visitor’s center finally opened and I asked where I go.
“Down the road, same side, there’s a sign.” Said one of the attendants. He was kind of rude for a person who works at the Visitor’s Help Center… just saying.
I found some steps by the Rover sign, and just as I sat down I saw the van pull up back down by the Zealander sign. GJ, Rover.
“Alicia??” Asked the guide.
“Yep, that’s me!” Ha.
We shook hands and then Craig let me onto the van. I picked the lone seat by the window in case there were larger groups or doubles. I’ll learn I made a good decision.
We picked up another couple at a hotel not far around the corner. Paul and Samantha (Sam) were from London. I think I’ve finally got these accents down – but don’t ask me to demonstrate.
After them came Australians, Emma and Amanda, younger girls and crazy excited about the trip. Then a family of three – I never got their names, but I call them Portland (the daughter), Santa (The dad – because he wore a red shirt, had a white beard and white hair), and Kathy Bates (The mom – because I swear she sounded just like her and was even a bit short and stocky). They were from Oregon & San Francisco. Say hello to the first Americans I’ve met this whole time.
Second to last pick up came two other Australian girls, I didn’t get their names either or maybe I did and since we never talked much I just don’t remember. Lastly was, Tom. Tom…was a mega fan, as we’ll find out later.
Everyone had backpacks and cameras around their necks. The also wore shorts and walking shoes. Clearly tourists. I had my motorcycle boots, jeans, plaid shirt, scarf, and of course, my SB hat. I don’t think I looked touristy.
We headed off around and around in the van, named “Thorin”. Yes, I rode Thorin around Wellington – get your head out of the gutter people.
( Side note, I love this new keyboard for my iPad, it makes typing so much easier, even if it does make my bag heavier. It’s fantastic – Name that Doctor.)
Our first stop was back at Mount Victoria where Andrew had taken me my first day.
Excellent, one I can scratch off the list of things I wanted to do again.
He pointed out towards several mountain areas, and explained that we were going to see a few areas where some scenes from the first movie were shot. He also mentioned the “Wellington” sign, created just like the “Hollywood” sign.
“It’s a bit more humble than that one, though, isn’t it?” Paul commented. Ya, he’s right. Rude, but right.
The first stop was just down and around a bit from the top of Mount Victoria, but let’s back up a bit. I think Jay’s mom pointed out the Rover to me, and I remember checking out his Dad’s blog. Someone remind me to thank them later – OR I’ll do it now THANKS!!! They might read this.
Back to the first stop: Hobbit Tumbling, Wraith coming/Hobbits Hide, Wraith Silhouette. In the “Fellowship…” when the hobbits fall down the hill after running from the farmer in the field, they fall down this hill:
Apparently one of the stunt hobbits got injured during the first take, but he made it into the film. Next, the scene with the dolly zoom shot of Frodo hearing the Wraith screech:
Just below that they had brought on a handmade part of the set where the hobbits could hide and make it look like they’re smaller than the actors actually are. Apparently Elijah is not fond of spiders so that scene was not an easy one.
Then the moonlight silhouette shot of the Wraith on a horse. It wasn’t that bad of a climb up.
This was probably the roughest part we went through all day. We spent some time traveling to the other locations. Next stop: WETA. I’m clapping my hands in excitement.
On the way to WETA, Craig enlightened us with a story.
“So, while they’re shooting up here, fog and everything. They had security on the ends, saying maintenance being done, so no one could bike through and etc. No one in town knows what’s going on. They kept it a secret, you see, otherwise it’d be busy with crowds. So one day, the residents see smoke from the trees..”
I could see where this was going.
” The fire department shows up, and shuts them down. Well, to get on their good side, Peter offers them a coffee and takes them down to the catering tent – where the stars happen to be sitting. So after a day of getting some autographs and etc, the Fire Chief let’s them go back to shootin’, of course…”
Of course he did, and then all the firemen called home right?
“Then, well what do you expect? The firemen all called their families that day and of course the park started filling up with folks, see?”
It was a nice story, of course that’s what happened, I mean what else would people do if they saw smoke in the trees?
Now, being who I am, I was probably looking the most forward to WETA. Seeing spots where they shot, fun, but it’s trees and grass and I already know how the tricks are done in production. A mountain here, some blue screen, hobbits in front, bam – done. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take photos of inside the workshop. I guess they only recently opened the workshop maybe a year ago.
There’s the WETA cave with miniatures made by the same sculpture artists of the movies, and some other larger characters – all for sale. I took some photos in there, and outside the cave, in the Troll garden.
Inside the workshop was fantastic – again 9th Doctor. We waited outside the Cave for a few minutes, while Craig went to get our guide, Tom. Tom was very tall, maybe 40. He appeared to have had his left ear removed, and most of his left side of his head was shaved. I wondered how that had happened – but I certainly wasn’t going to ask. He was super friendly and explained a lot during the tour about WETA. We entered from a door with a porthole window looking in. The door was located around the corner from the Cave, on the side of the building. Btw, the whole place is located in a residential area on almost the other end of the coast. I felt bad for the neighbors.
As we all crammed into the small room behind the porthole door, I saw a lot of posters with years. As most things start, WETA started in a garage with Richard, and I think, Tanya. They later met Peter, through rumors and all bonded over their passion for creating movies. That was in the 80’s. I’d forgotten that Peter Jackson had made one of my favorite weird movies, “The Frighteners”.
I looked on the wall at all the posters from 1987 to present. There were many things I recognized: Hercules/Xena, LOTR, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, District 9, Halo, and more. I couldn’t even take notes so please bear with me as I try to remember ALL the movies WETA has done. I think the children’s shows stand out the most,”The WotWots” and “Tintin”, just because they’re different than the typical Sci-Fi and Fantasy.
As we entered the first side through a door on the far right corner, I looked up and saw a giant sculpture about as tall as the entire room. It was sort of blocked by walls and curtains, but I could see some curled horns, like those from a ram. It wasn’t finished and still had a long way to go. WETA likes details.
The first corridor was about weapons, and basic prop making. It showed the steps for how they came about a gun from District 9. I think I saw that one with Jay and his Dad? I remember because Jay can’t stand camera shaking.
“After months and months of directors changing their minds and asking for more changes…” I heard Tom in the background.
I know that feeling… My ex co-workers can attest to this.
I should have probably listened more but I was too distracted by the world of figures, weapons, Armor, etc. I saw a familiar figure underneath the counter with the guns. I crouched down to see the baby harpies from Hercules. I loved that episode, it was the Beanstalk one, with the giant in the clouds and the woman who he had kidnapped to take care of the harpy eggs. Then Hercules has to keep the harpies from climbing down the beanstalk, save the girl, and – I should stop there before I go all geek, or is it too late?
A guy with dark poofy-curly hair and an apron made his way through us, carrying a silicone mold above his head. He ducked behind the curtain behind and climbed up onto a platform. I snagged a peek in.
He must be making a couple of fake bronze statues. I thought. Later we’ll find that I was correct.
We continued down and around a small corner where a fake desk area was facing us. A broken wacom pen, tablet, and a screen was laid out on a small table covered with a black cloth. Next to that was a cabinet of alien weapons. I stared at the weapons, it was from movie that started with “Doctor” but no, it wasn’t’ Doctor Who. I smirked, noticing photoshop was open on the monitor.
I looked behind me and saw Sauron’s armor in a case on the wall facing the monitor. The case was surrounded by many weapons from multiple movies.
Um….can we talk bout those instead of how creatives work please.. I telepathically tried to tell Tour Guide Tom.
It obviously didn’t work because we continued shuffling forward around a giant vehicle. I was still eyeing the armor behind me – I inherited eyes in the back of my head you know. I also saw the head/face molds of Eiljah, Ian Holm, and John Rhys-Davies on a shelf next to the armor. Creeeeepy. Next to that was a giant alien armor that didn’t make to final production of District 9 – but I still could tell it was related to the movie given bits and pieces of the helmet.
I looked at the vehicle with great curiousity. It was familiar, but I couldn’t place it. It was basically a jeep, large off-road tires, with a gun on the back. Two plastic people were situated, one at the gun in military garb and another in the driver’s seat.
“Unfortunately the movie Halo was canceled before it started..” I heard Tom.
HALO!!! JAY!! I excitedly said in my head. IT’S THE JEEP WE ALWAYS THROW OFF THE CLIFF!
I had to calm down a second. It was a real, working, jeep that could crash through cement wall and decked out in Halo paint. Excellent. I’m not a geek, nope, not in the slightest.
A bit past the jeep, to the left of the video showing the jeep crashing through walls, I saw Eowyn’s helmet and armor. Above that were even more helmets, and a long wall of molds of gorillas. “Kong” was another movie they had worked on, and “The Rise of the Apes”. I hadn’t seen the latest one; I prefer the original please.
Along the wall to my left, there was a giant window into the sword making facility. No one was making sword at the moment, but Tour Guide Tom pointed out the techniques they used – mostly real, original metal shaping, but of course they have electricity and other machines to help. The walls were lined with swords, axes, hammers, and other weapons from all kinds of movies.
Behind me, and next to the window was a big-ature of a castle for “Prince Caspian”. Yes, it was taller than I am. It was pretty awesome, even if I haven’t seen the movie. To the right now, was the last bit of the corridor to the end. Along the left were examples of different types of chain-mail, and silicone mold. There was a bit of explanation of how those are made.
“Each ring has to be made, then hand cut and linked to another chain and then locked again..” Tom was explaining. “Some armor can take 300 or more people a couple years to make. Many lost their fingerprints from the glue used to lock the links.”
Tediousness at its finest. I could do that.
He passed around just a forearm of silicone that one of the dwarves would have to wear. It was heavier than my bag.
On the right side of the corridor were glass cabinets of more armor and swords. The first one was LOTR, with Eomer, Eowyn, Sauron, and the Ghost King’s helmets, swords and chain – mail. Fantastic.
There were a few more cabinets of armor from other movies. I looked up and saw a line up of arrows across a beam. Most were orc arrows, or arrows from “The Lion…” The one at the bottom, on the end, and directly above me, was Legolas’.
Going further down, we came across two people working. The woman was creating teeny hutts. She went on to explain a lot of the time they have to bring scraps and trash from home into their extras bins and make things from that.
Tight budgets – I’ve never had to deal with that on a production, I don’t know what they’re talking about (wink wink).
She was taking apart some scraps of muslin to use as the palm frons for the tops of the little huts.
Next to her was the giant ram-horned creature. No one talked about it so it must have been secretive. The man who had come past us earlier spoke. First french accent I’ve heard since being here. He described the process of making a mold to use multiple times with the silicone. I was a bit busy looking at the statues of the aliens, Gandalf, and Tintin behind me.
There was so much to see in there, I might try and make my way back again and I was too busy staring at all the helmets, that I almost got locked in. I hadn’t noticed that everyone had left.
I quickly dashed out and almost ran into Tour Guide Tom closing the porthole door.
“Op, trying to hide there aren’tcha?” He joked.
“Oh no, no sorry. Just slow! ” I said, a big grin on my face.
I might have wanted to hide, but I wasn’t gonna try… I might have fit in the Orc costume though.
The group went back to the Cave. We watched a 25 minute DVD, especially made for the Cave and one you can’t find online at all. Again no photos here, and it’s sad because the room we were in had tons of excellent helmets from movies. The dvd was interesting, a short look into WETA, WETA Digital, and their sound production company. I guess they worked on the Indiana Jones movie that-shall-not-be-named. There were many clips of a giant Gollum – the exact Gollum I had seen in the Wellington Airport on my way in. Did I mention that that one has him reaching for a fish, and was above a fish and chips restaurant? I don’t think I did, but it does.
I waited outside the Cave with the Trolls, after the movie. Craig came out and let me onto the van so I could wait in a less windy place. We had some conversation about production and what I do.
“I saw him with pen and paper, literally writing out everything he was going to buy.” Craig teased.
You see, we’ve learned that our fellow traveler, Tom, is a hardcore fan of the movies but he hasn’t read the books. Sad, sad times. He had to have a photo with everything, doing everything, just like the actors did in the movies. He even wore the “one ring” around his neck, a hobbit shirt, and a hobbit hat. The only other person who wore an LOTR related shirt was Santa.
Speaking of Santa and Kathy Bates, they were the next ones to join me in the van, and then the Londoners. Santa proceeded to talk about the collectibles he owned from LOTR and how much he’d spent. I had more fun discussing the production work and the WETA things we had just seen. Paul agreed with me.
We sat there awhile waiting on the girls and Tom. Craig went to check and came back saying the girls were still making up their minds on what to buy, but Tom had a giant handful of things that he was buying. Eventually they all came back with bags. I noticed that Tom had put on a shirt that he had just bought; I know this because I saw the shirt in the store – and no I wasn’t going to buy anything. I can’t spend $600 on a miniature of Rivendell, or $800 on a statue of Gollum, as much as I’d like to support the artists that made them. I’ll spend the $25 to see their movies in theaters though.
Our next adventure was for lunch. Apparently, it was included in the fee. Craig drove us around the bay to a spot next to what he said was Wellington’s best beach. It was a beach too, it had actual decent sand.
Cafe #7 was awesome. The walls were lined with American comic book covers, and framed illustrations of classic American cars. The cups were plastic with a variety of patterns throughout. They had a special menu for the tour, everything named after things in the movie. Being vegetarian, I couldn’t have Bilbo’s favorite, or Gandalf’s chicken salad. I just had the tomato basil soup, and figured I’d have to save my packed lunch for dinner after the tour.
Conversation with Emma, Amanda, Kathy and Portland was interesting. They asked me a lot about what I do and were very excited. We talked about teaching, since Amanda was a teacher, and also about the differences between America, Australian and New Zealand in terms of weather, driving, seasons. Basically, typical stranger chit-chat. They were nice, and I managed to make a few jokes – I’ve noticed that being sarcastic around here doesn’t really fly much. Andrew and Lois take my jokes too seriously… never try to explain the “5 miles up hill, both ways, in the snow” joke, it just won’t work.
“I keep reaching for the right side to use the wipers, but it’s on the left!” Said Portland. She’d been driving for her and her parents.
“I haven’t wanted to drive, but I do spent a lot of time waiting for buses. Thankfully they’re mostly on time.” I commented. Emma agreed.
We sat for about an hour and a half, eating, and finally took off back down the coast. Andrew said it was about 40 minutes to our next location so there was a little bit of chatting on the way but mostly we all kept silent. I was enjoying the views. Craig told us a few more stories about the stars, and how they used to live along the coast we were passing. I guess it’s really expensive to live on the coast, I would imagine it’s like living on the beach in Manhattan Beach. He told us about how the actors often came down for surfing. One day they finally talked Viggo into going.
“See, he’d gotten the reputation around the set for being accident-prone. One day while they were out surfing, there was a big wave and knocked him off his board. As he was coming back up from the water his board came back and knocked him in the face. He had a black eye but they were worried he might have broken his jaw or cheekbones.”
I think I’ve heard most of these stories on the behind the scenes extras on my dvds. I couldn’t remember exactly though, it’s been awhile since I listened or watched them. It was pretty silent after that story until we came up to a spot across a quarry, and Craig pulled the vehicle into a lot. He passed around his iPad, full of photos. He’d been using it the whole time to show scenes of the movie compared to the locations we were in, so we could imagine what it looked like with the production trucks, and a hundred people working.
“They shot both Helms Deep and Minas Tirith using this area. I know it’s not much to take a photo of now, but you can see how they wound parts of both castles around the land.”
I couldn’t get a photo, it was on the wrong side of the van for me, but if you can imagine a tall mountain inlet, curving, you might get an idea. Apparently Peter had offered the quarry a lot of $$ to close for a year so they could shoot the movies. As us weird knowledgable fans know, they shot the first three movies of LOTR all at the same time, starting in 1999.
Back on the road we went, and went; passing farmlands now, more mountains. There was no way I’d have been able to get up here on my own with just a bus. I was kind of glad I chose to do this, even if it cost a bit of $$.
“See those blue, misty mountains ahead? That’s where we’re going.” Craig had said earlier at the top of Mount Victoria.
I looked out towards them. You really could imagine an either other fantasy world here, with the low clouds, green lands, and every changing weather. We passed by a long river, thousands of rocks following along both sides.
“So, to the right there, you see, is where they taught the actors how to use a canoe. It was a lot safer here, the river isn’t as deep in case they fell over or something.”
More quiet time as we continued to drive along the river, eventually ending up at another park. It was an excellent, open park. Crazy green and lots of fantastic trees. You don’t get these trees at home, at least I’ve never seen them in my travels up and down California – and I’ve driven all the way up to Oregon.
Isengard. This was where they shot a few scenes with Gandalf and Saruman, and the orcs tearing down the trees. They couldn’t REALLY tear down a tree, though, so they built fake ones with hinges to tear down. You know the scene – A dark night, only fire from the forges below lighting the way for the orcs to work. Then a couple orcs wrap a role around a tree and pull it towards them, taking the tree down with it. You could see a couple of small filled in ditches, grown over now – it’s been around 13 years since they shot the first movies.
This was also the spot where they shot Gandalf riding into Isengard, under the bridge. No CG here, just a teen bridge set up in front of the camera and perfectly placed to create the illusion that Gandalf was riding under a bridge.
After that, we walked up a little hill to long green path. You might not recognize it, since the trees have grown now, but it was the pathway in Saruman’s garden where the two wizards walked and talked – before the betrayal.
Craig ran to the bushes next to us. He pulled out two giant wooden staffs. He said he picked one up on along a beach one day, and the other around here. He hides them and no one ever seems to see that they’re there. My thinking was that on the ground they just look like pieces of fallen branches, but in the right imaginative hands, they’re powerful wizard weapons.
Our final stop for the day: Rivendell. It was further down the farmlands, and there were many signs marking the way. Craig explained that the park rangers are particularly proud of the fact that parts of their park were transformed into Rivendell.
As we park in the small lot at the entrance, Craig went to the trunk. I saw him pull out gold crushed velvet material that seemed to be wrapped around something.
That’s totally a sword. I thought.
We walked up and came to small enclosed area. A specially created post marked the entrance to Rivendell. I could see there were a couple more ahead. Some had elvish, and some just had explanations about where and how they shot these pieces of the movie.
The park rangers are so proud that the movie was shot there, they got permission to use the name since it’s a non-profit, and national park. They also got permission to rebuild the actual gated entrance the fellowship leaves from in the first movie – it’s actually currently in construction. The scene where Frodo says he doesn’t know which way to go, and Gandalf tells him where to go.
At the first spot, Craig did a bit explanation, and indicated sections of the wood where there were gazebos, and steps up. The opening Rivendell scenes as the group begins its wandering before the big meeting. They had actually built these structures, and actually, we only see about 5 seconds – maybe ten – in the whole movie.
Then, he unveiled what he had been carrying in the velvet. He unwrapped it, and pulled out, Sting – well a replica anyways. Tom got very excited and grabbed for it immediately. Craig also laid out some plastic elf ears on the map. Portland promptly put some on, as did Tom.
“So, if you want to get a good, ‘Legolas’ -type shot around the corner there, ” Craig pointed behind him, ” I’ve got a few little props to help.”
Well the group continued around to the “Legolas-spot”, as Craig went up and got afternoon tea ready. This was where I went off on my own, exploring and taking some extra photos. I took some of the post the rangers set up, indicating the heights of characters from the book.
It’s also where I think I got extra happy with the rope bridge, and was probably a little too excited in feeling a connection to Indiana Jones.
Where’s my fedora when I need it??
We had some friendly ducks join us for tea.
I must bring home Rivendell Rocks!
I snuck down to the river, where they shot Arwyn’s scene with the Wraiths. I picked up four little rocks to bring home for my four crazy rock and LOTR -loving friends.
“Thanks, Craig, it was nice to meet you! Thanks for the tour!” I said, shaking his hand. I was being dropped back off at Courtenay Place. I waved bye to the group, and made my way towards the bus sign to catch the 83 back home.
