New Zealand Day 18

New Zealand   Day 18  04.02.14

We are having a quiet day in Wellington again and started by driving out to Miramar suburb out on the peninsular to the south of the city.  It may be a familiar name as it the name of a film company used by Peter Jacksom.  Yes we are off to the Weta Cave, the place they do the special effects for many films including Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit.  

They do the physical effects there - making models, facial effects, weapons, costumes etc.  

Next door is Weta Digital but you can'y go in there.  The cave is basically their shop with some of  their models etc.  Very expensive.  There is also a film charting the history of the company.   They now do a tour into part of their workshops, unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos in the workshop but it was very interesting with the guide one of their craftsmen (woman) explaining their techniques.  There were lots of their weapons, hobbit feet, dwarf arms and models in there  which we were allowed to handle.  Excellent.

In the afternoon we went to the Te Papa museum.  This is the national museum of New Zealand and contained natural history, geology, history and art.  It also had an exhibition of The World of Wearable Art.  The museum is exceptional.  It is hands on, stimulating, innovative and we really enjoyed it.  The skeleton of a young Blue Whale was immense until you stand under it you don't realise the size.  Whilst the preserved specimen of a 'Colossal Squid'  was also very big - lots of calamari there.

There was a re-creation of a Maori meeting house, which was exquisite and we hope to see more when we go to Rotorua.

Woven walls inside of house with wooden carvings between each different section.

A fun extra for me was the exhibition of wearable art.  This is a renowned international  textile art competition that takes place in Wellington every year.  The entrants are from all over the world often from textile design courses.  They are really fun.

This was covered with hundreds of shells.