Today we had a tour booked for Weta cave so we were up early and raced down to Starbucks for a very quick coffee before we left. We ordered our coffee and were standing waiting when suddenly the building went into a practise evacuation drill. We had to leave the shop and go across the road. I understand they need to practise but it was so annoying as we were in a rush to get to Weta.
After driving to Weta and eventually finding parking in the surrounding streets we were ready for the tour. For those of you who don’t know who Weta is they are a film props and digital editing department in NZ. The have made armour, props, wigs, clothes and etc for movies like Lord of the rings, District 9, King Kong, Power Rangers, Ghost in the Shell, Avatar, Chronicles of Narnia and many more. Our tour guide Joel walked us through the actually workshop and we were not allowed to take pictures. The things were amazing though. The processes they use to make these look brilliant and we got to see so many iconic pieces from films. My favourite piece was the Armour of King LLane from the Warcraft movie. The boys liked the fully functional Warthog from Halo. The place was amazing and had so many things to look at and admire. It is worth your time if you are in Wellington.
We had a look around in the shop and watched a documentary of Weta before calling it a day at the Weta studios. We drove back to the hotel to park the car and walked to our new favourite sushi shop. After a quick and delicious lunch we walked our way along the harbour to Te Papa museum.
We went to see the Gallipoli exhibit which was shocked but amazing. Weta have made these huge and i mean huge statues of New zealanders who were major parts of Gallipoli. They were amazing pieces and really realistic. Te Papa also had amazing displays for information and is one of the best museum exhibits I have been to. It really made you understand the cost of Gallipoli.
We had a quick look around the museum and then decided to go to a movie. We saw Lego Batman movie and it was nice to get off our feet for a bit. The night was spent quietly organising some stuff and going out for some dinner at TJ Katsu which was great. We have a huge day driving tomorrow so it was an early bedtime.