Our second day in Wellington and we headed to the Kaitoke Regional Park with Liz, George, Annette and four dogs. A great walk that took in a great suspension bridge, some old water treatment works and ended at the spot where they shot footage for Rivendell in Lord of The Rings.
With the dogs and us well exercised we headed to Ted & Shirley, George and Liz's parents for lunch. This is also happened to be the location of Liz's workshop, where she gives tired old furniture, amongst other things, a new lease of life with a little magic and upholstering. Rich's eye's twinkled a little at the craftiness of it all. One day!
After lunch George took on the role of tour guide and we set off on a tour of the suburbs of Wellington, looking up addresses where Sheila had once lived and worked. In most cases the buildings were still there and it was an emotional but enjoyable day for Amanda to follow in her mum's footsteps.
We then headed to a little museum that explained a little bit of the history of the Settlers and how Petone was originally chosen as the site of Wellington - until it started sinking.
Following this we headed to the world-famous(?)Weta Workshop Cave. Weta Workshop are responsible for all the visual effects, props and models used in the Lord of The Rings Trilogy not to mention a host of other films - some better known than others. The cave was billed as a chance to learn all about Weta and see some of their creations.
In reality it was more like a gift shop with a tiny selection of models and props. However the short documentary on Weta was quite good if a little sparse on details (for contractual reasons apparently).
A few times along our tour we leapt out of the car to view LOTR filming locations. Amanda was particuarly excited by these little diversions, but while beautiful locations they did not have as much meaning to Rich as The Theatre of Dreams does...
Finished off our sightseeing with a trip to the summit of Mount Victoria to take in the panoramic views of Wellington and the famous winds!
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