Wellington, NZ

In Wellington, we each took excursions that suited our own interests. While Barb opted for a full day tour, Lord of the Rings on Location, I opted for two shorter ones. In the morning, I set out with six others in a 4 x 4 fully enclosed “bus”, as it was described for another off the beaten path trip to the coast to find the seals in their natural habitat. Six of us were in the back on benches facing each other with another man sharing the front seat with the driver who happened to own the company. After driving through Wellington, which is located at the far southern tip of New Zealand’s north island, we quickly got out of the city and soon the paved road turned to gravel. One person commented on Wellington being on the south island. I said it was actually at the far southern tip of the north island. One of the ladies agreed, saying I had been incorrect. I was pretty positive that Wellington was on the north island but she stood her ground, insisting I was wrong. Finally the driver/ guide intervened and said, “No, Chuck is right. You crossed to the north island overnight and Wellington is on the north island.” The lady was in disbelief saying, “Really?? I am sure it’s on the south island. I am going to have to check my map” almost calling into question the tour guide who lived in Wellington. The issue resolved, he opened a gate for which he had paid for the rights to travel on the private property for his tours. As in some other places, the road was steep and winding although only in a few places were the roads extremely bumpy. A few times the undercarriage of the vehicle scraped the bottom.

As we traveled, we were surprised to see an ostrich along the road and had a chance to take a picture of “George”. As throughout New Zealand, there were plenty of sheep along the steep mountains. The guide explained we had to go up the mountains in order to come down to the coast. Unfortunately while the excursion was billed as the “Seal Coast Safari”, we saw exactly four seals. The place where many seals are usually found, near a particular lighthouse, was unavailable because that particular coast has been buffeted with exceptionally high waves for the past five days. But we did see 3 pups on a rock and nearby an adult on a rock who kept a sleepy eye on its two-legged observers. Once a particularly large wave got the seal about ¾ soaked, so it decided to move to higher ground. Amidst the snapping camera shutters, it resumed its siesta while still watching what we were doing. The coast was a scene of great beauty with the waves slapping the rocky shoreline. Our return to the ship allowed just enough time for lunch before doing a Wellington city highlights tour.

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand, replacing Auckland in the late 19th century. We had time for a photo stop at the beehive shaped building which is the center of the New Zealand government and observed several other government buildings. A short while later we stopped at old St. Paul’s (Anglican) Cathedral, now no longer an official church, but still preserved because of its beauty and used for weddings, funerals, and other religious occasions. There is a new nearby Cathedral and the old St. Paul’s had been destined for the wrecking ball until preservationists in the 1960s stopped the destruction. We headed through the city and saw homes built on the hills, but interestingly, many of the homes had garages at a lower elevation which were reached by stairs and even private chairlifts. (One of the pictures shows homes built along the hill and the next picture shows the chairlift but unfortunately has reflection from bus window. It was the only picture I could get and it was from the moving bus.) The homes on the hills looked quite picturesque and gave us a good impression of New Zealand’s capital city. From there, we went high above the city to Mount Victoria Lookout where we had a nearly 360 view. Here there was a monument to the Antarctic explorer, Admiral Richard E. Byrd. High above the city, we could observe the city buildings as well as the coastline, and of course our home away from home that seems to show up wherever we are these days for some reason!

Our final two stops were to the Wellington Cable Car which took us up the hill in the city with opportunity for seeing the city rise before us. Many people use this as a convenient way to get to work without the more expensive parking or the afternoon hike up a long hill. Lastly, we were taken to see a part of the Royal Botanical Gardens of Wellington. There wasn’t much time both because we had to get back on board before the ship sailed and the Gardens and Conservatory actually stayed open a bit longer because we were there. When we arrived about six or eight college students were sitting on the lawn drinking champagne from glasses, something one doesn’t expect young people, informally dressed, to be doing. Several from the bus, including the shore excursions director, chatted with them and later told the rest of us that they were celebrating the end of their school term and the gardens seemed to be a nice place to do that. Pretty impressive! By the time we left, they were all waving good-bye to us.

Chuck

When I first realized that we would be visiting Wellington and knew that there would be a Lord of the Rings tour available, I told Chuck that I wouldn’t pass that one up under any circumstances. Knowing that he’s not a fan, I also said that I wanted him to do his thing that day so I could do my own. What follows will most likely be of much more interest to those who know J.R.R. Tolkien’s books and Peter Jackson’s movies as it talks about specific scenes from the movies and books.

As I boarded the bus, I discovered that there were only nineteen passengers and one Holland America representative (the ship’s videographer) on the tour, meaning that we would have many opportunities for questions. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable, and we understood why when we realized that he had been an extra in one of the biggest scenes of the trilogy!

Our first stop was at the summit of the beautiful Victoria Park, which provided us a panoramic view of Wellington from above. What might have been magnificent views were somewhat dulled by an overcast day, but it was still interesting to locate the ship as well as other places we would be visiting during the day. (This was the same stop that Chuck had made on his tour.)

About a mile down the road in Victoria Park we took a walk through the woods to view three filming locations. The first was the Rohirrim encampment in The Two Towers, as well as the cave-like entrance to the Passage of the Dead that Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli reluctantly traversed. I was completely amazed since there was nothing that would indicate sheer rocks or caves. From there, we proceeded a few hundred yards down the hill, and the guide asked if anyone knew what had been filmed there. This one I could answer – I called it the mushroom scene from Fellowship of the Ring. He called it “Get off the road!” His way of describing things was amazing. Being a resident of Wellington, he was able to add interesting anecdotes – like the story about the lady who was strolling through the woods walking her dog while they were filming this sequence. She was stopped and questioned, and allowed to proceed when they realized she had no cameras or video equipment with her, let alone the fact that she was completely unaware of what was transpiring there. Being a public park, many people used it daily and had no idea at the time that such a world-famous movie was in production. We picked out trees and paths that could be identified in the movie and enjoyed rerunning that film sequence in our mind’s eye. The final scene was the run to the ferry. We were perched in the exact location of the ringwraith that was scouting for the hobbits and could see the hilly terrain that they had to dash through in order to reach Buckleberry Ferry.

Driving through one section of Wellington, we saw what appeared to be rows and rows of warehouses. Our guide told us not to be fooled. Behind those doors were thousands of sets, props, costumes, etc., that were purposely kept in unassuming places. Yes, we were driving by the WETA Workshop, home of the many, many production aspects of Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia fame. We weren’t allowed inside because of the secrecy behind productions, but we did get to visit the WETA Cave, which had a wonderful display of artifacts and a short video showing the work that WETA does. Not far from WETA was the production studio – and we saw as well as a huge white wall painted in various shades of blue and green – colors used for blue-screen and green-screen scenes.

Then it was on to Dry Creek Quarry. As we drove to a nearby suburb of Wellington, our tour guide had an interesting story. As a Chemistry teacher, he was very much looking forward (as all teachers do) to the end of term, which for Kiwis comes right before their Christmas (summer) holiday. As a bit-part actor, he would occasionally take a call from an agent for a small part in local movies. One evening about a week before the end of the term, he received a call from his agent during dinner. The agent asked if he’d like work, and he said he was sort of busy and wasn’t sure if he should. The agent told him, he was sure he’d want this job, so he finally agreed to take it. The agent told him to report to Dry Creek Quarry at 7:30. He reminded the agent that 7:30 wasn’t convenient because he was a teacher. The agent said, “I mean 7:30 this evening.” So off he went to Dry Creek Quarry, having no idea what he was about to become involved in.

He reported to a wardrobe person who put him into a costume with leather armor, bows, arrows, and a helmet with hair attached since he was bald. The person explained that he was going to be a Rohirrim soldier and directed him to a bus that would take him to the film location. Being the last one on the bus, he found the only empty seat, next to a monstrous person costumed as an Uruk-Hai. The person greeted him, “G’day, mate. How’re ya goin’? Looks like you’re a soldier of Rohan.”

“Yes, sir. It’s my first day on the job.”

“Would you like me to show you around? I’m off-duty now.”

“Sure.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you after breakfast.”

“Breakfast? At 8:15 PM?”

“You’re gonna need it!”

A while later a tall lanky man approached him. “G’day, mate. How’re ya goin’?” At that point he realized this tall thin man was the Uruk-Hai (now sans wardrobe) who had sat next to him on the bus. The man showed him around quickly, and then directed him to the set. That was the first of several months of shooting. He would get to the film set at about 7:30 and wrap up around 4:30 AM, grab a few hours of sleep, then head for school! Those who are familiar with the movie can only imagine how exhausting it must have been to participate in the Battle of Helm’s Deep! I had heard about the t-shirts that were available for those who did the sequence and was going to ask him if he’d gotten an I survived the Battle of Helm’s Deep t-shirt, but he volunteered the information himself. He had decided not to get it, but instead he purchased a license plate saying “ROHAN”.

With that story in mind, we were very interested in seeing Dry Creek Quarry, which was the setting for Helms Deep and later, Minas Tirith. If you didn’t know what it was, you’d drive right by it; it was not at all imposing! (I’ve posted a picture in Picasa.)

A few miles down the road at the location site for the Anduin River scene, the guide told of the problems the Fellowship of the Ring actors had in paddling their canoes. They were finally forced to use scuba divers beneath the boats that steered them. Then we headed to Harcourt Park, where we walked in the path of Gandalf and Saruman as they discussed the finding of the One Ring, carrying staffs and pretending we were one of the two wizards. You could still see where new grass had been planted after they had paved a roadway through the park for the scene.

After lunch, we headed up to the rainforest. There we visited the river that Arwen forded as she took Frodo to see Elrond. A short walk brought us the site of Rivendell and the Council of Elrond. There was nothing left of the filming site, but one could just imagine the gathering of Elves, Men, Dwarves, Wizard, and Hobbits as they discussed the destruction of the One Ring.
On another subject, he showed us a fern that was a symbol that the Maori people use for eternal life. Part of the fern is curled tightly, and this represents new life. As the curl relaxes, it gives more and more of the appearance of a traditional fern, symbolizing the connection with family and history.

The anecdotes that were related are far too numerous and long to tell here without becoming tedious and boring for readers who are not LOTR fanatics as I am. The settings were made much more vivid by the experiences of the guide, who was so familiar with the production details and stories. It was truly amazing to see how much work had been done to recreate Middle Earth in urban surroundings, then to restore those surroundings back to their original state (even to the detail of replacing rocks in their exact original locations!) I’m anxious to watch the movies yet again and enjoy the scenes while revisiting in my mind the locations I saw in Wellington. This was truly a memorable and fascinating shore excursion for anyone who is a Lord of the Rings aficionado!

Barb