This time Lord of the Rings
12 September 2017 | Wellington, New Zealand
I was picked up at 10:00 to have yet another great day, this time touring the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) in and around Wellington. So it started off with us going out to an old mine out of town where we could see where they filmed the Minas Territh, and Helms Deep scenes. Next we saw some other places where significant scenes were filmed, like did you know when they are chopping all the trees down that they have multiple shots of the same tree that is on a hinge. Just after we had our lunch (provided by the tour company) we took a short stroll 🚶to Rivendell, here the gated enterance was still there, we were told that they lifted a whole load of trees 🌲 out of the way for filming, then after filming they were all put back in their correct place by consulting photos taken before removal. We also saw where the horse 🐴 picked up Legolas from the river bank, after he was dragged over the cliff top by the waarg. We then went up Mount Victoria and saw where several other scenes were shot. I even got to sit in the same tree and the exact place that Frodo sat whilst smoking his pipe. The best bit of the tour was without a doubt the WETA cave and workshops, the cave was rammed with original pieces from the films 🎥 there was also lots of replicas for sale ( unlike Hobbiton this was all quality stuff) I just wanted to spend, but I resisted. The workshop was where I got to see just how it was done from weapons to chain mail and the fantastic masks with all the animatronics involved in moving the different head and face parts.