Lord of the Wellington

“I am so obnoxiously excited.” – Blondie from Lord of the Rings tour

I personally like New Zealand, but after visiting Auckland, I have to agree with Humpty that it was not my favorite city. New Zealand to me is about natural beauty, somewhat rugged terrain and elements, laid back vibe, and plenty of room to breathe. Auckland simply did not fit that mold but Wellington, New Zealand’s third largest city at 300,000 people, fits it perfectly.

The risk one runs in a city of only 300,000 people though is lack of amenities. The restaurant variety is limited, shopping is minimal, people seem to know everyone else, and there are only a handful of bars. Well, I can’t speak about the people all knowing one another but on all the other variables, Wellington seemed to defy the risks. We ate great, drank heartily, and enjoyed walking through downtown. There was plenty to see – the museums, the shopping, the parks and natural beauty. But also, there was the one theme that tied it all together – Lord of the Rings (LOTR).

Pictures of Wellington:

Wellington happens to be home to Peter Jackson and the folks he likes to work with in his movies. And while the Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed throughout New Zealand, Wellington is considered the primary focal point of all things LOTR. And so it was that while we spent our short stay in Wellington, a LOTR tour was mandatory.

The theatre premiering The Hobbit film

First, it must be pointed out that we were in Wellington days before the world premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. People from around the country as well as other countries would be in Wellington to “experience” the premiere (most people of course would not have tickets to the premiere and would have to wait another two weeks for the global release of the film). Among those that made it to Wellington were two girls on our LOTR tour.

Pictures from the LOTR tour:

Let me describe each one a little. First, hailing from the United States but currently wrapping up a semester in Australia, was Fanatic A, who we will call “Blondie”. Blondie was a university student with a dry, sarcastic humor and an encyclopedic knowledge of miscellaneous information. She also seems to be infatuated with nearly every male cast member from the LOTR movies.

The famous Roxy movie theatre

Dumpty scared out of his mind by the orc at Weta Cave Studio

Then there is Fanatic B, or Super Fanatic, who we will call “Brunette.” Brunette was a high school student whose obsession level with the movie was catastrophically greater than Blondie’s. Brunette was in town from Australia as well, with her father. Apparently, her father brought Brunette to Wellington so that she could take part in the tours, inhale all things LOTR, and ultimately, be one of the thousands of fans standing outside the movie theater on premiere day to perhaps gain a fleeting glimpse of one of the stars.

Needless to say, there was a battle brewing between these young vixens. The older Blondie was not impressed with the one-upmanship from the younger whipper-snapper was exhibiting on a seemingly topic by topic basis. And young Brunette was craving recognition of her voluminous knowledge of inane information.

For us, pure luxury. Each time we snuck glances at each other in response to the dual was hilarious. Watching the other passengers trying to ask questions of the driver/guide, only to watch the girls race one another to provide additional insight to the question and then to the answer was high comedy.

Taking “dorkiness” to whole new level

The tour itself was pretty cool too. We visited:

Town Belt in Mount Victoria – scene of Hobbits stumbling after being chased by Farmer Maggot; also scene of King Theoden and Aragorn looking down at the encampment. At the time of the filming, what the actors were looking at was a cricket match (which was eventually edited out and replaced with soldiers on horses).
Weta Caves – home of the special effects house used for LOTR as well as increasing number of movies. Awesome statue of an Orc.
Roxy Movie Theater – purchased by the folks that started Weta Caves, this renovated movie theater is one of the best movie theaters I have seen. More statues.
Lunch at Scorch-O-Rama, where the actors/actresses would typically eat lunch. All the menu items are named after the movie.
Dry Creek Quarry – the scene where Minis Tirith and Helm’s Deep were filmed. An actual quarry, the director used the location for a few weeks, and then it went back to being a quarry. Looks nothing like the scenes from the movie.
Kaitoke Regional Park – the home of Rivendell. Like the quarry, there was nothing about the location that would suggest it was Rivendell.

So what else can I say? Wellington was pretty cool, the LOTR tour was very cool, and New Zealand keeps moving up my personal list of amazing places in the world.

Acting out scenes from LOTR: