Hobbits, Rain, and being totally let down

SO, since it is now Tuesday night for me and I feel bad about not keeping my word, (but still Monday for you all so I guess I am) I thought I would keep my word and tell all about my trip to Wellywood. We caught the movie tours bus at 10am and were off to an area about 45 minutes outside of Wellington. On the ride there we were briefed with all the movies that Weta productions has helped out with, and surprisingly Contact was one of them in the early days. I guess some of the film was shot in location in NZ so Weta helped out, they didn't say how, probably something to do with props. We went around to a bunch of sites where the Lord of the Rings was shot. Now this tour might have been more fun if I was a fan of the movies (or if I had even seen the movies before). But I'm not and I haven't so the tour was kind of a let down. That, and since it was POURING in upper and lower Hutt valley (where we were north of the city), so standing in location in the rain (which for many of the scenes was the conditions they were shot in) was not as much fun as it could have been. Also, when shooting on location in NZ its the law that you must return the location to EXACTLY how it was before shooting the scene. So not only were we standing in the rain in the location the scene was shot, at the location there was NO evidence that there was ever a movie shot there. To the tour's credit, the guide did bring his lap top around with him, so that when we were standing in the location we watched the scene that was shot there, and the guide pointed out the trees and bushes that had cameos in the movie. But we all made the most of it and were all happy to actually be doing something on our Sunday instead of sitting at home doing our work and whatnot. And when we got into Wellington to see the parts on Mt. Victoria where they shot, it wasn't raining (the city didn't get ANY rain the entire day), so that made the last leg of the tour more enjoyable. 

Another fun aspect of the tour wasn't the tour guides doing at all, it was one of our group members. One of the kids in the program has broken her leg, and so has been told to stay in a wheelchair until the cast is off. So throughout this whole tour (and on Mt. Vic) we were negotiating the paths with a wheel chair, there were some fun moments on Mt. Vic where we almost lost her due to a slippery hill, or root. Thank God we had some strong boys who could help her out and push her up the steep hills and carry the chair over roots and whatnot. 

Most of the group was let down though, because we were told that it was a tour of Weta productions and Wellywood. If it had been explained that it was a Rings tour, then I think we would have all had lower expectations. But the majority of the group believed that we would be getting a tour of the studios and places where actual work happened. A more behind the scenes tour. For obvious reasons this probably is not a tour that exists, especially since Peter Jackson doesn't want the locals to know where he is (security purposes), so all the studios and what not are located in unmarked warehouses. So Sunday was not as much fun as I had initially thought, oh well guess i will just have to look forward to another production studio tour (maybe?). The name of the tour was really misleading anyways. Ok well I should get back to my work! all three of my papers have essays due next week, so I am trying to get those all done. it will be nice to have a little break after may 22nd, but then it will be off to studying for finals. One last big push until classes are over I guess. Not too much more time to travel (sadly), but we will see what I can come up with. 

Cheers for now!

~Marjorie