From Kai:

On our trip to Wellington we stopped at a “Movie prop workshop.” It was called the Weta workshop. We were granted with a tour of the famous design studio and shot an endless stream of questions at our guide, Reece.

         Weta has worked on films such as The Hobbit trilogy and Lord of the Rings, Ghost in the Shell, Chappie, District 9, Avatar, and of course, the hit British TV cartoon,  Thunderbirds Are Go.  Throughout the tour we learned about how plastic chainmail is created, how armour is mass produced, weapon durability, and Peter Jackson’s overly specific and constantly changing color preferences.  A woman sculpture shared her secret weapon, aluminium foil, the internal form for clay covered houses. After I met people with my same interests, making props, and realised you can get paid to do this- I want to work there some day! It would be a fun and rewarding job. It was amazing. 

          We also got to experience a tour around the set of the Thunderbirds Are Go TV show. It is a stop motion made show that uses actual miniatures set pieces and computer generated (CG) characters. We got to see the set pieces and learn about how the show is filmed.It’s super well known in the UK. Click here to see  a trailer for the show. 

           The experience was awesome, and I hope we can go back sometime.

             The high security tour only allowed limited photography. Here are a few pics from the shop and sets.

 

 

After the mind blowing outing to the Weta Cave, the outdoors came calling. And, by the way, a “weta” is a large insect endemic to NZ.   Cable car rides were on the to do list.   So, back in town we took the classic red car up the hill to the Botanical Gardens. The hike down through the gardens was beautiful. I’m sure the roses go wild in the winter here. Luckily, no weta encounters. More tomorrow, Cheers Jen.