Crossing the Cook Strait

After spending the night in a luxury apartment, we awoke ready to experience some more Lord of the Rings awesomeness. Today we had planned a visit to Weta Studios, home of much of the trilogy's amazing costumes and sets. The location of the studio is certainly not where I would have expected - in the middle of a small suburban street in Miramar, just out of Wellington.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by some of my favourite characters from the LOTR and Hobbit movies.

TROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And of course the lovely Gollum

We managed to battle our way past the three giant trolls at the entrance and entered the Weta Cave, a room filled with real costumes, props, and countless other creations from LOTR, the Hobbit, District 9, Avatar, and King Kong, just to name a few.

Creepily realistic Hobbit feet

The best part about it is that entry is free, so for anyone on a budget it's definitely worth a visit. If you do have $20 to spare, you can get a behind the scenes view into their workshop where they keep all the best bits. Sadly, they don't allow photography in the workshop because they're always working on upcoming movies and can't risk someone leaking their work to the public. I can definitely assure you though that it is 100% worth the small ticket price to see the work they do. A tour guide takes you through the workshop, showing you all the different aspects of the design and creation of costumes, props and miniatures, telling you interesting facts and stories along the way. It would have to be one of the best experiences you can get in New Zealand for $20.

After the tour, Chris dragged me back into the Weta Cave to look at all the workshop creations they had for sale. A considerably long time later, he finally made his decision on which admittedly awesome souvenirs he wanted and we headed back to car for our final drive on the North Island. Almost every car rental company has a drop-off point near the ferry terminals, but we somehow managed to go with one that didn't. This meant we had to drop off the car in the middle of the city and trudge through the streets with all of our luggage in search of a bus stop. Luckily, the location of the bus stop wasn't too far away, but we still managed to get lost and ended up circling the block a few times before we managed to find it. Eventually, we got on the right bus and with the help of a friendly bus driver, we found the ferry terminal.

As if the stress of it all wasn't enough, I accidentally dropped my camera bag, causing the lens cap on my $800 lens to be jammed on. Thankfully, the lens itself was unscathed and I managed with great difficulty remove the lens cap. After this, it was smooth sailing (excuse the pun) and a ferry journey to the South Island went off without a hitch. Nothing but blue sky and water for 3 whole hours.

So much blue

At 6pm, we finally arrived in Picton. This time, the car rental company had an office at the ferry terminal with our car ready and waiting. 

Although we'd had a massive day, we decided to take the advice of the lady at the car company and took a short drive to Karaka Point, at the opening of Picton Harbour. And I am so glad we did because the sunset across the Harbour was one of the best I've seen in my entire life.

Sunset over Picton Harbour

Dusk ft. R2D2 beanie crocheted by me

xx Kate-Lyn