The Orcs are coming!

My last day in the Wellington area consisted of driving to the Weta Cave and the Dowse Museum before driving to National Parks Village.

The Weta Workshop is responsible for the props, miniature sets, and epic wardrobe of movies like Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Hobbit, Avatar, Elysium, District 9, etc. Having spent some of my life leaving and breathing in Hollywood I just had to go see this place. It was fun, I learned a thing or two about the artists that make this type of art for film, and even got to hold one of the Distric 9 guns. Oh, and the sword that glows when the orcs are coming was made there. I was also impressed with the ingenuity the people they hire in general. Just look at the orcs and Gollum! Some guys that used to work there I guess invented this new material called Pal Tiya for sculpting.

After the Weta Cave I drove out to the Dowse Gallery to eat a delicious lamb burger (along with a ginger crunch and a flat white) and see some contemporary NZ art. I enjoyed Samin Son's solo performance shoot, it was painful to watch at times with the buzzing sound effects and at others a bit inspiring, like a man's battle against the elements. I guess I was moved with this "For Solo 2014 Samin has created a deeply personal performance work based on a 1930s song from the Japanese occupation era of Korea that his grandfather taught him and how this song relates to his own experiences growing up in New Zealand and attending military service in Korea." I guess there is something about growing up in two distinct places that truly mark your life.

I continued my journey up through some small towns in the North Island after the museum. Stopped at the town of Whanganui after 2pm on a Sunday and since most stores were no longer open for the day, it felt like I had just walked into a ghost town.

The North Island is definitely more populated than the South Island. I can already see that I’ve driven through more towns than I ever drove through while in the South Island. The geography is also somewhat mellower…there are many hills; no more steep NZ Alps…except to where I drove into.

I’m staying at the National Parks Village in order to hike the Tongariro Crossing tomorrow.

#wetacave #wetaworkshop #dowsemuseum