We had smooth sailing from Napier to Wellington and, once docked, we were off on our selected tour, "In the footsteps of The Lord of the Rings". We learned that Wellington now has quite a movie industry, mostly started by Peter Jackson of "Lord of the Rings" fame.
Some folks wanted to put a "Wellywood" sign on this hilltop, however, there was sufficient protest to where they chose Wellington. The artistic shaping of the letters on the right is to represent the wind, and, Wellington is indeed a windy city. It makes Chicago look like a soft summer breeze city!
Pulling into the dock, we see more of the logs that will be exported. The logging industry is extremely strong in NZ.
And, our tour begins at Mt. Victoria.
And, our tour begins at Mt. Victoria.
Folks who've seen "Lord of the Rings" will find these eerie looking trees quite familiar.
After a walk down a fairly steep hill, we come upon the area where some of the filming took place.
This is the spot where the hobbits fell down the hill when first trying to get away from a black horseman. The "props" department built a tree and cave to cover a section on the left and that is where they hid. All the props were then removed.
Our guide Nathan showed us pictures from the movie to remind us of what the scenes looked like in the actual movie. Nathan, at 6' tall was actually one of the elves. We learned that all the elves had to be exactly 6' tall. Having actually been in the movie, he was able to share some incredible behind the scenes tales.
The tour also included a trip to the top of another mountain from which we could get a 360 degree look at the whole Wellington area. Tom's hand was on my head to keep my hat from blowing off!
A clear view of Wellington. Our ship was just off the right of the picture.
A canon put in place to protect the city from the Russians they feared would be invading, it never happened but they were ready.
The art deco Roxy theater was the next stop on our tour. There we saw a behind-the-scenes video of how some of the special effects were done for the movies. 
While waiting for the video to start, we wandered around the miniature character displays. Gandalf was a favorite. I (Ruth) had watched "Lord of the Rings" on the flight from LA to Auckland so was somewhat familiar with the characters. Gandalf was definitely my favorite!
From the Roxy theater, we headed to the Weta Cave. The Weta Cave is Weta's mini-museum, theaterette and shop on a corner of the Workshop itself.
A replica of the guns used in the movies.
One of the dark devil creatures comes down from up in the cave.
Larger than life version of Gandalf. We didn't check the price tag, but maybe there wasn't one!
One of the creatures of the dark Middle Earth.
Gollum stands/sits just inside the door to welcome us!
And, in the small garden outside the Weta Cave, a VERY large lizard!
Back on board, beautiful cloud formations off our balcony; the perfect way to end a perfect day in Wellington as we set sail toward Akaroa.
If New Zealand is the friendliest country in the world, Wellington is the friendliest city in New Zealand!
T&R
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