Wellington

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and also the windiest city of the country.
What better way to start your Easter Sunday than with a treat to yourself? Our treat was going to the WETA Studios near Wellington. 💕
All the probs, movie sets and costumes from movies like the Lord of the Rings triology, the Hobbit films, Narnia and so many more great movies were designed and made here. Most of the original probs and costumes that were used in the movies were returned to the Studios for storage.
You can have a look at all those when you join one of the guided tours like we did. For copyright reasons your not allowed to take photos of the originals in the workshop but you can take pictures of the replicas for sale in the shop. You can buy everything there from bows and arrows over swords to life-size figurines of Gollum or others. 💕
During our workshop tour they explained the process of making probs all the way from the director's first idea to the finished product. They also shared some behind the scenes knowledge about LotR and other films with us and we even got to play with some original probs from the actual movies like Torin Oakenshields shield and a skull from the Army of the dead scene (Return of the King, LotR).
After this magical experience through the movies we drove up Mount Victoria to get a 360° view of Wellington. The weather changed soon after that and became really rainy and grey but it was the perfect weather for our visit to the national museum of New Zealand (Te Papa). 💕
There really is something for everybody in there from native nature and animals to Maori Art, over the earthquakes and volcanoes that shaped New Zealand to our personal favourite exhibition on the Gallipoli mission during the first world war.
The exhibition "Gallipoli the Scale of our War" portrays the mission of the Australian New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) in turkey. It is a very interesting yet incredibly moving exhibition.
WETA Studios made eight over life-sized replicas of eight different people that fought in or were affected by the war. The exhibition focuses on the stories of these eight people which makes for a quite personal experience. It leaves you raw with feelings and a new perspective on the war as you get to 'meet' the people behind the numbers and facts. 💕Read more