Next doort to the iconic Sky Tower is the Wētā Workshop, an award-winning company (with 5 Oscars) known for creating special effects and props for movies and television as well as developing video games. Their special effects were used to create various movie sets in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit movies as well as his 2005 King Kong movie. Wētā’s artists also helped create the Te Papa Museum exhibit, Gallipole: The Scale of our War that we considered one of the best we’ve seen (the report of our visit to the museum is here). The castle in the image above is made from foam and other model-making materials. The company, wētā, is named after one of the largest insects in the world.

On a Wētā Workshop Unleashed tour, you visit three different hypothetical movie sets. One department emphasized horror, another fantasy, and the last focused on sci-fi. The Weta Workshop in Auckland is designed for kids, but adults like us also marvel at the creativity of the artists. There is another weta workshop in Wellington, which has props from actual movies currently in production.

In the horror department, there are realistic animatronics and prosthetics. You even get to enter a dark maze for a heart-racing experience. One girl on the tour refused to go in, even though she was told it was all make-believe.

The second part of the tour takes you to the artists’ studio, where you get to learn all about how intricate fantasy worlds are brought to life, starting with artist concept sketches.

The third and final section is a sci-fi film set where you see robots, spaceships, and light displays.

The company is also known for their miniature model making, and you can see the intricate details on display. Above are character from The Lord of the Rings movies, including Gandalf (left column) and Bilbo (upper right). Wētā Workshop created creatures and characters, make-up and prosthetics, environments, miniatures, props, weapons, and armour for The Lord of the Rings movies. There were some 48,000 individual pieces created for that trilogy alone.

We saw how chain mail armor was made, with each ring individually placed in a time-consuming manner. Chain mail was an effective defense against the slashing and cutting of swords, but ineffective against cross-bows and bullets, which could enter through the gaps between the rings.

On this interactive tour, you are allowed to touch everything and pretend to be a special effects artist intern, so it was fun to see the molds and tools used to create the various characters and monsters. The tour guide (upper right) is a real character herself. We could overhear a guide from the group behind us, and we swore that all the guides were trained the same way. They all speak with similar comical, high pitched accents.

It’s hard to believe, but this is Evelyn, after putting on her make up. There were a number of make up stations that digitally applied the effects. The left column shows the various steps as the artist adds layers, with the right image displaying Evelyn ready for the stage. It was fun to see the end result.

Here are some of the creative concept sketches used. There is an amazing amount of talent and creativity in this company. The workshop was a fun way to spend time on a rainy day, which surprised us.

Waitomo Caves is just an hour south of Hobbiton. Three caves make up the Waitomo caves network, and Ruakuri Cave is the only one where photography is allowed. These caves are famous for their abundance of glow worms, stunning stalactite and stalagmite formations and an underground river. Each cave has its unique features. In Waitomo Caves, you can ride in a boat and watch thousands of luminescent glow worms overhead. Ruakuri is the one where one can go white water rafting and inner tubing in a dark cave. The water level was so high the day we went that the rafting was cancelled, so we did not hear the screams of glee.

When you enter the Ruakuri Cave, you descend down a steep 15-meter spiral staircase (middle top). This is the only handicap accessible glow worm cave, so there were no worries about tripping. It is quite cold though. Along the way, are stunning formations of stalactites and stalagmites (right column).

It is pitch black when you first encounter the glow worms. When your eyes get adjusted to the very low illumination in the cave, pin hole lights that look like stars begin to show up on selected parts of the cave. You see literally thousands of luminescent light points. It is not until you put them under a macro lens and finish post processing that you can see the individual worms.

Because you are photographing completely in the dark, you must know your camera controls by feel. Sometimes an error happens, such as changing the zoom range while the shutter is still open. Sometimes serendipity strikes, and an image such as the lower-right is achieved, quite by accident.

Glow worms are not actually worms, but rather the larva of a gnat. Our guide told us that management did not think calling them “glow maggots” would be a very good selling point, so they adopted the term “glow worms” instead…☺ The image on top left is the glow worm, and looks like a stick with a glowing end in the darkness.

These worms are only found in New Zealand and Australia. They are widespread in New Zealand, where caves have high humidity. The larva spins a nest out of silk on the ceiling and then hangs down silk threads, placing sticky droplets that are used to capture prey (middle-left and lower-left).

Glow worms have a luminescent organ, like a human kidney, that emits a soft light, and is often used to attract prey into their threads. The glow is the result of enzyme reactions in their organ. When a critter is captured, the larvae rolls up its thread to lift the prey.

When the glow worm is disturbed, the light suddenly goes off for a period of time like slithering into a crevice. As such, photography is not allowed on the public tours. This one cave allowed photography, but only with a guide and in very small groups (there was only one other person besides us this day).

Close up photography was difficult in this environment. You are operating the camera in total darkness, using long exposures, with the only light coming from the glow worms themselves. Focusing would be nearly impossible on most cameras, but our Sony A1 and 7R5 cameras allow us to focus in near total black. It was tricky to get the exposure just right to show the details, but avoid overblowing the light of the worm itself. The worm starts at 1/2″ in length, and grows to nearly 2″ by the time it is ready to pupate. The portion that glows is only a tiny portion of the entire worm (upper-left).

Evelyn was so frustrated that she was ready to give up many times, since it is so difficult to see the results on the LCD during the photo session, and there is no light to focus (meaning manual focus was required). You really have to wait until post processing has been completed to see whether you had any success. Surprising to Evelyn, she shot the image on the right bottom, with the lit beads.

We had not intended to go to the glow worm caves at all. Daniel Kordan, our New Zealand photo leader, highly recommended that we try to schedule this, as the tours fill up weeks in advance. We were lucky that the photo tour is poorly advertised and we only found it because Daniel had told us that it existed. We’re glad we did it.

Whenever we hear New Zealand, certain images, including sheep, wine, and Middle Earth (since the release of movies ‘The Hobbit’ and “The Lord of the Rings”) automatically come to mind. We are fans of the Hobbit movies, so we went to Middle Earth to see where Bilbo, Gandalf, and Gollum lived on the Hobbiton movie set. We were expecting a touristy, commercialized enterprise, but came away impressed with the quality of the experience, and would highly recommend it to Hobbit fans.

The setting in Matamata was selected by Peter Jackson, the movie director of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy epic fantasy adventures. Jackson flew over the Alexander farms property in 1998 and it reminded him of a slice of ancient England, complete with lake, and his team set about to carve out the Hobbit holes in the hillsides on a temporary-basis, using untreated lumber and traditional set making materials. To create the setting envisioned, some of the trees were brought in and planted full size, and some were artificially created, with each leaf individually hand painted to match the colors Jackson envisioned. The tour leaders were quite well trained and knew how to control the crowds, and the large number of tour groups were organized in a way that we did not feel the crowds.

There were 44 Hobbit Holes created for the movies (some are only facades). Two new homes have been added in December 2023 that fully furnished and available to visit inside. This initial movie set was not built to last, so homes and trails were rebuilt with more permanent materials for the tour. The surrounding area is untouched, with no power lines, no visible roads and no ancillary buildings other than the Inn, where we were offered cider or a beer. The site of the Shire is stunning.

For this tour, you get an opportunity to wander down the rambling paths of The Shire, see the Hobbit Holes in the rolling hillsides, and hear about some of the famous scenes in this 12-acre set. There were lots of Hobbit Holes created as part of the movie set, and the audience was asked to spot the homes of the bee keeper, the town drunk, and other characters in the village. The village was well made and well maintained, and in 2021, brought in $78 Million in revenue.

The interiors of two new Hobbit Holes were created on Bagshot Row, Venture Beyond the Doors, and opened in December, 2023. They are complete with scaled interiors, so people can enjoy how it would be to live inside a Hobbit home. Burt is reading a newspaper on the dining room table (middle left) and Evelyn is sitting at a desk overlooking the shire (middle right). The creators wanted people to touch and feel everything in the set. The hobbits were only 3 feet 6 inches tall, so the interiors have been scaled up to fit tourists. The tour groups were sized so that everyone had enough room for photographs without other tourists in the way, and welcomed everyone to sit or lay on the furniture, touch all the props and experience living in a Hobbit home.

We were told by our friends from Christchurch NOT to miss seeing the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington. How right they were — this is one of the absolute finest museum displays we have ever experienced. Our favorite was exploring the award-winning exhibit: Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War. Te Papa joined forces with Weta Workshops, a special effects and props company, to create an exhibit like no other. From the moment we walked into the first display, our jaws dropped. It is that incredible.

Fought during World War 1 (1914 -18), Gallipoli was the first major amphibious operation. British and French troops landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in Ottoman Turkey with disastrous consequences for the Allies, which was directed by Winston Churchill. Churchill envisioned knocking Turkey out of the war to help the Russians, but the campaign failed. For the 16,000 Australians and New Zealanders who landed on that day, 2000 were killed or wounded. Overall, 27,000 French and 115,000 British and other troops were also killed or wounded.

The Gallipoli Campaign– “The battles fought by the Australian Imperial Force at Gallipoli are widely regarded as the foundation legend of Australian military history, and a potent symbol of federated Australia.” The dioramas were built over-sized, so you are enveloped into the scene. The detailed sculptures were so well done, that you could even seen tears from the nurse (right bottom).

There were many other wonderful displays at the Te Papa Museum, including the one on dinosaurs. We could easily have spent a day there.

Our last supper in Christchurch was at Astro Lounge, a vintage beer garden, which was a 5-minute walk from our hotel in pouring rain. The poster (lower-right) is from one of Burt’s favorite Sci-Fi characters (Dr. Who).

It rained most of the time we were in New Zealand, even though we were starting summer. The average annual temperature is around 50 degrees Fahrenheit in South Island, but apparently we caught part of La Niña on this trip, so it was both wetter and colder than normal. Even many locals were complaining about the miserable weather.

The Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū has its own collection of art along with changing international exhibitions. One current exhibition that will end in April 2024 was  Spring Time is Heart-break: Contemporary Art in Aotearoa. The couple’s relationship mirrored the seasonal changes in the garden they tended together during a decade. Another exhibition was Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection about people’s stories, which Evelyn enjoyed seeing.

The Christchurch Art Gallery wows visitors as much for its architecture as for its artwork. (Right-top above and right-top below). The Gallery’s tall, wavy glass facade was inspired by Christchurch’s Avon River and the shape of the native koru fern. The Gallery showcases contemporary art, though it also has its traditional European collection. For the public, there is a “create your own art” made with gold sequins on one side and black color sequins on the other side. As you roll your fingers across it, you can create patterns. Here’s Evelyn’s creation (lower-right). There was both installation art and video art.

There is a weekly crafts show at the art center and here’s a few sculptures (middle row). There are still repairs being made after the damage from the 2011 earthquakes (Left top). You can also see trolley cars that take you around the city, plus a trail of public art that includes a collection of elephants (right bottom). Again, we wanted to thank our hostesses Faye and Ian who took us on a walking tour of the city and brought the city to life that only an insider can do (left bottom)..

After leaving Christchurch, we headed north to Blenheim, situated in the heart of wine-growing Marlborough the largest wine-producing region in New Zealand. Marlborough has 158 wineries in the district. Blenheim is internationally known for its Sauvignon Blanc. There are 290 grape growers of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Gewǔrztraminer. Blenheim is one of the sunniest towns in the country and a destination for foodies and wine lovers. Wither Hills is quite picturesque and Burt took his drone out to film the area. Later his drone was attacked by a bird nearby while videoing a herd of sheep.

We had the pleasure of exploring Akaroa, just outside of Christchurch, with our friends, Faye and Ian. We visited some of their favorite bars, enjoyed Blue Cod Fish and Chips, art galleries and another delightful place, The Giant’s House (above), an art gallery and garden filled with whimsical mosaic sculptures created by artist Josie Martin, who still lives there.

The mosaic artist and horticulturist, Josie Martin obviously had fun creating the garden. We all had fun posing with her sculptures.

Christchurch is a wonderful city, that has been rebuilding after the disastrous earthquake in February 2011. To this day, there are still unresolved insurance claims, so damage from the 6.2 and 6.3 magnitude quakes is still visible. Most of the city is relatively new. We saw the Bridge of Remembrance (lower-right), a war memorial dedicated to those who died in WW1, WW2, plus subsequent conflicts in Borneo, Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam. Throughout the town were e-scooters strewn haphazardly on sidewalks (center-right), and we found this throughout the big cities in New Zealand. We have read about the business before, but had not seen it in action. There were public art in the form of ceramic elephants (center-left), all designed by a variety of artists, throughout the central business district. The charm of Christchurch is shown with the retained old fashion red-color, pay telephone booths (center) that are still operable. The bridge (top-right) is a view from our hotel room in Launceston.

In Akaroa, we watched a working port loading wood logs from a coffee house that Ian and Faye loved. We then visited a wonderful art gallery next to the coffee stop, where some unique art is displayed.

We were impressed with the quality of the street art throughout the city of Christchurch. In fact, Christchurch is now ranked as one of the global street art capitals, ranked alongside New York, Barcelona, London, Berlin in the Lonely Planet book. After the 2011 Canterbury earthquake, many artists started painting the murals (born out of tragedy) to bring back color, joy and optimism and help rejuvenate the city.

Celebrating our 51st Anniversary in Christchurch, New Zealand at Soul Quarter, where they were playing jazz in the background while we ate dinner.