Little Lolly's Small Adventures: Wellington, New Zealand. Excursion: Lord of the Rings Locations & Weta Cave

The start of a new day of a new year. I hope that 2018 will be a good year for everyone and this beautiful earth that we live on.

Paul and I didn't stay up to watch the New Year in - we were tired and Paul had to be up early this morning for the Maasdam's arrival in Wellington. I believe that staff, when off duty, partied the night and wee hours away. There had been parties for guests and there was also a count-down into New Year.

Despite last night's hard partying guests were up in the morning ready to go on tours or to catch the shuttle bus into Wellington to make the most of any shops were open.

The tour group I was assigned to was fairly small and we all fitted easily into a small bus. Our destination? The Weta Workshop is a special effects and prop company producing effects and props for films such as Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Avatar, Elysium, District 9, Godzilla and many more. The workshop is based in a town called Miramar, not far from Wellington or Wellington Airport. The workshop is so unobtrusive that we didn't realise that we had arrived! There was nothing special about the town that gave away the fact that lots of filming and effects happen right underneath residents noses - unless you were 'in the know'. Our driver/guide himself worked as an extra when needed, or provided transport for actors to and from the airport when required.

A studio in what looks like an industrial area

The Weta Cave was not actually a literal cave. It was the Weta Workshop's merchandise shop and small museum that is fashioned into a cave. We could take photographs here but after that, we were not allowed to - surveillance cameras monitored us and our workshop guides also kept an eye on us. The tour of the workshop was interesting, seeing actual props that were used on film sets, how they props were thought out and made, how facial makeup/plastics can change a person's face after up to 8 hours or more of hard work, visual effects and much more.

After the Weta Workshop tour our guide gave us a quick drive through Miramar, pointing out film studies, houses of directors, lodgings for actors and much more.

We then headed towards Wellington's Mount Victoria where the forested areas of the mountain were used to depict Hobbiton Woods, where the hobbits hid from the black riders. Our guide showed us a couple of areas within the forest and then showed us snapshots of a film scene - showing the exact area that we were now facing and describing the filmed scene. It was very interesting.

Our driver/guide showing us a photo of a film scene at its location

Our final stop was a viewpoint from Mount Wellington which gave us a panoramic view of Wellington and its surrounds including the harbour, airport and Miramar before returning to the ship.

Some guests wanted to be dropped off in the city centre so our driver/guide obliged but gave them instructions where to catch the shuttle back to the ship and a gentle reminder as to what the all aboard time was. As we were about to leave the drop point one guest realised that her husband had her passport and cabin key - both required when going through port security. Our driver/guide dashed through the crowds and somehow managed to find the woman's husband and retrieved her passport and key. One happy guest and all in a day's work for our aging but nimble driver/guide!

Although I am not particularly a fan of Lord of the Rings, I was glad to get out on the tour to see how things were done. It made me appreciate how much hard work went into producing it, as well as other films.

Christina, from the shops, had not had a good day. She had been on a tour and unfortunately someone in the group was very difficult for much of the time and purporting to be in a certain position, which she was not. Eventually Christina had had enough and basically ended up telling the person to shut up. The events were duly discretely noted and reported when she got back to the ship just in case the obnoxious person caused any further problems.