Weta and the waterfront.

On Sunday we had booked a trip to Weta Workshop given that we had enjoyed the War displays at the War Memorial and the huge figures from WW1 at Te Papa which had been constructed by Weta. Gollum was there to greet us.  Let the magic begin!

We had a very friendly, knowledgeable tour guide called Rebecca. Because Weta now does so much for other companies we were not able to photograph  many of the Weta Workshops that she took us through. Just a few doors down the street is Weta Digital which is a whole other industry and then further down the road are The Stone Street Studios where a lot of the films are produced.

So totally beleivable

Bilboa Baggins' feet

Peter Jackson produced Meet the Feebles in the 80's. Its like the Muppets on the dark side

Each character has several figurines made before going on to produce the props and clothing.

Help!!! he's just pierced my skull!!

Punch him in the balls! Actually he was really aiming for the chest.

We watched one of the workers  doing this set of leather armour  - the intricate work is done with a black glue

Mock up of a space station

An "Ideas Board" from the earliest of meetings for a certain scene.

We walked back to our hotel  from the Isite where the tour ended and had a rest before walking down to Circa to see the Tom Scott play "Joan" about his Irish mother. It was a 4pm session favoured by the elderly so there was a short delay while the wheelchairs were moved into position. The lights dimmed and someone let out a fruity fart! No-one even laughed - we were all thinking thank goodness it wasn't me. Both Duncan and I had read Tom Scott's recent book Drawn Out, so the script was quite familiar to us - but Ginette MacDonald (aka Lynn of Tawa from many moons ago) was brilliant. We walked back to the hotel and later walked back along the waterfront to St Johns - a restaurant in the old ambulance rooms. They have lovely shared plates here.

This is a deconstructed raspberry cheesecake - which I didn't share!