After months of saying "I should go one day", I finally went and visited the Weta Cave today. The Cave is the museum/shop attached to Weta Workshop, the film/effects company that did 'Lord of the Rings', 'Kong', 'Heavenly Creatures' etc.
For those who don't know the location of the studios where 'LotR' was made, it sometimes comes as a surprise to find you have to drive out to the Miramar peninsula in Wellington Harbour, and then wend through suburban and semi-commercial streets to find a rather mundane looking two story wooden ex-cosmetics factory tucked in below brooding hills – and that is where all that magic was made.
Weta have opened a small museum/shop on the site, in answer to the problem that they can't do actual studio visits due to confidentiality. Small this museum might be, but, wow, what a blast!
On entering, you find yourself surrounded by genuine props, costumes and armour from the movies, plus loads of very high-quality collectibles for sale. A theatrette (walls festooned with 'Lord of the Rings' armour) shows a 20-minute presentation on what happens inside the studios. You come out of the theatrette, envious of the fascinating working lives of the model makers and painters and armourers featured in the presentation; and you admire again the amazing work that has gone into even the smallest details of the props and costumes for the movies.
If you are ever in Wellington, New Zealand, this is definitely worth a trip to see. As I said, don't expect anything big, but do expect to be blown away by what you'll see there!
Here's their site, which features a short movie about the Weta Cave.
wetanz.com/cave
Open till 5.30, seven days a week. Entry is free (but the collectibles cost a bit!!!).
