04 October 2009

4 Oct: In the Movies, On the Move

Today we took it fairly easy after yesterday's super value day. Showers and breakfast in a restaurant, then we fired up the RV for the first time since Wednesday night, and were please to find that the interior lights and fridge were still working after 4 days with no power. Drove to a suburb to see a highly-touted art gallery (meh, ok) and made sure we knew how to get to the ferry dock for tomorrow.

Later we hooked up with the Movie Tour that had van trouble on Friday. This turned out to be fun, if you know the Lord of the Rings movies at all. We were taken to spots where specific scenes were shot, and the guide was well-prepared and knowledgeable. He had a laptop with the scenes all set to play, would play the scene and stop it and point out, "See this tree with the bent limb? There it is, right over there, so the actors were here and the camera was there."

Remember the scene when the four hobbits are first leaving the shire, pursued by an irate farmer, and they tumble down a steep hill to lie in a heap at the bottom, and Merry says "I think I broke something" and produces a broken carrot? So here's Ted our guide showing us the spot where they ended up.

And here's our little tour group playing the parts of the hobbits. The guide had brought along the prop carrot and prop heap of green poo, as well.

Later we stopped at the Weta Cave, which is simply the shop where Weta Workshops let the public look at samples of swords and costumes, and sells you stuff. In this picture David is saying, "I got a ring, see?" and Gollum is saying, "Is that a camera? You can't take pictures in here!"

Doing laundry now, but first thing in the morning, we board the Inter-Island Ferry for the 3-hour run to Picton on the South Island. New island, new roads!

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