WETA Cave!!!

You aren't able to go to the Weta Workshop in Wellington, but they do have a shop called the Weta Cave (in Wellington & Auckland). Even though it was just a shop (rather than a museum) we had a lot of fun looking through all the beautiful things that they are making, and talking with the staff who knew the artists who made the beautiful things, and were able to tell us stories about not only the filming of LOTR, but also The Hobbit, Tin Tin, Dr Who, Avatar, Narnia, District 9, King Kong and much much more...

Hannah with a full size Uruk-hai model (they also had gollum)

Please do not touch - execution awaits all transgressors

Yes, we were super geeky and took a photo with us & the Weta Cave staff - the manager particularly was fantastic - she loved sharing all her stories with great enthusiasm (& let us take photos which you normally aren't allowed to take). We told her about the couple that we'd heard of who went through Hobbiton on the tour & English wasn't their first language - in fact the woman didn't speak a lot of English, so the husband translated everything said by the guide not into not their native language but Elvish. The manager thought that was the coolest thing she'd heard all day.