Holiday Adventures (or “it’s amazing what you find just around the corner”)

If you’re reading this blog from anywhere in the southern hemisphere you’ll know that it’s currently summer here in New Zealand. Now as it’s our first summer in this wacky/lovely/crazy place we’re a little confused (mentally), as in our heads it should be cold, dark and miserable and not gloriously bright and sunny! Anyway January and February are the holiday seasons for Kiwi’s and in the interests of joining in I recently had a week off work to enjoy some family time and generally get out and about and explore our new home (the Wellington region). This took me away from my hobby time but it was spent with my family which is my only other vice! However I did squeeze in a little hobby related shenanigans during our week of R&R when I was given a day pass by my beloved and allowed to venture off into the wilds on my own. 

So armed with a packed lunch, Google Maps and my trusty walking sandals I headed into town (Wellington is a city but it’s so small and cute I just have to call it a town) and made a bee line for the Tourist Information centre (or iSite as it’s called here) to pick up a few leaflets and pointers on what to do for fun that’s free. Now I did already have an ulterior motive as I had heard about a little thing called the “Middle Earth Costume Trail” and wanted to follow up on this, being an unashamed Lord of the Rings geek!

Ok so what’s this all about? Well as Weta Workshops are based in Wellington they decided to loan some of the original costumes from the Hobbit movies to Wellington council as a tourism feature. These have been placed in glass cabinets and scattered throughout the city, in hotels, department stores and museums and you have to track them down, kind of like a Tolkien themed Geocache (this is where the sandals come ) in.

So off I tramped for a few hours around the city pestering f hotel receptionists, customer service assistants, waitresses and pretty much anyone I could find as to the whereabouts of these mythical treasures. Kiwi’s being the good natured people they are I was welcomed on my wanderings quite politely and with many an amused glance (apart from a grumpy receptionist in a department store!!!)
Now I didn’t manage to get to all the locations as one was on another island (close by but I hate boats!) one was at the airport (close by but I hate parking fees) and the final one is in a cinema that was closed at that time of day and in a suburb out of town (but it is very cool so I’ll be heading out that way soon!). 

Anyway below you’ll find a bit of picture dump of said costumes, I would list where I managed to find them however that would take the fun out of it (if you manage to get to Wellington in the next few months!).