Singleton Family Adventures: Middle Earth to Narnia

Aloha!

We woke up at 4:00 in the morning to catch the ferry to Wellington a few days ago. Okay, I lied. Me and MK slept in the top bunk until we were on the ferry. It was quite a bumpy ride! We got on the ferry and sailed away from the south island at 6:30, in the morning. I slept the whole way, three hours in a cramped position in a very uncomfortable chair. Lets just say that it wasn't beauty sleep.

Our plans for Wellington consisted of: Museum, Weta Cave. We are such party animals! We walked through a weekend market and got some really good bread and chocolate croissants. Then we checked out the Te Papa Museum. The equivalent to our Smithsonian, just on a lesser scale. Way lesser scale. It was cool. Very interactive. I learned a lot about the mating habits of the Kakapo. It was very entertaining.

Then we headed to Weta Cave. I guess that I should say what Weta Cave is. It's where they make all of the props for the Lord of the Rings movies. And my family is made up of LOTR geeks, so of course we were super excited to go there! Weta Cave actually make props and stuff for lots of other movies. We just got to see some of the workshop. Our tour group was made up of mostly people native to New Zealand. It was a little awkward, since we were the American tourists, yet again. They showed us how they made props and little miniature castles. Miniature is a relative term. The castle that used in Prince Caspian (when they did all the sweeping views and such) was taller than me! Some of the swords and armor are made of metal and stuff, but they mostly use fake soft and cushey stuff. We saw some cool stuff to. Like Suaron's suit of armor. Armor for a centaur. Peter's sword. King Maraz's (Prince Caspian's uncle) golden helmet/mask. A bunch of stuff in the Wot Wots. What, what are those? Please tell me. The only for-real HALO car thing in the world. I really wanted to ride in it. Peter Jackson is a huge HALO fan apparently. In the 'museum' there were wax figures of Gandalf and that one really ugly head orc dude that is really ugly (Did I mention that he was ugly?), and Gollum.

We have also gone to the Wairomo Cave with the glowworms. It was really pretty. Like constellations inside a cave.

We are now on the Coromandel Peninsula. Today we hiked to Cathedral Cove. That's were they filmed that scene in Prince Caspian where the magic takes the Pevensie kids from the London train station to Narnia. It's really pretty here. I was swimming in that really clear water that Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy played in for ages. Now I have to attempt to get the sand out of my hair.

We leave NZ in two days. I have mixed feelings. I really want to go home and see my friends, have my room back, and see my dog. But I also really want to stay. Awww... I'm going to miss this place. *Sniff*

But at least we won't have to pay for internet and showers! :)