Today was downtown Auckland day #2. We decided to take the ferry over instead of driving so that was a fun adventure!
I didn't sleep as well the night before and I felt like I was possibly having allergies or maybe coming down with a cold. Summer and I did another cold plunge.
Doneen and I went for short morning walk so I could post my postcards home and we also got another pastry. We decided the best route was for Dion to drive Dad down and then walk back to the ferry. Doneen and I wandered around looking for the ferry entrance and Dion ended up beating us there. Luckily we had a local tell us where to go. There was lots of construction going on so it was confusing!
We all managed to board the ferry on time though.
It was a nice rice, not too rough. And the sites were beautiful
We arrived in downtown Aukland and did a little sightseeing for a few minutes.
A few of us needed a restroom so we found some on the street...the bathrooms are very high tech. They talk to you and play music and apparently make you leave after 10 minutes but we didn't try out how that happens.
There was a kiosk sort of room that had lots of info about the Moari.and the island in general. We all found it interesting
First stop: lunch!
We went to a pub called Danny Doulas
The food was yummy, as usual!
Some got fish and chips and some got pasties (like a pot pie)
So good.
Next stop was ice cream!
Dion doesn't like to miss out on any ice cream opportunities and we were all here for it
We decided to ride the local buses instead of trying to push Dad around in the wheelchair this time. The bus was easy to find and we could pay with our phones so it went pretty smoothly
The main activity we came for was the Weta Workshop Unlimited.
Weta Workshop is a creative company focused on physical design, special effects, and props for film and television. They did Lord of the Rings and Avatar among others. The Workshop unlimited is a tour/experience that shows a lot about the work they do and how they do it.
There were multiple rooms and interactive experiences. I doubt I will remember which room is which but I'll try to give the gist.
Even the area where we waited to join our group had lots of fun things to see!
First they took us into a storage room and asked us to count all the boxes. Of course no one did that. haha
We had to solve a puzzle to get out of the room but at this moment I realized that I was not going to make it through this event unless I went to the bathroom first! I had to be led out and then let back in when I got back. I felt dumb but better safe than sorry...I really had to go! So I missed how they solved the puzzle.
I think there was a room that I have no pictures of here.
Then we went into a room full of really cool figurines all around the room, some worth thousands!
Then a door opened to a muppet kind of guy (not really a muppet but an animatronic dude) who talked and made jokes and gave us instructions
A lot of these figurines were worth lots of money and were very intricate.
the next room had all kinds of different ways they make moving parts for dudes like him. We could manipulate and try most everything.
This was an alien and it was like that surgery game where you try to remove the alien's organs without getting zapped.
Our guide was always there to explain or show us things
The room after this was for horror. Some people skipped it. I went but no pictures. It was gross. LOL
There were slimy things hanging down that we had to walk though and noises and scary hands etc.
The next room showed how artists draw and carve things for movies.
There was this whole scene with a sleeping artist.
...Then the next space had us feeing miniature but we were inside that exact scene! Huge pencils, noteboards and even the artist. It was fun!
I thought I took more pictures of that space but apparently not! Dangit.
The next room had an example of a scene for a movie of a big castle but of course it is just a small-ish version that can be used in certain shots.
The castle was very intricate with trees and all kinds of things.
The detail was just amazing!
You could totally imagine the shot from the movie that might have this castle. As you can see, it's still pretty big compared to us.
There were different areas where we could try out our skills (I have none).
We could draw, make chain mail, use clay to sculpt a face, and sit in a big throne with swords and other fake weapons. They had lots of examples of different items showing the skills of the artists.
I enjoyed wandering around and looking at all of it. The chain mail made me want to make some in real life and wear it for Halloween or something. They had some that was real (metal) soooo heavy and some that was fake (plastic) but looked real. It was cool.
As we went through each room, we were learning things and it was as if we were making a movie. Kind of hard to explain but the whole tour had a theme of making a movie.
The last room had the finale of the movie.
There was a video and an animatronic woman.
It was pretty darn cool!
Luckily there was usually somewhere for dad to sit in each room.
He wasn't all that into it.
We finished the tour and spent some time in the gift shop
We had to do a combination of bus and walking and uber (for dad) to get back to the ferry.
We all eventually arrived but we'd missed the ferry so had to wait for the next one.
Dion and Danielle went to make sure she wasn't overcharged for the ferry coming in (her ticket wasn't working right) and we decided to use our time wisely and got some gelato
the ferry home was much choppier and completely full as I think it was commuting time.
When we got home we had leftover night and finally finished the Lord of the Rings movie.
As we were coming in with our bags, Danielle slipped on the stairs and fell. Her back was sore but luckily she is ok.
Dad was ready to relax! It was a fair amount of walking but he did great!
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