Big Day Out

With the chance for a tour around the famous Weta Workshop, how could we say no to a Big Day Out organized by our Probus Club?  Yes, we had to set the alarm clock to make sure we were up, showered, dressed, breakfasted, and down town to get on the bus bright and early.  About 40 of us lined up, took our seats on the bus, and off we went to the big city, Wellington.  We travelled along the new Transmission Gully Road, a first for some of those on the bus, passing by the Rainbow Bridge.  The bus driver maneuvered the large bus around the narrow Wellington streets, and our first stop was to a short but rather steep walk up the hill to Antrim House in Boulcott Street.

 

Antrim House

Antrim House was built for Robert Hannah (of Hannah’s Shoes fame) for his family back in 1904, and the surrounding would have been quite different back in those days.  With no high rise buildings in sight, the views down to the sea would have been spectacular.  The interior is a warm glow of polished kauri and totara paneling, and features a lovely kauri staircase.

Front door, and tiled fireplace

After the death of Robert Hannah, the house spent some years as a hotel, and was later purchased by the Government to be used as a hostel for young men in the Public Service.  After much debate, it was decided that the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, now known as Heritage New Zealand, would be given Antrim House for it’s Headquarters, which seems rather fitting to me. After a couple of years of renovations, NZHPT moves in. 

Down the hill we walked to our next stop of St Mary’s of the Angels Church, built in the Gothic Revival style, and opened in 1922.  I can vividly remember my earlier (first) visit to this Catholic Church.  It was way back in October 1962, the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the world waited with baited breath,  we thought we were on the brink of nuclear war.  A group of my workmates and I decided to attend a church service here, to pray for peace, I was 17 years old at the time.  Even down here in far away New Zealand, we felt threatened by the unfolding events.   An American U-2 spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union on the island of Cuba.   President Kennedy decided to place a naval blockade, or a ring of ships, around Cuba, to prevent the Soviets from bringing in more military supplies. He demanded the removal of the missiles already there and the destruction of the sites. On October 22, President Kennedy spoke to the nation about the crisis in a televised address.

No one was sure how Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev would respond to the naval blockade and US demands. But the leaders of both superpowers recognized the devastating possibility of a nuclear war and publicly agreed to a deal in which the Soviets would dismantle the weapon sites in exchange for a pledge from the United States not to invade Cuba. In a separate deal, which remained secret for more than twenty-five years, the United States also agreed to remove its nuclear missiles from Turkey. Although the Soviets removed their missiles from Cuba, they escalated the building of their military arsenal; the missile crisis was over, the arms race was not.  How many can remember living through this troubling time?  The interior of the church is very peaceful, with many beautiful lead light windows.  After looking around, many of us were happy to sit and reflect awhile, after all, the world is still troubled by unrest in many countries and an unjust ongoing  war.

St Mary of the Angels

The bus was waiting outside for us, we climbed aboard and drove through the city streets.  The conversations were interesting, as people exclaimed of the new building erected since their last trip to the big city, replacing the places they knew in earlier years.  We drove around to Shelly Bay to our lunch stop, Chocolate Fish Café.  Those with long memories will remember when Shelly Bay was an Airforce Base.  Our bus driver expertly backed the big bus up beside the building, and as a nice touch, the staff came and put a step down for us, and welcomed is into their establishment.

Lunch time at Chocolate Fish Café

Our group was ushered into a covered courtyard, the heaters were glowing to keep the chill at bay, and we sat and pondered the menus.  Whitebait fritter sandwich was on the menu and it seemed that this was the most popular choice, with seafood chowder coming a close second.  Whitebait is a real delicacy, how often do we have it?  No wonder it was so popular – however Robin bucked the trend and went with a steak sandwich.  After our meals were cleared away, the staff returned with little dishes of chocolate fishes for us to enjoy, that was an unexpected touch, and very welcome.

Robin with our neighbours from the village, Bruce and Julie

The highlight of the day was our 90 minute tour of Weta Workshops, of Lord of the Rings fame.  Kevin, our very enthusiastic host, took us around the display rooms, explaining how the film props were made going through many stages  from conception to the finished products.  And those heads and bodies which the actors wore, turning them into monsters, all these took an awful lot of time to get in and out of.  As Kevin told us, since starting Weta Workshops , technology has come a long way in making these creations.  There is a full time sword maker on staff a required, and his original work of art is used in close ups by the hero and copies are made from this for the crowd scenes.  All very interesting and absorbing, and we were pleased to be able to handle examples of exquisite leatherwork, chain mail, and weapons as they were passed around.  Taking photos was limited to the reception room, and masks were required during our time here.  Our host wore a Weta Workshop tee shirt which declared  “Be creative and make cool stuff”.

Watch out, he’s right behind!

A weary bunch of OAPs climbed back into the bus, and some were sure to have nodded off as the bus took us home.  It was a great day out, many thanks to the organizers.