Journey to New Zealand: There and Back Again

Bonjour, my lovelies!

Okay that sounded a little creepy... o.O Anyway, here is, finally, the final section of the recap of my journey to New Zealand. It's been a month and a half since I returned home, and it feels like ages since I was in that beautiful country - and yes, I started planning a return trip the day I got back. xD

Oh, and the title of this post: I just couldn't resist. I can't help feeling the similarities between Bilbo's journey in Middle-earth and my own to Middle-earth - though I didn't meet a live dragon nor did I lose 3 of my travelling companions. *sobs*

But we must move on before I go through all that pain again. #lifeofafangirl ;)

Before the pictures though, here's a compilation of all the video clips I took on our trip. They're all very random, and I did barely any editing to it, aaaand they're all out of order somehow, but it's fun to see my travels in a different medium. Plus I have a few of going through Hobbiton... :D

Now for those pictures!

"Our" gas station. We literally only stopped at BPs while in NZ. xD

There was just no way to capture the glorious weather and beauty on our drive to Raupehu from Welly.

Gorgeous view of Mt. Raupehu.

Adorable little sheep on the way. ^_^

Second day on our drive back to Auckland, we drove by Mount Ngauruhoe (don't even try to pronounce that), WHICH was one of the mountains used for portraying Mount Doom (Orodruin) in LOTR!!

The Waitomo Glowworm Caves!!! Very very VERY sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the caves, but let me tell you -- it was gorgeous. Probably one of the most gorgeous places on earth. Go look up pictures -- they don't do justice, but you'll get an idea.

Our last day in NZ we visited Hahei beach, and what gorgeous weather we had for it!

My sis Alissa enjoying le views.

panorama!

I believe this is the back view of Cathedral Cove. I could be wrong. We didn't have time to walk down, sadly, but it was still gorgeous from the look out.

Panorama of the overlook near Cathedral Cove.

Views on the drive.

Random, rocky beach along the way...

Gorgeous sunset as we drive to the airport, the ending of my Middle-earth journey. ^_^

P.S. A little offering just for the peeps who read all the way to the end, here's the link to le photo album on my personal facebook account, featuring all 918 of those pictures I took on my NZ trip. :)

Journey to New Zealand: More of Our Visit to Welly

Ah, you didn't expect another post so soon! I had a bit of time, and figured I'd make good use of it since I'll be so busy starting... tomorrow.

But anyway, this is the follow up to my last post about the Hobbit costumes in Wellington! Here follows a few select pictures of everything else we saw/visited while in Wellington (which I'm obsessed with calling "Welly" because I feel like a Kiwi when I do. ;D).

Just to give you an idea of the amount of pictures I took on this trip, they number 918 in all. I'm trying to find an easy way to upload them all to my blog, so that whoever wants to look through them can... but still working on that. ;) In the meantime, I (as usual) hope you enjoy the following pictures, of the rest of our adventures in Wellington!

Driving into Wellington.

The Te Papa museum.

...which had a giant statue of Azog the Defiler and was fully creepy. :D

Uhm yes Hobbit fans will recognise this place... :D :D :D The theater where ROTK and AUJ premiered!!! Yes, they were showing BOTFA, and we almost went to see it... but time restrictions inhibited that. :P

"The Tripod," made by Weta Workshop, to commemorate Wellington's film industry. ;)

One of my favorite stops in Wellington, we visited the Weta Cave and got to take their epic "Window into Workshop" tour!!!

Of course I had to get pics with the trolls outside the shop!! ;D

And here's where things get really cool... very near Weta, I found Park Road Post.  WHICH IS WHERE THEY EDITED THE HOBBIT AND LOTR FILMS AND I COMPLETELY FREAKED OUT.

No but wait, it gets even better. Two streets over from Park Road is Stone Street... WHICH IS OF COURSE HOME TO STONE STREET STUDIOS WHERE THEY BUILD ALL THE SETS FOR BOTH TRILOGIES AND WHERE THEY WORKED AND JDSKLFJDSLKFFAKLJAK. Of course, it was all locked up tight, but we dd drive around the back and saw...

(what's through the gate...?)

YES YES YES THAT'S THEIR HUMONGOUS GREEN SCREEN WHERE THEY BUILT LAKETOWN AND STUFF AND IT WAS SO AMAZING TO SEE IT IN REAL LIFE BECAUSE LOOK IT'S RIGHT THERE and i am so sorry for all the fangirling but... this was just awesome. xD :D

An adorable calf (there were tons of cows in NZ, btw) on our way to Rivendell!!!

"Lord of the Rings Film Location"

Now, the whole walk was gorgeous, and even though there's nothing left of the Rivendell set now, the maps did point all the places it was built out! Aaaaand this place, which was the setting for all those promotional photos of Legolas for LOTR!!!

A huge archway the park put in, feat. my sis Alissa! ;)

One of our final stops was a visit to the Wellington airport, which I knew had alot of Hobbit awesomeness that we just had to go see... including Smaug...

Gandalf and the eagles...

And Gollum!!!!

Wellington's capital building.

Goodbye, Wellington!!! I enjoyed my stay more than I can say. :D

Journey to New Zealand: Hobbit Costumes in Wellington!

This is the second part of my "picture posts" of my New Zealand trip. I loved reading all your comments on my last post, and am so glad you enjoyed seeing those pics and experiencing NZ through me, in a way! ;)

And now I'm back home. I got back last Wednesday, quite late. There is so much to tell, but I'm recovering from wisdom tooth surgery currently, and am just plain weary, honestly. Which is also why I haven't replied to the e-mails sitting in my inbox, or to any comments on my blog -- for which I apologize sincerely. Another post is coming on that, but for now...

Enjoy the pictures of the Hobbit "costume trail" through Wellington that we were able to see!!!! We visited all the costumes, except for one (Oin, who was a bit out of the way and I didn't really mind missing his costume. ;)).

The first costume we saw was Tauriel, making my Tauriel costume journey come full circle!!!! It was the most incredible thing to see the real costume, worn by Evangeline Lilly herself, up close and in real life. It was like... there it is. There is the costume I've seen so much in pictures and in the movies, right there, close enough to touch. And needless to say, it made me want to remake my costume and make it 900% more accurate! xD

Also, I was so much more excited than I looked. Just keep in mind, I had a cold during the whole trip. ;D

And lastly - please excuse the terrible quality of some of these. The natural lighting did horrors to the pics. :p

Here follows the dream come true for a cosplaying Hobbit fangirl. ^_^

Tauriel

Mirkwood Guard

Thorin

Gloin

Gandalf

Dwalin

Bard

Radagast

Bombur

Bofur

Bifur

Balin

Kili scale, with Kili full-size behind (I just could not get a decent picture of his!)

Fili

Dori

Ori

Nori

Bilbo

Legolas

Needless to say... I still can't believe I saw all these amazing costumes. In real life. I was fangirling so hard the entire time we were touring around, finding the costumes nestled away in random stores and hotels... it was just great. One of my favorite things on the trip. :D