Miramar

 Hi there

The weather forecast said it was going to be beautiful sunshine the entire day today.  Wow, I was going out to experience all that sun.  However, there was no sun -

above:  Inner harbour.  Photo taken from Miramar Wharf area. 

 The scenic seaside road leading around the Miramar Peninsula is directly to the right of photo.  It's a sort of loop.  The Chocolate Fish Cafe, an iconic place on the peninsula, is about a five minute ride along this road. 

Ive been told The Chocolate Fish is a Peter Jackson-owned place. And apparently the land beside it could be where he is going to build his new movie museum.  Rumours have been swirling about the whereabouts of the projected museum site for years.  He also owns a huge plot of land at Lyall Bay, opposite The Warehouse store.  Buildings have been  cleared from this site over the past year.

Some of Jackson's collectable memorabilia was lost in a storage fire a few years ago.

Scorch-a-Rama Cafe is on the other side of the peninsula, at Scorching Bay, about 20 minutes car-ride away from the Miramar wharf.   Walking takes over an hour to reach Scorching Bay, and its about another half hour to walk over the hill and back to Miramar.  Or keep walking past Worser Bay to get to Seatoun shops and transport. Take note that on much of the peninsula seaside road, there are no houses..

above:  same area but looking down towards the Airport runway and Cobham Drive.  Cobham Drive is named after a past Governor-General.  It was a time when all governors-general were sent to us from England for a certain number of years.  Now we always have a New Zealand governor-general.  The governor-general is the King's representative.

above  Miramar:   straight ahead is the main road leading out of Miramar, through the Miramar Cutting. On the left is Stone Street.  Stone Street Studios are where the 'Lord of the Rings", "King Kong" (and others)  were filmed.  There is a track leading up the hill above the studios and I traversed the hill whilst "King Kong" was being filmed - the outdoor scene that I saw was set around a fake lake, and obviously on The island.  At about the same  time, I also trekked up a very steep hill from the back of the Massey Memorial at the tip of the Miramar Peninsula and saw the cave set for King Kong.  When I had reached the top of the hill - puffing and panting -  I was immediately ordered back down again by the King Kong security people.

When I got home from today's wander, the sun came out.  I remember that one of the guys at Hataitai Beach used to call Jay and me "The Cloud Twins", because often when we arrived at the beach for a swim, it clouded over.

No Miramar Halloween House 2015

Hi there

FYI:  There has been no "Miramar Halloween House" for several years now.  Apparently, there got to be such a crowd outside the house that the street got blocked. Cars couldnt get through.  It was suggested that if the Halloween house occupants wanted to continue decorating their house and yard, they would have to get a permit to close off the street.  Sadly, the house owners decided to call quits on their Miramar Halloween hi-jinks.  They shifted house a while back


PS:  Happy Halloween Day/Birthday Peter Jackson.

The Hobbit 3 movie: Air New Zealand Safety Video

Hi

The Hobbit:  the Battle of the five Armies

Here's Air New Zealand's latest safety video, all very Hobbit-y.  Richard Taylor and Peter Jackson are in it.  So is Wellington Airport.  Oh, there appears to be more real New Zealand scenery in this video than in any of The Hobbit movies!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qOw44VFNk8Y

(goodness, I wish I knew how to put the actual video on my blog.  Here's the link...)

Stone Street Studios, Miramar

Hi there

I was rambling past the Stone Street Studios in Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand today and it got me wondering when Peter Jackson was going to actually start "The Dam Busters".  I know a heck of a lot of back-room activity has gone on with it already.  I think the actual filming was due to start some time back but then, because of Hollywood machinations,  Jackson had to step in to direct "The Hobbit".

I was talking to a Weta Cave guy a few years' back and he said that Peter Jackson was waiting for the dam busters book to be re-edited .  Apparently, with the lift of a declaration of secrecy time limit rule, there is  now new information that can be incorporated into the book, followed by the movie.

Of course, all the Avatar stuff is being done, too.  And I see that director James Cameron has bought more land in the Wairarapa.  He and his family are staying there indefinitely.

Here's the Stone Street Studio.  You can see the green screen.  I took the photo today, looking into the sun.  Sorry it looks hazy.

I was also intrigued by the parking notices in Stone Street that are on the studio wall -

One notice says 'public parking at all times' with one half of the arrow going to the right.
The next notice - just about 15 parking spaces away as the tourist trudges in a straight line - has an arrow going to the left and says 'private parking only'.  So, who's actually allowed to park in those spaces between the arrows?   Private studio people?  The public?  A mix of both?  Obviously Orcs can park anywhere.

It's me who's first-time effort it was with the  red blobbing out in the pic above.  I'm sure the studio would have done it more elegantly.

PS:  J and I got in our second swim for July today at Hataitai Beach.

vampires in Wellington, New Zealand

Hi there

I was so impressed with the New Zealand vampire mockumentary "What we Do in The Shadows' that I thought I'd google vampires, see if there were any others living in Wellington.

There's an Amazon Kindle e-book with free computer sampling called "Kiwi Vampire".  The vamp in question actually does live in Wellington.  There are a lot of places to  recognise.  You can google 'Amazon Kindle Kiwi Vampire' to read the first few chapters of  the the book free on your computer.  The actual book is, I think, a dollar.  There's a free Kindle computer app if you want to get the whole book.



I went for  a lovely walk in the sun yesterday.  Halfway up the Maupuia hill (behind Miramar) I had to take my jacket off because it was so warm.  T-shirted walkers that I passed were grinning, full of the joys of life and happily shouting "hello" to strangers.  Fine weather does this to people.

Here are a couple of pictures that I took from the hill suburb of Maupuia,  looking down on Miramar.  If you 'hit' the top picture you can see more clearly over to the far right what looks like a huge water tank and a square block building behind it - this is Peter Jackson's film studio.

Wellington Blown Away - vampire-style

Hi there

As my five readers may remember, a while back I put up photos of the huge "Wellington Blown Away" sign at the entrance of the Miramar Peninsula, where I live.  It's sort of a down-under rival to the "Hollywood" sign.

There is a New Zealand vampire comedy movie due out very soon.   It is called "What We Do In The Shadows".  It's directed by Jermaine Clement ("Flight of the Conchords) and NZ director of "Boy", Taika Waititi, is an actor in this movie.

To celebrate the birth of the movie Richard Taylor's Weta Workshop have doctored the "Wellington Blown Away" sign.  This week, they lifted off the 'W" and substituted a red "V" for vampire.   And I adore it because when I pronounce Vellington", it sounds like I have a Transylvanian accent.

Weta is closely aligned, of course, with Peter Jackson and I think it is so neat that people in the movie colony of New Zealand stick together and help each other out.  No jealousy there.

Sorry the two pics arent that clear - it was raining.

Below"  putting up the original "Wellington Blown Away" sign

everybody has a headcold

Hi there

I'm tired of being sick.  I am now right-slap-bang in the middle of another headcold, my second one in three weeks.  Grrrhhhhh!!  I can't even expect to be spoiled for being ill because all my friends, my neighbours, strangers, have headcolds, too!   It seems there are no healthy folk left in the whole of New Zealand to look after the sick.   Curse you, winter!

J and I did manage to get in a swim, so that's officially one for June.  Goodness knows when we will get any more in as a duo.  Part of me thinks the swim was responsible for my second headcold because I was so freezing after the swim that I shivered for hours afterwards.   J has since got in one swim by herself, at my insistance.  Oh, I feel so ....down  (where's a tissue, my nose is runny again?).

I sent J an email on my new Kindle Fire.  It included the line, "I've come down with a sudden awful headcold".  But predictive text beat me to the last word and the sentence instead read:  "I've come down with a sudden awful grandchild"!  Later, this had J in hysterics.  She wondered how I'd suddenly acquired one.

Here's a pic of the main road in Miramar where I live.... Peter Jackson territory.

Lost in the Museum

Hi there

I went to a book launch last night.  It was an anthology of fantasy short stories, entitled "Lost in the Museum" and was (sub)edited by my friend A.J. Ponder.  The editor is actually Tui Merriweather, who actually doesn't really exist but is one of the characters in this story! 

The action is set in Te Papa Tongarewa (Our Place), the Museum of New Zealand, here in Wellington.  It's quite a fun book.  Peter Jackson's Big Baby film prop (that is now at Te Papa) has a whole story to itself, courtesy of award-winning writer, Tim Jones. 

Phillip Mann who is an Arthur C Clarke award nominee for this year has a story in "Lost in the Museum", as, too, does Lyn McConchie, a novelist with over 30 books. 

The book will shortly be for sale at The Children's Bookshop in Kilbirnie (it would range from Young Adult readers  to, I guess, 100 year olds).  The book was funded, in part, by a grant from Creative Communities, Wellington City Council.  It can also be reserved at Wellington Libraries.

Below are three of the writers whose stories are in the anthology.  Left to right:  Jenny Hammond, A.J. Ponder, Lilian Hetet.,

Below, signing session with writers and readers

Hataitai Beach newsworthy

Hi there

J and I had another lovely swim today at Hataitai Beach.  The last two days have been beautiful in the water.

When J and I arrived at the beach, there was nowhere to park.  Lots of workers and vans full of equipment were all over the road.  There were Stop/Go signs being held up and everything looked extremely busy.  We had to park up the road and around the corner.  When we wandered down to where the road workers were, we noticed there was one small-ish hole in the ground.  All that equipment, manpower, signs for one little hole?

Today, there was a TV3 News van parked near the beach.  The camera guy kept asking this jogger woman to run up and down on the path beside the water whilst he filmed her.   I wonder what that was all about? 

Because the zoom on the camera that I keep in the car doesn't work, I couldn't reduce long-range views, so here's a distant shot of the guy from TV3, and another shot of the jogger he was filming.

 

 

Oh, I see that director Peter Jackson's private Gulf-Stream plane is being used in the search for the lost passenger plane.

 

Miramar filmdom.

Hi there

I was looking at some old photos and thought you might like to see the following. I was wandering around the Miramar area several years ago, and, outside a panel-beaters, I chanced upon a host of vintage cars. On second look, the vehicles didn't look quite vintage to me. They looked as if they'd been built and painted in a slapdash way. Turned out they were vehicles from the Peter Jackson movie "King Kong". I went back over several days to check on progress. I guess I can now show the pictures.

And during all the "Lord of the Rings"/King Kong business, there was a boat parked in the Stone Street Studios yard. I think you can probably see the name on the aft if you click on the picture.

Below is a rowboat used in "King Kong". I got told off for taking photo.  I just chanced upon the activity as I was walking along Stone Street where the studios are. 

Weta Workshop, Richard Taylor

Hi there

Here's a story I have told before but there is now a little add-on to it.

A couple of years' ago, I was walking around Miramar, Wellington, and approaching Weta Workshop,  From a distance I saw someone hard at work cleaning the gutter, complete with spade and wheelibin.

"Poor guy," I thought, "The Wellington City Council have got him working on a Sunday."

I got closer and I saw that there was a 'Weta' sticker on the bin.

"Poor guy," I thought.  "Weta have got him working on a Sunday."

I got closer and saw that ... it was Richard Taylor!  The Richard Taylor.  Yep, nice guy Richard Taylor, everyone-adores-him Richard Taylor.  Boss of Weta Workshop Richard Tayor, the bloke who along with Peter Jackson, Jamie Selkirk, and Tania Rodger, had the guiding hands behind the"Lord of the Rings" movies.

And he was cleaning the gutter?

He told me that Sundays was the only day he could get at the gutter because cars were parked there all the other times.

The add-on bit I was telling you about is ...  My friend, AJ, is a teacher.  In class one day a teen boy had dropped some litter on the ground and didn't bother to pick it up.  AJ trotted out my Richard Taylor/wheelie bin story ending up with, "...so even Richard Taylor isn't above picking up rubbish."

The suitably-chastised kid picked up his litter.

I took this photo on the day Prince Charles visited Weta Workshop.

Ruminating about Hobbiton

Hi there      I had a lovely afternoon today.  Truly, as the saying (and song) goes, "You Can't Beat wellington on a Good Day".  I moseyed over to Hataitai beach at noon, had a lazy half hour swim with no jellyfish or stingrays, sunbathed in glorious weather,  read Rhys Darby's spaceship book, spoke to lots of beach friends who all seemed to roll up today (except J!), had another swim, more sunbathing........   Whilst I was swimming, I was ruminating about how lucky we New Zealanders are, and especially we Wellingtonians, and, yes, even more so we Miramar folk, to live where Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor decided to build their film empire. 

I've always loved movies.  One year - 1958 - I decided to keep a record and that year I saw more movies than days of the year, thanks to double features.  We used to go to the local theatres Tues,  Wed, Fri and Sat nights and Sat afternoons my friend and I went to the movies in town,  Often on a Saturday we would rush to the matinee in town, hare back to the 5 pm session at the local theatre, and then on to the 7.30 pm session at the other local!

Anyway, it was so great to visit 'Hobbiton' in Matamata, the set of 'The Lord of the Rings' movies and also 'The Hobbit'.  What a privilege.  I loved walking the flagstone path down the hill from Bilbo's house to the party tree.

Long may Sir Peter and Sir Richard reign!

"The Hobbit" World Premiere in Wellington, New Zealand

Okay, yes, I've now learnt that premier has an 'e' on the end of it so, henceforth, I will try to remember to type the word 'premiere!

I got down to Courtenay Place about 9.45 a.m.  Most of the front rows were taken but I managed to find a front row possie just around the corner from the red carpet and opposite the stage which was all done up to resemble a hobbit burrow in the side of a hill, and had two hobbit doors.  The band playing a couple of times during the wait was Neil Finn's who is singing the 'mountain morn' song on the soundtrack of "The Hobbit".  He's one of NZ's favourite top evergreen singers.  Check out his pedigree.

It was very very very hot.  There were over 100,000 of us squashed together.  There were lots of people dressed up, mainly as hobbits.  They looked so good.  Thousands upon thousands of tourists who had come expressly for the premiere.  Red Carpet Tours had a group there and they seemed to be really enjoying themselves.

 I sat on the ground, then stood up, then on the ground, then stood up... and it continued like this until 3 pm.    After the first few hours  a maintenance crew came out with ladders, tools and posters.  They immediately transformed the traffic lights in front of me into a giant Gandalf monolith , thereby blocking half my view.  I managed to squeeze sideways a couple of feet away from the monolith. After another couple of hours, a very very big camera on a crane took up residence in front of me in my new position,  blocking a lot of the stage.  Then some security guys stood in front of the one bit of stage that I could now see.   From 3 pm until 7.30 I stood up, and please remember I had a sore foot!

I hardly saw a celebrity on the red carpet because right beside me on the corner was a group of PETA animal rights campaigners complaining about mistreatment of animals on the movie set (this is complete rot because the SPCA was on the set all the time and they said the animals were treated very well) and they waved placards. They did not reveal themselves until the last second.  Naturally the stars scooted away from these people, so no star really came near where I was standing.  After a while, a group of security people stood directly in front of the PETA people holding up their own (Hobbit) placards trying to block off the PETA ones, but not before the press had had a field day taking pictures of the PETA folk.

I did spot James Cameron, director of "Avatar" for a brief moment.  He's a NZ citizen now and lives in the Wairarapa, somewhere near Peter Jackson's estate.  All the 'dwarfs', too, were there, but honestly, there were so many of them that I got all muddled up with who was who.

At 6 pm, the speeches began and I managed to get some photos (well about 50 actually and here's just a few of them) but by now the sun was lowering and it was shining in the wrong direction. Oh dear. I truly don't believe I'll go to any more premieres. It's just not worth it anymore, what with the long wait, the heat, and having waited 8 hours I only got to see folk on the stage for a short time and by then I was almost on the verge of collapsing (hey, old person here, remember?).

 Elijah Wood  (See a PETA placard being held a-high over to the left?)

 James Nesbitt

 Peter Jackson emerging out of hobbit burrow onto the stage.

 Peter Jackson with MGM and Warners reps.  Thank you reps for finally letting us make "The Hobbit" in New Zealand.  But you almost gave us all nationwide heart attacks for a week or so!

 Peter Jackson with Hugo Weaving

 Peter Jackson greets our Prime Minister, John Key.

 James Nesbitt and Martin Freeman.

 Cate Blanchett emerging from hobbit burrow.  She showed a leg first!

 Sylvester McCoy and Barry Humphreys.

 Andy Serkis

Richard Armitage (Thorin) in centre

 

 

 

The Hobbit is getting closer

The World Premier of "The Hobbit - An unexpected journey" is on Wednesday in Wellington.  Along with, hopefully, thousands upon thousands of people, I'll go to the city and try and see something.  I loved the atmosphere surrounding the three LOTR premiers.  For one of them, I decided to get a bleacher seat but waiting-in-a-bleacher turned out to be a bit boring.  I loved it when I was with the 'ordinary' people down on the street.  However, one good thing about the bleacher seats:  the seat-ees ran from their seats down to the front railing and the stars - knowing what high-rollers bleacher seat-ees are - trundled over and signed autographs.  I didn't have a digital camera during LOTR premiers.

I also went to the "King Kong" NZ premier.  Here are some pictures I took of Peter Jackson and also a pic of  Andy S (Gollum) 

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About 19 months ago, I went to "The Hobbiton" set in Matamata.  I thought it had been closed off for public tours because the very day I passed through Matamata, was the day Peter Jackson was supposed to start filming there.  But, wonder-of-wonders for me, but so sad for Jackson, the set was open because Jackson had been taken to hospital a few days before. 

I saw the set in it's pristine magnitude.  Sunflowers and pumpkins growing in the gardnes, roses around the doors, swans on the lake.  One would swear it was a true village.  It must have spread out for km upon km.    It was so hard to believe there weren't hobbits living behind the doors in the houses.  I stood under the 'party tree', knocked on Bilbo's door, wandered along the flagstone path leading down the hill from said house, swung on Rosie and Sam's gate, and almost tripped over a grass-hidden chimney.    Even the fences were growing fungus (a mixture of yoghurt and something-else for realism). I took a great photo looking down a sort of grassy rock-sided alley, and showing a hill topped with Bilbo/Frodo's house in the far distance.  This exact shot was in one of the end stories of "Return of the King" as the hobbits return home,  and it is also in the trailer for "The Hobbit".  In all, I took about 80 photos.  I may be allowed to show them after the premier.

Hobbit Artisan Fair, Wellington.,

Today, I thought I'd go down town to Waitangi Park.  For the next week there is a Hobbit Artisan Market there, with Weta Workshop showing off things.  There's the guy who 'loomed' the cloaks the hobbits and Gandalf wore in LOTR,  there's LOTR jewellery, sculptures, Weta t-shirts, the armourer from the film selling knives.   There was a maypole, and a throwing-horseshoes game.  Also a huge screen that showed all the video log entries for Peter Jackson as he has worked on The Hobbit, as well as the Air New Zealand middle earth tv commercial that I absolutely positively adore.  Families were eating their sandwiches in front of the screen.  It was a lovely picnic day for people. 

The screen and the market will stay in the park until the 'The Hobbit" world premier.  The big screen will show the red carpet arrivals and speeches.  Waitangi Park is only a block away from where the premier will be.  I can't really see people preferring to watch it on screen when they only have to wander around the corner to see the real thing.  But, then again, they'll probably see more on the screen.  Our main tv channels will also be showing the red carpet from 3 pm or 4 pm right through for several hours.

 

I took the bus to the market.  It didn't open  until noon, so I wandered around Te Papa Tongarewa, the Museum of New Zealand.  My sore foot was okay until I got off the bus on my return home to hobble the block back to my house.  The rest of the day, it was truly sore, darn it.  My foot just has to be better for my trip to Ohope Beach/Whakatane.  Cross fingers.

Prince Charles at Weta Workshop, Miramar

Prince Charles and Camilla are in Wellington today.  Prince Charles visited Weta Workshop in Miramar, home of movie sculptures, models, replicas, etc.  Though it's probably less than a km from my place, I had to take the car because of my bad foot.  I thought director Peter Jackson might be there.  And he was.  But he purposely kept to the shadows whilst waiting for the Prince to arrive and it was very hard to photograph him because the great unwashed public were not allowed to set foot inside Weta grounds.

However, lovely Richard Taylor, head of Weta, came outside and spoke to people.  I saw oscar winner Tania Roger there as well.

Now, wait for it.........   Prince Charles shook my hand!  I said 'Good luck' to him.  The woman beside me said to give her best to Camilla.  Prince Charles thanked us.  And do you know what?  He was smiling the whole time, and he was so gentle and insisted on talking to lots of people.  He was so different from how I thought he would be, i.e. stiff and formal. 

Photos from top to bottom:  Richard Taylor, me alongside the Prince's car, Prince Charles, VIPs (including Peter Jackson) waiting for the Prince to arrive.

I'll bet the Prince enjoyed his visit to Weta because he's a movie buff.  He was about five minutes late arriving, but about a half hour late leaving.

J and I had our second swim for the month today.  Whoopeee!  We stayed in water about 25 minutes.

Halloween in Miramar, Wellington

About a decade ago, New Zealanders hardly gave Halloween (Happy Birthday, Peter Jackson!) a thought.  Nowadays, a few kids dress up and trot along with their parents to see Gran and get some lollies (sweeties, candy, depends on which other country you come from).  But folk just do not decorate their houses or grounds.

However, for the last couple of years there's been a house in Miramar that has dolled up their fences on Halloween.  It's become known by neighbourhood kids as 'The Halloween House".  They love going there.  The house is owned, I believe, by someone who works for Weta.  There are lots of Americans working at Weta.

 

Some conversations are more weird than others.

A friend said to me the other day, "Odd things always seem to happen to you."  And I had to think hard about this because she was right.  Is it that I can read odd things in happenings that other people can't?  Am I more alert to what's going on around me?    Who knows?

 In my rush to catch the ferry at Seatoun Wharf the other day, a guy stopped me as I was storming across Worser Bay beach.

"Excuse me, do you know where the troll is?  It's supposed to be here somewhere."

"Um, no, " I said.  "The last troll I saw was at Wellington Airport."'

"Oh, well, thanks ...." 

We both went our individual ways.

What a conversation!   It could only happen on the Miramar Peninsula, home of Peter Jackson and Weta Workshop.  Any stranger listening in would have thought we were completely mad.


PS:  7th swim for September.........Done!

The King Kong Boat

Well, I set out yesterday for an 18 km return walk from Miramar to the city.After only about 300 metres, I hit the Miramar Wharf where this old rotting rusty hulk is moored. I remember when it first arrived, all us Miramar-ites stood on the wharf chanting the letters as the painter painted the name on the bow.

"Give me a V," some wag shouted. "Gimme an E. Now, an N, and T and a U ... R ... E. Altogether, now ...."

'VENTURE", we all bellowed. Peter Jackson's biggest 'King Kong' prop (excluding, I suppose, the giant ape ... Oh, well, and maybe that dinosaur ... and perhaps the Empire State Building) had hit Miramar. The Jackson empire is almost swallowing the suburb. What with Park Road Post (post-production building) and Weta workshop, the Stone Street film studios, and the various offices dotted here and there that house Weta Digital, and all those carpentry workshops, and not to forget the admin offices ...

Anyway, I arrived at the wharf and the army was doing an exercise on and around the "Venture". The PR army bloke, all done up in fatigues and heavy boots was very nice and said I could watch. The exercise, in conjunction, I think, with the Customs Dept was to be all about apprehending smugglers, and there was an inflatable, and the whole exercise was going to be about surreptiously boarding the ship, and fighting, etc.

I said, "Can I be an innocent bystander who gets taken hostage and shot by mistake?" Surprisingly, the army guy said "yes, if you want". But on second thoughts I wimped out and Iscurried home instead for my camera.

The "Venture" was sold by Peter Jackson a few years back to a scrap dealer who dismantled a lot of it, but the firm went bankrupt I believe before they could take the whole ship away. The army PR guy said that the "Venture" will finally depart Miramar Wharf very shortly and be turned into a reef for scuba divers. But I've been hearing this for years.

byeeee.