WETA Cave Workshop and Miniature Effects Tour

Maybe you've never heard of Wētā but you've seen their work.  Wētā Workshop is a special effects and prop company based in Miramar, Wellington, in New Zealand, that produces effects for television and film. The company is named after the New Zealand wētā, one of the world's largest insects. They create props and clothing for movies and TV, sculpt collectables inspired by those works, design digital games, props for theme parks and more.

Wētā Workshop most well-known work was for the film trilogies The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, for which they produced sets, costumes, armor, weapons, creatures and miniatures.

There are three large sculptures of trolls outside The Cave.

As we entered The Cave, we were greeted by this scary creature.

The Cave is full of collectibles and memorabilia from The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies.   Do you have $29,000 to spare for this sword? 

Not sure if I want to go to the toilets if this guy is guarding them. 

I'm sure you remember Gollum.

They have specialists in many fields including sword-making. 

Want a copy of Bilbo Baggin's contract?  You can have it for $649.  That's New Zealand dollars.

It is quite long. 

Click to enlarge for reading. 

Then there is the detailed miniatures. 

Wētā has done work on hundreds of films and TV programs.  Planet of the Apes.  

District 9.

T-shirt available for sale. 

After looking through The Cave, we started our workshop tour.  We weren't allowed to take photos through much of it.  This guy is demonstrating how to take a sheet of aluminum foil and create a face.

Some of his work. When we came into his workshop, he was working on an animatronic head that he had created twenty years before.  It was found in a storage room, and he was trying to restore it.
After the workshop, we walked a few blocks to a place they were storing the miniature sets from a children's tv show called Thunderbirds are Go.  The show aired in the UK in 2015.  We weren't allowed to take photos here.  This part would have been a lot more interesting if I had even heard about the show before.