November 7, 2014 - Drove back to Queenstown, Flew to Wellington, Weta Workshop, Mount Victoria, Parliament Buildings

Daily itinerary were:

• Drove back to Queenstown
• Flew and arrived Wellington at 10:35AM
• Visited Weta Workshop
• Lunch in Wellington 
• Visited Mount Victoria
• Visited Parliament Buildings
• Checked into Rydges Hotel

This morning we woke up around 4AM to get ready to drive back to Queenstown and then caught the 8:50AM flight to Wellington in Northern Island of New Zealand.  Got in Wellington at 10:35AM.  We met our tour guide Lee who traveled from Auckland to Wellington the day before in order to meet us.  He told us that he and the bus driver are both from Auckland and have not visited Wellington for quite a while. He also mentioned that out of 100 tourist groups, probably only one group will visit Wellington.  Wellington is the capital, however, there are not much of tourist attractions.

The 1st attraction we visited was the Weta Workshop which is the Lord of Rings' director Peter Jackson's workshop.  Previously when tourists wanted to visit his workshop, they went to the actual workshop location which caused disturbances to their normal work.  Therefore, the Director just opened up this new workshop a couple of months ago for tourist visiting only.  They have a lot of props, models and weapons that were created and used in the movies such as Hobbit, King Kong, and Lord of the Rings.  Their guide also revealed quite a few of secrets behind the movie magic. It was kind of interesting.  We were not allowed to take any photo inside the exhibition area, however they do have a lobby with some props for us to take photos.

The bus dropped us off in Wellington downtown area for self provided lunch.  Wellington is notorious for its wind from Cook Strait and Wellington Harbor.  Some of us tried to find places to have lunch outdoor and quickly realized that it was impossible due to the windy weather.

After lunch, we went to Mount Victoria which is a prominent hill (height 196 meters) in Wellington.  It has a panorama view of the whole Wellington.  It reminded us of the Mount Floyen in Bergen, Norway.  

Then we toured the Parliament Buildings which consists of Parliament House, the Executive Wing (The Beehive), the Parliamentary Library, and the Bowen House.  We entered from the Beehive and met our lady tour guide who provided details of how the Parliament operates.  She also shown us the Debating Chamber, the Parliamentary Library, Committee Room, and Maori Affairs Committee Room.  It was definitely an educational tour.  The only thing is that they don't allow taking photographs either.