lcummins
Universal MODster
As Dave suggested, I'll do a blog style report of my trip to Weta and New Zealand!
Ok, after being gone for a week, I've been very busy at work so I haven't had too much time to do things, like convert my pictures from RAW mode to jpg, resize them from the wopping 3008 x 2000 resolutions down to a more reasonable 1024 x 768, add titles and descriptions, build a web page gallery, etc, etc, etc...
...but, here we go! I will do a report of each day's activities and pictures and break it up a bit!
So... Day One! This is the easiest day and will give me a little more time to finish up with Day Two (which is the big one at Weta that everyone is waiting for!).
I left TX about 1 PM CST on July 4th (missed the fireworks... sort of!) and arrived in Auckland, New Zealand at around 6 AM on July 6th! Funny, it only felt like one day! Another short hop and I arrived in Wellington, right about on time at 8 AM, even though we had a late departure, waiting on 2 passengers who didn't make the flight (more on that in a moment!).
I grabbed my luggage and then stood around looking for the person from Weta who was supposed to meet me. After a while, no one was left at the baggage claim area from my flight, except for a couple; the guy was wearing a KY Wildcats shirt, and I just knew it was the other winner and his girlfriend, so I went over and asked if they were waiting for someone from Weta. No such luck... they were not the other winner and guest.
A few minutes later, a frantic young guy comes walking through the baggage claim area very briskly, and comes up to me and ask if I'm Lonnie or Barry. It was Darren from Weta, and he had been waiting at the wrong gate. I was just relieved that someone had finally shown up and I didn't have to find my own way to the hotel! We looked around for the other winner and I mentioned the 2 passengers who had missed the flight, so we finally went to the airline counter and checked, and sure enough, it was them! So Darren and I made the decision to go on to the hotel and trusted they could find their own way there once they arrived.
Darren dropped me off at the Ohtel Hotel, a luxury boutique hotel that sits right on the bay! The first two panoramic pictures earlier in this thread were taken right from the balcony of my room (on the 2nd floor). It is a fantastic place and I highly recommend it if you traveling to Wellington and looking for an upscale place to stay!
After over 24 hours on four planes and the layovers between them, I was ready for a shower and clean clothes! Had a great breakfast at a spot just up the street, recommended by Darren, and then decided to do the Wharf walk and visit the central city since there was nothing else planned for the day.
Most of the pictures from day one are from my room, the wharf walk, or downtown Wellington, ending at the Embassy Theatre where "The Return of the King" had it's world wide premiere!!! That was just a couple of blocks up from my hotel!!
So that pretty much covers the first day and I'll leave you waiting in anticipation of day two (the Weta day!) until tomorrow! If you are interested in the pictures, you can find the panoramic pictures here...
https://www.non-sport-cards.com/images/NewZealand/Wellington01ssm.jpg
https://www.non-sport-cards.com/images/NewZealand/Wellington02ssm.jpg
https://www.non-sport-cards.com/images/NewZealand/Wellington03ssm.jpg
...and the Silverlight Deep Zoom high resolution versions here...
https://www.non-sport-cards.com/Silverlight/Wellington01/Wellington01.html
https://www.non-sport-cards.com/Silverlight/Wellington02/Wellington02.html
https://www.non-sport-cards.com/Silverlight/Wellington03/Wellington03.html
...check them out, especially the first one, as I added 3 more images to the panorama that I missed the first time I built it!!!
For a gallery of most all of the pictures I took during day one, go here...
https://www.non-sport-cards.com/images/NewZealand/index.html
...you can navigate through all 85 pictures very easily using the thumbnails, or navigation buttons in the upper left corner of the full size image pages.
Till tomorrow...
Ok, after being gone for a week, I've been very busy at work so I haven't had too much time to do things, like convert my pictures from RAW mode to jpg, resize them from the wopping 3008 x 2000 resolutions down to a more reasonable 1024 x 768, add titles and descriptions, build a web page gallery, etc, etc, etc...
...but, here we go! I will do a report of each day's activities and pictures and break it up a bit!
So... Day One! This is the easiest day and will give me a little more time to finish up with Day Two (which is the big one at Weta that everyone is waiting for!).
I left TX about 1 PM CST on July 4th (missed the fireworks... sort of!) and arrived in Auckland, New Zealand at around 6 AM on July 6th! Funny, it only felt like one day! Another short hop and I arrived in Wellington, right about on time at 8 AM, even though we had a late departure, waiting on 2 passengers who didn't make the flight (more on that in a moment!).
I grabbed my luggage and then stood around looking for the person from Weta who was supposed to meet me. After a while, no one was left at the baggage claim area from my flight, except for a couple; the guy was wearing a KY Wildcats shirt, and I just knew it was the other winner and his girlfriend, so I went over and asked if they were waiting for someone from Weta. No such luck... they were not the other winner and guest.
A few minutes later, a frantic young guy comes walking through the baggage claim area very briskly, and comes up to me and ask if I'm Lonnie or Barry. It was Darren from Weta, and he had been waiting at the wrong gate. I was just relieved that someone had finally shown up and I didn't have to find my own way to the hotel! We looked around for the other winner and I mentioned the 2 passengers who had missed the flight, so we finally went to the airline counter and checked, and sure enough, it was them! So Darren and I made the decision to go on to the hotel and trusted they could find their own way there once they arrived.
Darren dropped me off at the Ohtel Hotel, a luxury boutique hotel that sits right on the bay! The first two panoramic pictures earlier in this thread were taken right from the balcony of my room (on the 2nd floor). It is a fantastic place and I highly recommend it if you traveling to Wellington and looking for an upscale place to stay!
After over 24 hours on four planes and the layovers between them, I was ready for a shower and clean clothes! Had a great breakfast at a spot just up the street, recommended by Darren, and then decided to do the Wharf walk and visit the central city since there was nothing else planned for the day.
Most of the pictures from day one are from my room, the wharf walk, or downtown Wellington, ending at the Embassy Theatre where "The Return of the King" had it's world wide premiere!!! That was just a couple of blocks up from my hotel!!
So that pretty much covers the first day and I'll leave you waiting in anticipation of day two (the Weta day!) until tomorrow! If you are interested in the pictures, you can find the panoramic pictures here...
https://www.non-sport-cards.com/images/NewZealand/Wellington01ssm.jpg
https://www.non-sport-cards.com/images/NewZealand/Wellington02ssm.jpg
https://www.non-sport-cards.com/images/NewZealand/Wellington03ssm.jpg
...and the Silverlight Deep Zoom high resolution versions here...
https://www.non-sport-cards.com/Silverlight/Wellington01/Wellington01.html
https://www.non-sport-cards.com/Silverlight/Wellington02/Wellington02.html
https://www.non-sport-cards.com/Silverlight/Wellington03/Wellington03.html
...check them out, especially the first one, as I added 3 more images to the panorama that I missed the first time I built it!!!
For a gallery of most all of the pictures I took during day one, go here...
https://www.non-sport-cards.com/images/NewZealand/index.html
...you can navigate through all 85 pictures very easily using the thumbnails, or navigation buttons in the upper left corner of the full size image pages.
Till tomorrow...
