Day Two final!

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lcummins

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With lunch over, we headed back to the workshop and Weta Cave. We picked up our cameras and stuff, and headed up to a break room above the Cave for coffee, tea and smokes. Tim soon appeared with the Halo swag prize packages! There was a fantastic backpack for Barry and me, stuffed with all kinds of Halo branded merchandise, such as dog tags, pins, t-shirts, hats, limited edition prints, books, soundtracks, bottle openers, water bottles, metal signs, and even a winter beanie! (Pictures of the swag will come a bit later!) And then they brought in the xBox 360s! And Barry and I looked at each other with a "knowing look" as they sat down a Halo 3 special Limited Edition 360 and a plain Arcade version 360! Blame Microsoft! The 360s were supposed to have been shipped to us directly in the US, but for some reason, Microsoft shipped them all the way to New Zealand, and then, sent two different versions at that! We were also informed that Microsoft had apparently forgotten to send the actual Halo 3 games! Barry, who didn't realize he was getting an xBox 360 as part of the prize package, had just bought one a couple of weeks earlier, so he said, "Let's flip a coin...". I agreed, called "kiwi" (tales) and the coin was tossed into the air! It landed on the floor, on its edge, and proceeded to roll around in a circle for several seconds until finally bumping into a baseboard at Darren's feet. It came up... kiwi! My luck held again and I choose the Halo special edition without too much regret since Barry had just purchased a new console! (I know, I know... I can't explain my luck... never had any growing up!)

*Pictures coming soon*

During this time, a few Weta employees stopped by. First, Magnus Hjert stopped in to see how everything was going and to get a few quotes for the podcast. Then Daniel Falconer wandered through and we talked to him for a bit. I had hoped for a few autographs while at Weta, so I had brought the base to one of the Sideshow/Weta Lord of the Rings statues. I picked the "Peter Jackson as a Corsair" statue for many reasons, not the least of which, the absolutely minuscule chance that we might bump into Peter Jackson while there! I got Daniel, Magnus, Tim and Darren to sign the bottom of the base to commemorate my trip to Weta Workshop, and will take it along to San Diego to get Richard Taylor to sign it as well, even though he could not be at Weta for the workshop tour because of the death of Tania's father. Now, if only I could have added Jamie Selkirk's, John Howe's and Guillermo del Toro's autographs to the bottom of that base as well... one for thing, there would have been no room left!

*Picture soon*

We then proceeded downstairs to the Weta Cave, to view the "mini museum" and have a look at all the Weta collectibles for sale. They had some LOTR props, the dead animatronics dog from "The Frighteners", and a few other items on display, but after everything we had seen in the workshop, only the dog really made an impression on us! We wandered around wishing we could purchase everything we saw of course. Then we got to the Ray Guns area... Tim asked if I would like to hold the Unnatural Selector - Ray Blunderbuss that they had on display. I took him up on the offer, and was surprised at just how big and heavy it is, and hoping I wouldn't drop it the whole time I was holding it. I already knew what I wanted to purchase at the Cave, mainly to save on shipping, so I made my way over to the counter and picked out my Ray Guns pins and keyring, Weta Logo keyring, and the Chainmaille keyring! Tim and Weta were kind enough to also gift us with a Weta t-shirt! Thanks Weta!

Our day at Weta was finally drawing to a close. It had been great fun, and very exciting, but it left me wanting so much more! I could only dream of what lay behind so many of the doors we weren't allowed to enter. We headed back to our hotel, but Darren took a little side trip to a nearby wharf where the Venture II was docked. This was the ship that was used as the Venture in King Kong. It had become unseaworthy during filming, and had to be docked. Peter Jackson ended up selling it to a local businessman who was going to sink it and make an artificial reef, but he was having financial troubles and the ship was still docked thankfully, allowing us the chance to see it in person before it is gone forever... or at least viewable only by divers!

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Day three and four this weekend...
 
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