Alright! This was what I was waiting for! I suffered through a week of rain, and no Tongariro Crossing, but I was in Wellington for the huge Lord of the Rings celebration this weekend. The world premiere of The Return of the King was here on 12/1, and although I didn't get an invite to it, there were enough LOTR festivities going on for me to enjoy it. The weather was absolutely fantastic for it too!!The LOTR theme was everywhere, on banners in the street, in the shops, etc. I stayed with a friend I made while in Africa, Mike, and he took me to various film location sites too. One of the places I went to was Upper Hut, where scenes from Rivendell were filmed. Most of Saturday and Sunday were spent checking out the city of Wellington - harbor, Mt.Victoria, Te Papa museum, etc. I even went to see Viggo Moretenson's photo gallery at the Massey Museum.
On Monday, there was a parade of stars. It started at 3:30 from the Parliament building, and went down to the Embassy theatre. I staked out my spot by mid-day, hang out with a few other backpackers until the stars showed up. It was an awesome day. Tons of fans showed up from all around the world. Although I was not obsessed enough to camp out by the red carpet from the night before. I got some pretty good photos of the stars from where I was near the beginning of the parade.
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