WELLINGTON, 11 May 2024
Saturday marks a full week of being in Aotearoa New Zealand. In that time I’ve seen amazing animals, wandered around cities, walked through The Shire, climbed up a mountain and ventured into Wētā Workshop…and now, I can add meeting Daniel Reeve to that list.
You’ve probably seen Daniel’s work, arguably much more than you’ve ever seen Peter Jackson’s trilogy or maybe even the books, if you’ve read them after 2001. Why? Because every label, every letter, every note and indeed…every map you see in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies…you just saw Daniel’s own handiwork. Even The Rings of Power involves his own creation of Númenorian for the Men of the West. So, that’s for the movies and the merch. So, every single map poster? Daniel. DVD/Blu Ray text? Daniel. When you see the cracked golden title writing saying “The Lord of the Rings” – yep, Daniel Reeve. The calligrapher and artist extraordinaire!
After an early wake -up, we sat in a conference room as Daniel gave a gorgeous and in-depth talk about his work, from just lettering his own book covers for the books, aged just 14, to being called by Wētā off the back of a random submission of some Elvish cursive he’d designed all the way to being THE first point of contact for written material for all things Middle-Earth! We then watched him do his skill so masterfully and gracefully on his own watercolour print before we got a chance to buy our own maps and prints to get signed and lettered.
Therefore, with a personalised (which very few people asked for) watercolour of The Shire, I am now proud to say I have met, chatted with and own a piece of work by Daniel Reeve.
After that, we were allowed to explore Wellington for the rest of the day (which was deceptively less than we all thought. It was now 1pm.) For Jon and I, it meant first and foremost, doing laundry. After that, we made the smart decision to head our separate ways until dinner and just enjoy our own places and desires for Wellington.
We’re incredibly close, more than most people are in many ways, but, Jon and I also can be very different people at times, so having that time apart was a very good idea.
Laundry done, with Jon very graciously offering to sort the drying and bring it back to our room over the next few hours, as he was planning on staying nearby for his mini trips exploring, at least to begin with, I ventured out into Wellington.
The first (and main) port of call was the Te Papa museum; specifically, an incredible exhibition co-created with Wētā, Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War. A sombre retelling of the Anzac section of the Battle of Gallipoli in WWI. Its main feature was 6 huge “bigatures” of soldiers and nurses in the Battle, complete with audio of actors reading their letters. I wish I could find the right words to describe my experience. The weight of the loss was present in the space. Maybe it’s due to how the Commonwealth countries are taught about WWI with much more tragedy and less self-congratulatory pomp that WWII is, but it felt deeply personal and moving. I choked up at the end as I placed a poppy at the foot of a soldier standing in the rain after the battle was lost. One part of particular horror (that others, mainly children, thought very morbidly exciting) was a screen showing a CGI tray of the human skeleton and body as it suffers various trauma injuries. In particular, one was a bullet to the head and what happens…if that is not a lesson to the global regulation and ban on civilians owning guns, I don’t know what is. It made my heart drop.
I wandered the museum a little more afterwards, waving at people from the tour that I saw along the way before making my way to “Rockshop” in the CBD. There’s only so long I can go without using my hands to make some music, is it being a musician? Is it ADHD? Who knows? *ooo, mystery, mystery***
Finally, realising I had very little time before dinner, I made my way to a café and wrote a little. What, I can’t say. Not yet. But, it was very nice and peaceful at Raglan Roast in the Bay, a stone’s throw from the hotel by chance.
Wellington is a beautiful city, I want to return and discover more and more. It feels like that kind of place. A city that needs a lot of time to scratch the surface and find various things to do.
I love it.
So, that evening, Jon, McKenzie, Joseph, and I made our way to Mama Brown’s, an American style burger bar with a single vegan/veggie option on the menu (that was alright, nothing incredible). The plan had been to go as a large tour group to Viggo Mortensen’s favourite haunt, The Green Parrot, but it was closed for renovation. So, the four of us headed there with gay abandonment, make the best of a bad situation… until 30 minutes later, most of the tour group wander in with a look of utter betrayal.
“Did you not see the Facebook group?”
“…no,” say we.
Turns out, everyone had the same idea. Go to Mama Brown’s as a lovely, wholesome, full friendship group, and there was us four, happily extricating ourselves.
Oops.
That said, with the amount we joked with each other, my cheeks were in agony, and my eyes full of tears. I laughed until I couldn’t laugh anymore. It’s funny, being on a tour and travelling like this with people, you grow to bond with each other that takes far longer than it normally would. All the emotions are intense and dialled up, and that’s just as true here. McKenzie, Joseph, Liam, and Emma have all become very dear to me. They’re my people, and I care about them. A lot.
Coming here was a wonderful idea.
Here’s to you, Wellywood.
Here’s to you.
– Jake,
14 May 2024
The Long Expected Journey 