Travel trade training videos

Upbeat music plays.

Visual: A quick succession of clips introduce the video:

• Aerial shot of Wellington waterfront with text appearing on the screen: “100% PURE NEW ZEALAND Presents”.
• Changing to a wide shot of Cuba Street pedestrian crossing. Camera slowly pushes in as people across the street. Text appears: “WELLINGTON”.
• “WELLINGTON” text slowly fades away as we transition to a mid-shot of a man and woman interacting with a giant troll sculpture outside Wētā Workshop.

Location: Mount Victoria Lookout

Visual: Mid shot of a person (Leanne) speaking to camera. Cuts to a panning shot showing the view over the city. Text appears in the bottom left of the screen: “Mount Victoria lookout”.

Audio: Kia ora everyone, welcome to Wellington. I’m Leanne from the tourism team at WellingtonNZ. Right now, we’re up at the beautiful Mount Victoria lookout, looking over the city and the harbour, and what a beautiful day it is today.

Visual: Transitions to a different view shot, looking over the harbour towards Petone as voiceover plays. After a few seconds, it cuts back to Leanne.

Audio: Now, my very first tip for you all is that when booking Wellington for your clients, we recommend giving them two nights so they have a full day jam-packed to see everything that there is to do here.

Visual: A quick succession of clips continue with voiceover:

• Street art on the side of a building with the words “WELLINGTON” in cloud-like writing, looking like it is being blown away.
• Close-up of a barista’s hands as they pour milk into a coffee glass, creating coffee art in the shape of a fern.
• Aerial shot of Wellington harbour, from Chaffers Marina, all the way to the hills of Ngauranga Gorge.
• Wide tracking shot of people walking through Harbourside Market.

Audio: Voiceover — Wellington has so much to see and do, and I’m excited to be able to show you some of that on our virtual tour here today.

Visual: Back to Leanne.

Audio: Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand, centred around the beautiful Wellington harbour. Not only do we enjoy the convenience of living in a vibrant city...

Visual: Full shot of two women walking across a bridge with bush behind them. Transitioning to an aerial shot, looking down on them. The bridge is completely surrounded by lush, green, native bush.

Audio: Voiceover — but we’re surrounded by nature.

Visual: A quick succession of clips continues with voiceover:

• Close-up of coffee beans being poured into a coffee grinder.
• Close-up of white lettering on benchtop: “NOW POURING”.
• Close-up looking down at a beer tap pouring light beer into a glass.
• Tracking shot following a waiter as he brings a tray of beer out.

Audio: Voiceover — Our coffee, craft beer and food is deeply loved by locals and visitors alike. Our creative industries are thriving.

Visual: Back to Leanne.

Audio: And we’re the centre of New Zealand’s arts, culture, and politics.

Visual: Cuts to a tighter shot of Leanne talking to camera for a few seconds. Then transitions to a wide shot of Wellington’s Cable Car coming up the tracks, with Wellington City in the background. Text appears bottom left of the screen: “Wellington Cable Car”.

Audio: Voiceover — So, let’s go check out the city from the other side.

Location: Wellington Cable Car

Visual: A quick succession of clips with music playing.

• Looking up at the WELLINGTON CABLE CAR sign.
• Wide shot of Leanne walking out of the Cable Car.

Visual: A mid shot of Leanne talking to the camera from the lookout platform at the top of the Cable Car.

Audio: Wellington’s easy to get to and to get around.

Visual: A quick succession of clips play as a graphic of the New Zealand map overlays. A location pin fades onto the map, and the text “Wellington” appears to the right of it.

• Tracking shot following a couple down Cuba Street.
• Aerial shot panning across the Wellington harbour.
• Tracking up to reveal a close-up of a guitarist playing on Courtenay Place.

Audio: Voiceover — Wellington is located at the bottom of the north island. We’re the domestic hub for flights within New Zealand.

Visual: Two more location pins appear on the map, with the words “Auckland” and “Christchurch” appearing next to the relevant pins. A dotted line animates into place, connecting the Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch pins. Clips continue to play underneath the map.

• Full shot of a street performer on Cuba Street, balancing on multiple objects. 
• Close-up of the iconic Bucket Fountain at Cuba Mall.

Audio: Voiceover — Auckland and Christchurch are just one hour flight from Wellington, so it’s easy to connect to other international flights.

Visual: The map zooms into Wellington as the dialogue refers to the city. A small ferry icon appears on the map and moves across, leaving a dotted line in its trail to highlight the travel route. Clips continue to play underneath the map.

• Wide shot of a car and truck driving onto a ferry.
• Wide shot of the ferry moving in the distance, across the harbour.

Audio: Voiceover — A lot of people travel to Wellington to connect to the ferry to the south island.

Visual: On Leanne for a few moments, then cuts to a sequence of Classic New Zealand Wine Trail (CNZWT) clips. The map fades back in, overlaying the clips. It is zoomed in to the lower half of the north island and the top of the south island. The Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa and Marlborough regions are highlighted on the map. A blue dotted line appears and animates down, connecting the regions. As the line draws closer, Picton and Blenheim markers appear on the map. At the end of the voiceover, the map fades away, ending on the end of the aerial shot.

• Wide shot driving past CNZWT sign.
• Aerial shot flying over vineyards in the Wairarapa.

Audio: Visitors often drive down from Taupo or from Hawke’s Bay along the Classic New Zealand wine trail. This scenic sign-posted trail down State Highway 2 is a great way for your visitors to drive to Wellington and travel through the beautiful Wairarapa region.

Visual: Back to Leanne.

Audio: Wellington is a small compact city, and it’s only 30 minutes to walk from one end of the downtown area to the other.

Visual: A succession of clips showcasing Wellington’s walking accessibility:

• Wide tracking shot down Hannah’s Laneway.
• Wide tracking shot down Cuba Street.
• Tighter tracking shot, following a group of people down Cuba Street.
• Aerial shot flying up away from the Cable Car as it drives down the tracks, revealing Wellington City.

Audio: Voiceover — Our clients don’t need a car to experience Wellington, and it’s easy for them to walk around the downtown area, or there’s shuttle transport to our major attractions.

Visual: Back to Leanne. As she finishes talking, she walks off, initiating the next location of the virtual tour.

Audio: Our next stop on this virtual tour is Zealandia Ecosanctuary, and they actually have a free electric shuttle from up here at the Cable Car. So let’s go see Gabby.

Location: Zealandia

Visual: A succession of clips following Leanne to Zealandia whilst upbeat music continues to play.

• Close-up of the bonnet of the Zealandia free shuttle.
• Wide shot of Leanne walking into the van and the driver shutting the door behind her.
• Close-up of two Kākā birds interacting on a branch in a tree.
• Wide shot of family of three following a paved track amongst the Zealandia bush.

Visual: Wide shot in front of water reservoir at Zealandia. Leanne walks into the shot, greeting Gabby.

Audio: Leanne — Hey Gabby, thanks for having me today. Can you tell me a bit more about Zealandia.

Gabby — Hi Leanne, welcome to Zealandia.

Visual: A succession of clips showcasing Zealandia, occasionally cutting back to Leanne and Gabby talking.

• Wide shot of water reservoir.
• Close-up looking up at ferns in the forest canopy.
• Close-up of Kākā bird at feeder.
• Takahe in bush.
• Close-up of Tui bird on a branch.
• Full shot of a Kāka bird on a branch.
• Wide shot of family pointing at bird feeders.
• Mid shot of the Kākā in the feeder.
• Close-up of the Kākā eating.
• Close-up on koru fern.
• “ZEALANDIA THE EXHIBITION” sign.
• Wide pan across the reservoir and valve tower.
• Tui eating flax flowers.
• Close-up tracking up a poster showing the birds of Zealandia.
• Exterior of Zealandia building.
• Mid shot of Leanne and Gabby on a viewing platform above the reservoir. Gabby is pointing out something to Leanne.
• Wide panning shot across the reservoir.
• Aerial shot soaring up above the reservoir and valve tower.
• Kākā’s in tree.
• Close-up on a Tuatara lizard walking along the ground.

Audio: Gabby — So this is a 225-hectare or 500-acre ecosanctuary. We were the world’s first predator-free ecosanctuary, and it’s an amazing place to experience New Zealand’s nature and to see some incredible native species.

We have day tours, twilight, and night tours. The day tours run three times a day, every day, year-round. It’s a two-hour adventure into the sanctuary. We run twilight tours. They operate October to March every year, and they happen right before nighttime starts. So you get to experience a part of the day and a part of the night, and there’s a magical moment in between where the daytime species go quiet and then before the nighttime species start. It’s really a magical experience. For all of our tours, bookings are absolutely essential.

We also run night tours. We’re quite famous for the night tours because we have at least 180 little spotted kiwis all living wild at Zealandia, and it’s a really fun adventure into the forest. At night we give visitors a little red light torch and we guide them through and tell them all about the work we do here. So Zealandia is a place of conservation research and learning, and we’re working to protect the space and bring it back to how it was before humans arrived.

Leanne — Wow, that sounds amazing. Should we go have a look?

Gabby — Absolutely!

Music continues to play.

Visual: Wide Aerial shot of Leanne and Gabby walking across the viewing platform above the reservoir. Followed by a wide shot of a different part of the reservoir, with a tui bird taking off from a nearby tree.

Visual: Leanne and Gabby are now on one of the walkways, sheltered under a canopy of trees. They continue their conversation as the camera tracks with them. A succession of clips cut overtop as they talk, occasionally cutting back to them.

• Close-up as a hihi (stichbird) flies into a bird box secured on a tree.
• Close-up of a tieki (saddleback) bird pecking into a tree.
• Close-up of a brown kiwi looking at the camera.
• Close-up of a bird sitting in the water.
• Looking through the leaves of a tree at a tuatara.

Audio: Customers come here, and they just love being immersed in nature. They love seeing the rare species that we have here. There’s the hihi which is nationally vulnerable, and the tieki which has a really cool call that you can hear. Our guides are really good at finding these birds and pointing them out on the guided tours. So coming here you can see so much more than what you would on a standard bush walk through New Zealand.

Visual: Back to Leanne and Gabby.

Audio: Leanne — Amazing. Thank you so much for showing me around today Gabby. Now I’m going to head back into the city.

Gabby — Awesome, thanks for coming.

Location: Oriental Bay

Visual: A succession of shots of Leanne back in the city.

• Aerial shot panning over Wellington city and the harbour.
• Wide slow-mo of Leanne walking along Oriental Parade, with the water in the background.
• Full shot, looking out to people swimming in the ocean, with the city in the background.

Visual: Mid shot of Leanne at Oriental Bay, talking to camera. Cuts to a succession of clips showcasing Oriental Bay as voiceover continues, occasionally cutting back to Leanne.

• Full shot looking around a tree to see people playing beach volleyball.
• Wide shot of people walking along Oriental Parade.
• Full shot of person walking two dogs along the waters edge.
• Aerial shot showing buildings in the suburb of Mount Victoria.
• Tracking camera shot walking down a Wellington street, with high-rise buildings in the background.
• Aerial shot looking over the roof Te Papa and towards the waterfront.
• Tracking wide shot at the Cable Car lookout as two people look out over the viewing platform at the city.

Audio: Now we’re at Oriental Bay; it’s like Wellington’s backyard, where locals and visitors come to hang out. There’s always so much going on down here. For accommodation in Wellington, there’s many different options for different budgets and styles. We have major hotel chains such as the ihg the core hilton and millennium, as well as service departments and boutique properties for bed and breakfast and farm stays. These are just out of the city, about a 20-minute drive from here.

An interesting thing to note is that December and January are actually quieter months for us in the city. Wellington has a large corporate market and there’s often less business travel in these months, meaning there’s more rooms available for leisure travellers. Wellington hosts a large range of major events, so it’s always good to book accommodation in advance.

Not far from here is Te Papa Museum, so let’s go have a look.

Location: Te Papa

Visual: A succession of clips introducing Te Papa.

• Tracking wide shot towards the front of the Te Papa building.
• Close-up of sign: “Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa”.
• Tracking close-up of the Te Marae exhibition.

Visual: Wide shot standing in front of the Te Marae exhibition. Leanne enters frame, meeting Lucho, a representative from Te Papa. 

Audio: Leanne — Hey Lucho.

Lucho — Kia ora Leanne.

Leanne — So we’re at Te Papa Museum, the national museum of New Zealand. So, tell us about the museum.

Visual: As Lucho speaks, we cut to clips of the museum, occasionally cutting back to them talking.

• Close-up of the head of a Moa bird (now extinct).
• Close-up of the Maori designs on the Te Marae exhibition.
• Wide of Leanne walking into a large room, lit with luminescent pink and purple lights.
• Wide of Leanne walking past many framed portraits of different sizes from the Encounters exhibition.
• Mid shot of Leanne stopping to look at the portraits.
• Close-up of a taxidermied Kākāpō parrot on a perch.
• Mid shot of a dinosaur skeleton, with identical shadows moving on the wall behind it.
• Close-up of a taxidermied kiwi bird.
• Looking through the glass where the taxidermied kiwi is housed, Lucho and Leanne approach the glass enclosure. Lucho is explaining something to Leanne.

Audio: Lucho voiceover — It was opened in 1998, and it was made with three intentions: to understand the past in order to enrich the present and to meet the challenges of the future. It’s got exhibitions ranging from the natural world to our national art collection to Maori exhibitions, and it’s all proudly free.

We’ve got a range of guided tours taking all around the museum. Tours that finish with food at the end. Tours that take you back of the house into the collection rooms — a really special experience getting you up and close to the nation’s treasures.

Leanne voiceover — Awesome, should we go take a look?

Lucho voiceover — Yeah, let’s.

Visual: A succession of clips of Leanne and Lucho walking through parts of Te Papa play, along with music.

• Wide of Lucho walking into frame and presenting the Moa before him, housed in a glass enclosure.
• Close-up over the shoulder of them looking at taxidermied birds within an enclosure.

Visual: Wide shot of Leanne and Lucho arriving in front of the Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War exhibition. Lucho explains the exhibition to Leanne as we cut to clips inside of the exhibition, occasionally cutting back to them talking.

• Wide of a giant, realistic soldier sculpture looking sadly down at his deceased comrade on the ground.
• Close-up of the soldier’s sombre face as he gazes down.
• Wide shot of Leanne and Lucho approaching another realistic sculpture of a soldier lying on the ground, pointing a gun, with his mouth wide as if he was shouting and a look of rage and determination on his face.
• Close-up of an army dog tag in the hands of a soldier.
• Close-up of blood dripping down a soldier’s hand.
• Close-up of a soldier’s face, with his mouth wide as if he was shouting, and a look of rage and determination on his facial features.
• Wide shot of a soldier sitting at a machine gun, with fallen soldiers around him.

Audio: So here we are at Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War. It’s an exhibition that was made by the team over at Wētā Workshop. It tells the story of eight New Zealanders in the first world war, and what makes it really special is that there are these statues that are 2.4 times the size of humans but hyper-realistic. You’ve got the hair coming out of their arms, taste buds on their tongue, but most importantly for me, it’s their eyes; they’re so realistic that you can really feel the sacrifice that these people made over 100 years ago.

Visual: The succession of clips continues to music playing.

• Close-up on that soldier’s face, with his eyes ablaze.
• Close-up on the soldier next to him, examining the ammunition belt on the machine gun.
• Wide shot focussing on the deceased soldier, with the machine gun person in the background.
• Mid-shot of Lucho explaining the sculptures to Leanne, with animated script writing on the wall behind him. 
• Wide shot of Leanne and Lucho standing before a sculpture.
• Close-up looking over the shoulder of Lucho and Leanne at the face of the soldier, wearing a hat and looking down at his dry rations with flies all over it.
• Tracking close-up along the realistic hairs on a soldier’s knee.
• Close-up of a soldier’s face.

Visual: Full shot of Leanne and Lucho walking out of the exhibition exit.

Audio: Leanne — Wow, that was really moving. The size of the statues is pretty impressive.

Lucho — Truly incredible! Let’s continue our tour, and let’s go to Te Taiao Nature next.

Visual: A succession of clips introducing Te Taiao Nature exhibition, with music playing.

• Close-up of the main sign of the exhibition.
• Wide shot of the exhibition entrance.

Visual: Wide of Leanne and Lucho standing inside the exhibition.

Audio: Lucco — This is an exhibition all about human impact on the world and how we could be kaitiaki (guardians) of our weird and wonderful wildlife here in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Leanne — Cool, so what are some of the highlights of this exhibition?

Visual: Cuts to clips of Lucco’s highlights and occasionally comes back to them talking.

• Wide shot of the outside of the earthquake house as it shakes.
• Close-up of the exterior edge of the house — still shaking.
• Wide shot of the haast eagle model, suspended from the ceiling and swooping in.
• Panning close-up of the colossal squid.
• Mid shot of Leanne and Lucco pointing to something off camera.
• Over the shoulder, looking into an enclosure showing different fish species.
• Looking down as a hand interacts with a touch screen with information about different species.

Audio: Lucco — My personal favourite, you’ve got the earthquake house behind there. We can feel what an earthquake feels like. You’ve got the giant Haast Eagle that’s about to swoop down and grab you. You’ve got the colossal squid. It’s all about the sights, sounds, and smells of New Zealand.

Leanne — Yeah, it’s really interactive, right? Everyone can come in, and it’s good for families.

Visual. Finishes up with Leanne and Lucco on camera. Cuts to aerial shot flying up the Te Papa building and over, revealing Wellington city.

Audio: Amazing, well thank you so much for showing me the museum today.

Visual: Mid shot of Leanne talking to camera in front of Te Papa. After a few moments of talking, it cuts to a panning aerial shot of the harbour and then back to Leanne.

Audio: As a Wellingtonian, I love this place. It’s compact and vibrant and a great mix of city and outdoors. I’m lucky enough to live in the city centre, so I literally have everything on my doorstep. I can head out to check out the restaurants or the gallery and still be minutes away from nature. I love to be able to show people my favourite hidden gems, so let’s go take a look at one of them now.

Location: Hannah’s Laneway

Visual: A succession of clips playing to music:

• Wide tracking shot down Hannah’s Laneway. 
• Close-up of the side of the Old Bank Arcade building.
• Close-up of on the side of the Eva Street sign in Hannah’s Laneway.

Visual: Wide of Leanne walking towards the camera, situated in Hannah’s Laneway. Cutting to a succession of clips overlaying the audio and occasionally back to Leanne as she speaks.

• Close-up of a wooden Wellington Chocolate Factory sign.
• Close-up tracking shot of a giant tray of coated nuts. Words “Wellington Chocolate Factory” appear at the bottom left.
• Close-up of a hand pulling a tray from beneath a machine that is shooting out melted chocolate.
• Wide of two people with masks at a workbench, wrapping blocks of chocolate.
• Close-up of a fabric flag with the words PEANUT BUTTER written on it.
• Wide of people lining up at a food stall at Harbourside Market on Wellington’s waterfront.
• Wide tracking shot, following a person walking past stalls at Harbourside Market.
• Mid shot at one of the stalls as workers plate up food for customers.

Audio: I’m personally a massive foodie, so I’m spoiled for options here in Wellington. This hidden gem is Hannah’s Laneway, home to many different food experiences, including the Wellington Chocolate Factory and Fix and Fogg peanut butter.

If your clients want to experience the best of the food, I would suggest coming in August, which is our annual food festival Wellington on a Plate. All the different restaurants transform into cool little boutique food experiences. Put on special events, special menus for you to come and really indulge in our great food.

Visual: Full shot of Fix and Fogg sign: “Make the most of your toast”. Cut to a shot of Leanne speaking to the camera in front of the Fix and Fogg window in Hannah’s Laneway. Clips inside the shop overlay the audio.

• Close-up of jars of peanut butter on a shelf.
• Back to Leanne taking a sample of peanut butter from someone inside the window and after walking away from the shop.

Audio: This quirky window is Fix and Fogg’s peanut butter, where your clients can come and sample a range of different, interesting peanut butter flavours. They have the classics, as well as some wacky ones. This one is “Smoking Fire”, which is like a normal peanut butter, except it’s full of spice. That’s really good.

The last stop on our virtual tour today, we’re going to head out to Wellington’s main film destination.

Location: Wētā Workshop

Visual: A succession of clips introduce Wētā Workshop, with music playing.

• Mid shot of a giant troll statue with his arm raised in a fist.
• Close-up of the trolls face.
• Wide shot of two troll statues coming through the bushes by the footpath.
• Close-up looking directly up at the wooden Wētā sign with dragon statues perching on either side of the sign.

Visual: Wide tracking shot following Leanne down the entrance to greet Kevin, a representative from Wētā. Cut to shots within the workshop whilst audio overlays. Occasionally cutting back to Leanne and Kevin.

• Tracking close-up down a statue of an orcs body from Lord of the Rings, looking like it’s just about to attack you.
• Wide of a Gandalf statue from Lord of the Rings in the corner of a room.
• Close-up on Gandalf’s face.
• Close-up of a figurine of Frodo and Gandalf sitting on a cart.
• Close-up on the face of a goblin-like statue with horns.
• Close-up of a battle helmet from Lord of the Rings, housed in a glass casing.
• Tracking out as people walk into the frame, looking through a window into an armoury with a person working inside.
• Mid shot, looking up at a rocky wall lined with Lord of the Rings miniature figurines.
• Tracking mid shot up a treebeard statue with two hobbits (Mary and Pippin) sitting on his shoulders, from Lord of the Rings, housed in a glass casing.
• Tighter shot of Mary and Pippin.

Audio: Kevin — Kia ora Leanne.

Leanne — Nice to see you. (To camera) So we’re now at Wētā Workshop with Kevin. So tell us a bit about what you can do here?

Kevin — So Wētā Workshop is an award-winning design and manufacturing company known for working on films like the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, James Cameron’s Avatar, and so many more that fans around the world know and love. So you can come in here, see all those amazing screen, news, props, and costumes in person. The amazing detail we put into them. Learn how they’re made and well, maybe take home a sword or two as well.

Leanne — Amazing! So you have guided tours available?

Kevin — We sure do. You can go through two spaces. One is inside a designated portion of the actual workshop. You get to see through different spaces, learn about your favourite props and costumes, and actually see them in person. Then you can explore the world of miniatures and how we bring fantastical worlds to life as well.

Leanne — So how long does a tour usually take?

Kevin — For both of our spaces, it’s around an hour and 45 minutes, which is great. But then you can also do a hands-on workshop, which is around 90 minutes.

Leanne — Cool. And if people are in the city, they can take transport out, right?

Kevin — They sure can. One of our most popular trade products is our full experience, which does include transport to and from Wellington city, only about 15 minutes from the city and about five to seven minutes from the airport, so really close by.

Leanne — How long is that whole package altogether?

Kevin — It’s about four hours. It’s a great product

Leanne — Perfect. Should we go have a look at what there’s to see?

Kevin — Let’s do it.

Visual: A secession of clips showing the workshop as music plays.

• Wētā Workshop sign.
• Close-up of a giant, realistic gorilla face (King Kong).
• Mid shot of a statue of Gollum holding a fish (Lord of the Rings).

Visual: Full shot of Leanne and Kevin standing before an orc statue (Lord of the Rings). With cutting to tighter clips of the detail on the statue as they talk.

Audio: Leanne — Wow, this thing’s really cool.

Kevin — Yeah, this is Lertz from Lord of the Rings. Fun fact, he took 11 hours in a makeup chair to go through this epic transformation. A full foam latex bodysuit, contacts, teeth, hair — everything. An award-winning prosthetics team here at Wētā Workshop that actually created this guy. Pretty cool stuff.

Leanne — Yeah, that is really cool. Should  we go have a look at some other stuff.

Visual: A succession of clips to music.

• Wide shot of Leanne and Kevin walking past a display of swords on the wall. Kevin takes a sword from the display.
• Close-up of Kevin handing the sword to Leanne.
• Mid shot of Leanne holding the sword and laughing as Kevin fakes fear.
• Mid shot of two skills on a rocky surface.
• Close-up of the face of an orc.

Visual: Wide shot of Leanne and Kevin standing in front of an orc.

Audio: Leanne — Thank you so much for showing me around today, Kevin. It’s been great to see the place.

Kevin — It’s my pleasure.

Leanne (to camera) — And thank you everyone for joining us today on this virtual tour of Wellington. I hope you learned something new, and we look forward to welcoming your clients soon.

Visual: Ending on a wide shot looking out to the South Coast and the edge of the Wellington airport. Words fade onto screen: “Special mention: WellingtonNZ: Making the Wellington region wildly famous. WellingtonNZ logo fades away, and logos for Te Papa, Wētā Workshop and Zealandia appear underneath Special mention. Logos and text fade away, ending on “100% PURE NEW ZEALAND”.