The Hobbit Premiers in Wellington

Stars of the film: Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, James Nesbitt, Yao Chen and Brooke Fraser

Guests emerged from a Hobbit 'house' and walked a red carpet that stretched 800mtrs through several city blocks watched by 100,000 fans!.

Director Peter Jackson & Katie Jackson

Dane Rumble

Sylvester McCoy, Lizzie Spender, Barry Humphries

Elijah Wood

'Kerr Goes Kiwi'

The New York Times has a feature on Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom in New Zealand.
Read it here!

A Very Stylish Party

Miranda Kerr

In Style Magazine threw their annual Ladies Of Style bash in association with Audi at the Carriageworks.

Miranda Otto

Who would miss this party?. So many beautiful ladies in one room and they come in all shapes and ages.

Needless to say, the beautiful Miranda Kerr dominated the room. She had flown in from New Zealand that morning with baby Flynn and her mother and grandmother leaving hubby Orlando Bloom behind filming The Hobbit.

Laura Csortan & Sophie Faulkner

Jessica Rowe & sister Harriet

Ricki-Lee Coulter

Miranda, wearing a powder blue Carla Zampatti gown even picked up a gong for Women Of The Year. Who would have guessed?
 The other winners: Beauty: Co-winners: Miranda Kerr and Rebecca Morrice Williams, News & Entertainment: Asher Keddie,Fashion: Pamela Easton and Lydia Pearson (Easton Pearson)
Arts & Culture: Co-winners Nikki Gemmell and Lally Katz, Lifestyle: Indira Naidoo,Charity & Community: Alison Thompson, Business: Kate Weiss,Design: Liane Rossler, Environment: Abigail Forsyth

Dame Edna stars in The Hobbit

Maybe not Dame Edna Everage but her manager (and many say  the two have never been seen in the same room at the same time) Barry Humphries is to join the cast of The Hobbit.

The Peter Jackson $500M movie starts filming next March in New Zealand and Humphries will play the Goblin King.

It's not Barry's first acting role. He appeared as Rupert Murdoch in the 1980's TV series 'Selling Hitler' about the scandal involving the Sunday Times newspaper and the fake Hitler diaries, the Kath & Kim movie and Barry McKenzie Holds His Own based on the Private Eye magazine comic script.

Humphries contributed some immortal lines to the 2 McKenzie films such as when McKenzie is collared at a London party by a pompous  Hooray Henry who asks him : "tell me Mr McKenzie, is it true Australia is full of homosexuals?" to which McKenzie replies:
"No that's just the publicity we put out to attract the Pommy migrants"

Tomorrow at mid-day Dame Edna Everage will give a twenty minute talk at the Black & White charity committee's Woman of Achievement lunch. The Shuttle bring carry a full report.

In the meantime-here is a slice of Aussie culture from a Barry McKenzie fillum with the wonderful John le Mesurier.
And if you think that's an exaggeration  : In 2007 newly elected PM Kevin Rudd dumped former PM John Howard's 'migrant test' that required prospective migrants to know amongst other things who Don Bradman and Mervyn Richardson were!.( Richardson invented a lawn mower).