He Tangata: Weta Workshop's Jake Downing

Jake Downing hunkers down at penguin level.

Elisabeth Easther talks to the head of of tourism at Weta Workshop.

I was born in Suffolk and when I was two my parents moved to Germany to teach the kids of the forces posted there, which meant we went on some amazing holidays. We had an old Austin Maxi and we'd drive overnight and wake up in Pisa or somewhere in Greece.

It was about the journey rather than the destination. The special excitement of being woken early in morning, being put in the back seat in a sleeping bag and the anticipation of waking up in a new destination. Where are we? What can we find to eat? Can we speak the language?

We did lots of camping holidays. I remember going up to Scotland and camping in Glencoe in a really rustic campsite. Walking up Ben Nevis but being too young to make it to the top and being really upset that my brother did. Or going swimming in the hills above Glasgow where they've got these little lochs, and we'd dive into every one we saw. They're freezing even in the middle of summer and we'd have a competition to see who could stay in longer.

When I was 12 I went on my first ski school trip and I fell in love with skiing. In European ski resorts like 3 Valleys you can get lost, and you have to ski with your passport because you can ski into another country. As I got older my parents would say "see you later" and I'd set off with my Walkman and my bum bag.

When I finished my A-levels people asked, "Are you going to university?" And I'd say "No, I'm going around the world". So I wrote a list of all the countries I wanted to visit: Bali, Fiji, Hawaii, Australia, America, New Zealand, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Thailand. I bought a ticket to leave in six weeks with as many of those places on it as possible.

Jake Downing with his family at Uluru.

Being 18, I got into girls and going to the pub and only thought about the trip two days before I was leaving. Packing was bit rushed and I packed for going on holiday rather than going away for a year. My rucksack was breaking at the seams and over the course of 12 months I sent most things home - ending up with jeans, two T-shirts, socks, undies and a Walkman.

Coming back a year later I went to university, then joined a travel agency so I could travel everywhere cheaply or for free. Visiting New Zealand with my wife on working holiday visas, we found we could apply for residency after five weeks, so I got a job with Auckland Tourism and then we saw a job in the Herald for a role with the Falkland Islands Tourist Board and went there. It's an amazing location, an archipelago of more than 700 islands and the people are so friendly and welcoming.

Returning to New Zealand, we went via Easter Island to see the Moai and soak up the culture, then we flew to Tahiti where we stayed on Moorea and swam with stingrays. One of my fondest memories was the kids snorkelling in the spa bath. We'd been away from New Zealand for two and a half years but we viewed it as home. When we got to Tahiti, we were tired, it was hot, we had all these bags and we just wanted to go home.

The flight was called, we were boarding the plane and we walked up the steps and there was a "kia ora" from the flight crew, and we felt like we were home.

These days I look after the tourism team at Weta. We welcome people to the Miramar peninsula, reveal some of our movie secrets, peeling back the magic of film-making. When people leave our tours we want them to be inspired to do something creative - whether it's making a Lego castle with the kids or creating an artwork - we want people to go away feeling inspired.

Further information: see wetaworkshop.com