Cleveland’s Andy Greening with Gary Sweet, who plays Lord Drinian, the captain of the Dawn Treader. Photo courtesy ANDY GREENING
Chris Chruickshanks led the crowd in a rowdy cheer of ?the little pirate is cute!? while high-fiving gathered children. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Victoria Point resident Stephanie Wilson swooned as a band of pirates left the set for lunch. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Dunwich Year 2 students (L-R) Lakaylah Turley, Camille Steinke, Mamindah Moreton-McDougall, Kiara Mazzoni, Jiringalli Gray and River Allsop. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Year 2 teacher Nicole Van Leeuwen and Division 2 councillor Craig Ogilvie with some of the excited year 2 class and their autographs from Tavros the Minotaur (Shane Rangi) and Mr Tumnas. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Tavros the Minotaur, played by Shane Rangi, leads Year 2 students from Dunwich State School in a Minotaur Roar.
Will Poulter, who plays cousin Eustace Clarence Scrubb, told fans they were ?much more friendly than Londoners? and said while they were staying at Main Beach on the Gold Coast, he was trying to learn bodyboarding because ?we don?t have any good beaches in England?. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
A trip to the mainland to check out the set of Narnia turned into a star-studded occasion for the Year 2 class at Dunwich State School from North Stradbroke Island.Teacher Nicole Van Leeuwen took her class of 23 students, eight parents, a teacher’s aide and another teacher on “the excursion of the year!”
“It was a bit hard to tell who was more excited, the kids or the adults, when the Minotaur came over to say hello,” Ms Van Leeuwen said.
“The kids wanted him to put on his bull’s head so they chanted, ‘put it on’, which is not what we adults would have done.”
As well as the Minotaur, played by Shane Rangi, the group met one of the stars of the film, Will Poulter, who plays Cousin Eustace; one of the fawns; and a number of pirates.
The third Narnia film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, has been filming at Cleveland Point for nearly two weeks.
The production tells the tale of Lucy and Edmund Pevensie who return to the fantasy kingdom Narnia where they meet up with King Caspian for a trip across the sea aboard the royal ship The Dawn Treader.
They encounter dragons, dwarves, merfolk, and a band of lost warriors before reaching the edge of the world.
Even before meeting the fantastical cast, eight-year-old Jiringalli Gray said she was stunned by the size of the set, describing it as “nice, amazing and extraordinary!”
“The dragon’s tail and head were much bigger than I was expecting, and the boat rocked better than I thought,” she said.
Zane Jenner, 7, said he’d hoped the ship would be bigger after seeing every movie.
“Lucy is my favourite character because she brings all the characters alive with her medicine and she has a silver dagger,” he said.
Mamindah Moreton-McDougall, 7, said her favourite part of the morning was when the boat began to rock and all the pirates on board fell over and Paris Prior-Dallas, 7, said the highlight was definitely meeting the Minotaur, whose costume “looked real!”
The excitement was almost too much for Lakaylah Turley, 7, who said she “nearly fainted” when she met one of the fawns, while classmates Camille Steinke, 7, and Kiara Mazzoni, 7, said seeing Lucy was the best.
Cleveland’s Andy Greening secured a photo with popular actor Gary Sweet, who plays captain of the Dawn Treader, Lord Drinian.
Filming at Cleveland Point is set to wrap up by the end of next week.