It was almost inevitable--I went on a Lord of the Rings tour yesterday! A guide named Craig drove a big van full of diehards and newbies to see some of the trilogy's filming locations around Wellington. And yes (this is New Zealand, isn't it?), there was a break for afternoon tea.
The first location we visited was a trail on Mount Victoria, which bumps right up against the city center and might be one of the most popular local trails for a run or a walk. This spot was used for one of the earliest scenes of the trilogy, when the hobbits first venture out from the Shire. They flee a corn field and end up stumbling down a hill. Look! The trees are the same!
At the bottom of the hill, the hobbits hear the shriek of the Ringwraiths for the first time. The Ringwraiths are villianous ghost kings, so the hobbits need to hide from them. If you look at my picture of the setting, you can see the U-shaped tree from the background of the scene. But the tree that they hid under in the movie was just a prop! Like most of the props built for the movie, it was made out of foam, and it was made huge so that four normal-sized men could sit under it and appear to be hobbit-sized.
Next we visited the road to Isengard. Gandalf first visits Isengard to consult with his then-buddy Saruman, who lives there in a tall, craggy tower. This scene was actually filmed at a frisbee golf course in suburban Wellington, and you can see that it looks pretty innocuous today. Peter Jackson was told to return all his sets to their pre-filming state after shooting was finished, so the little road that they built was torn up and taken away, and the grass was reseeded. As for that excellent medieval-looking archway, it's actually a tiny model filmed so that it looks life-size.
Here we are: Gandalf, and Saruman, and me, all hanging out on the same frisbee golf course.
A couple of battle scenes were filmed at a quarry. The sets for this scene (from the third movie, at Minas Tirith) were actually built out of foam into the quarry.
Rivendell is where the elves live. It is by far the most beautiful place in Middle Earth. On real Earth, Rivendell is a regional park called Kaitoke, and it doesn't have soft lighting or waterfalls splashing over canyons. Those were all special effects.
When the movie was being filmed, full-size sets were built in the woods here. It is a very lovely picnic spot nowadays.
The regional park is ideal for camping and hiking. Our tour group had fun walking one of the swing bridges across the river.
The water there is crystal clear, and since it's Easter weekend, there were families all around taking advantage of the great swimming holes.
I enjoyed all the movie trivia, but I'm also thankful for the opportunity to see another beautiful corner of the globe!
this is wonderful. I really like that the road to Isengard is a frisbee golf course.
ReplyDelete