Middle-Earth has become inextricably linked with New Zealand since the release of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings adaptation. Fans go on pilgrimages to the film sites, and the recreated fantasy world of Tolkien is superimposed on the beautiful Kiwi landscape in imaginations around the world. Step into the story, and explore New Zealand as Middle-Earth.
North Island
Waikato
The rolling farmlands of Hinuera in the Waikato were used to shoot exteriors for Hobbiton and the Shire. A piece of farmland near the small town of Matamata in the heart of the Waikato was selected to be the home of Hobbiton. Crews began building the set in April 1998, and then allowed it to weather for a year before filming began, to create the atmosphere of a living, working village.
Taupo
The dark lord Sauron's domain of Mordor is represented in the films by the rocky plateau of Tongariro National Park. Though the famous volcano Mt Ruapehu is not to be seen, out of respect for the wishes of the native Maori people (to whom it is a sacred place), one of the other two volcanoes on the plateau now stands in for Mount Doom. Otherwordly formations, sulphuric pools and hot springs add to the strangeness of the region. With the help of a little special effects magic, Tongariro has become Mordor.
Kapiti Coast
The countryside near Otaki became the East Road from Hobbiton, and the last homely house of the Elves, Rivendell.
Upper Hutt
Rivendell, the house of Elrond and home of Arwen, hosted the council which decided the fate of the Ring. While much of Rivendell was computer-generated and studio based, scenes involving Isengard and the Great River Anduin were filmed in Kaitoke and Hutt River, just a few minutes north of Upper Hutt and New Zealand's capital, Wellington.
Lower Hutt
Scenes involving the fortress of Minas Tirith, Isengard, Minas Morgul and Helms Deep were shot on location in Lower Hutt - a suburb located just north of Wellington. A quarry on Hayward's Hill was used as the setting for Helms Deep - the scene of The Two Towers' climatic battle. This fortification was of the largest and most detailed sets from Lord of the Rings. The stunning set includes details right down to paving stones and statues. Filming of the Helms Deep scenes of The Two Towers took place at night over several weeks in an arduous schedule that exhausted actors and crew.
Wellington
The capital was used as a base of operations for the Lord of the Rings production. Here Peter Jackson and the cast and crew recorded the studio scenes, including Fangorn Forest and Helm's Deep interiors featured in The Two Towers, and performed all the post production work. Various location scenes were filmed on the outskirts of the city. For example, Lower and Upper Hutt (located in the northern suburbs of Wellington), were used as the setting for Helm's Deep and Rivendell. Wellington premiered the Australasian premieres of both The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers at the restored Embassy Theatre. It also hosted the world premiere of The Return of the King.
The historic Embassy, located in Wellington's Courtney Place district of trendy restaurants and cafés, was the center of a huge street party at both premiers. An estimated 10-15,000 revelers turned out for the December 18th premiere of The Two Towers - some travelling from as far away as the UK and USA. Red carpet guests were numerous, but the biggest cheer was reserved for local town hero, and Lord of the Rings Director, Peter Jackson. Jackson used The Two Towers premier to extract a public commitment from New Line Cinema to hold the world wide premier of the final installment of Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, in Wellington. This was an amazing event, with a lengthy red carpet through the heart of the city to allow the stars to be seen and enable them to interact with the thousands of fans crowding the streets. Jackson, who started his career as the local film maker of quirky and very low budget horror movies, managed what many said was not possible; to bring not only the filming but full post production of a major Hollywood film to New Zealand.
Jackson teamed up with long-time friend, Richard Taylor, to create Weta Studios (named after the heaviest insect in the world). Weta, based in Wellington, manufactured all the costumes and props in the films, and also undertook almost all of the post production work on the films, including some of the most ambitious special effects ever attempted. Weta's creations form the centerpiece of the Lord of the Rings Exhibition - a major museum display of the film's magic that opened on December 19th at New Zealand National Museum in Wellington.
South Island
Nelson
Nelson locations which feature in the Lord of the Rings films are Mount Owen (Dimril Dale hillside) and Mount Olympus (Eregion Hills and the Rough Country South of Rivendell). Both locations are in the interior of the Kahurangi National Park, one of three National Parks located in the Nelson region.
Many props for the film were created by Nelson's innovative artists. These include jewellery, pottery, steelwork, carvings, garment dying, glassworks and costumes. Even the beer was brewed in Nelson.
Takaka
Takaka Hill served as the location for Chetwood Forest. Chetwood Forest, featured in The Fellowship of the Rings, was the initial route of the Hobbits and Strider (Aragorn) on their hasty escape from Bree and the arrival of the Black Riders. The area lies on the border of Kahurangi National Park - the filming location for Dimril Dale and Eregion Hills and the Rough Country South of Rivendell.
Canterbury
High on a hill in the Canterbury region was Edoras, the fortress city of Rohan. One of the more elaborate sets, Edoras took eleven months to complete. Edoras is the capital of Rohan and is made up of a number of buildings encircling a central hill which is home to the Kings Hall, Meduseld. The finished product looks otherworldly and strangely historic, a testament to the truly remarkable atmosphere of the area and the skill of the set makers. The amazing location near Mount Potts, in the Rangitata river valley in the Ashburton district (around 2 ½ hours' drive inland from Christchurch) seemed purpose-built for the production; a sheer-sided hill in the middle of an expansive plain, bordered by impassable mountains of rock and ice.
Director Peter Jackson and his team actually worked from inside the buildings that were constructed for the Mount Potts set (they were often filled with nothing more magnificent that rows of trestle tables piled with sandwiches!). The interior scenes from Edoras were filmed several months beforehand in Wellington. This set was particularly dear to the cast, who were awestruck with its beauty and the reality it lent to their performances.
'The location for Edoras was, to me, one of the most beautiful, the most impressive. Everything was constructed on this knoll, and reading the book, it's exactly what you would dream and hope Edoras would look like, and feel like.' - Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn).
'Every day we went there, spirits rose, whether it had snowed overnight, or the sun was out or it was pelting rain. There was a majesty to that location. A secret valley, it seemed. A place where, if it had not been for the film, one would never have visited. That was a really magical time.' - Ian McKellen (Gandalf).
Queenstown
The adventure capital of New Zealand was the ideal setting for its majestic beauty. Queenstown's Lake Wakatipu was used as the location for Lothlorien, home to the Lady of the Forest, Galadriel. 'That is the fairest of all the dwellings of my people. There are no trees like the trees of that land. For in the autumn their leaves fall not, but turn to gold,' says Legolas. The Southern Lakes of New Zealand are renowned not only for their dramatic mountain scenery but for the autumn colours of introduced oak, chestnuts and poplars that line the roads and paths near the mountain towns of Queenstown and Arrowtown.
Arrowtown lies near another Lord of the Rings film location, the dramatic Skippers Canyon, site of filming for Arwen's most dramatic moment; her confrontation with the Black Riders at the Ford of Bruinen.
Tarras and Wanaka
The Lord of the Rings location scouts literally dropped out of the skies into Tarras. Searching for open plains with dotted trees and some forest, no fences, no houses and unlimited and uninterrupted views from flat land to snow-topped mountains, they descended in helicopters onto the banks of the Clutha River just outside Tarras township. Here, their crews filmed many of the sequences featuring the Black Riders as they search for Frodo, pursuing him across the golden plains, and the Orc attacks on the Fellowship. Crews were there for a month, filming many of the most immediately recognisable scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring.
Twizel
Twizel lies just down the road from Mt Cook / Aoraki National Park, where the spectacular opening scenes of The Two Towers were filmed. At Twizel, a mountain town set in the Mc Kenzie Basin, extensive scenes set in Rohan were filmed, as well as the battle of Pelennor Fields (featured in the third film, The Return of the King). Ben Ohau Station, near Twizel, provided the plains of Rohan where Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli pursue the Orcs, and where the Rohan villages are destroyed by Saruman's armies. Eastemnet Gullies was also based here.
Glenorchy / Milford Sound
Areas near Milford Sound in the Fiordland National Park provided many scenic shots, including Mavora Lake (Amon Hen), the river (Nen Hithoel) and Fangorn Forest, located in nearby Glenorchy. The magnificent Elven wood, Lothlorien, is none other than the area in the Dart Valley aptly named 'Paradise'. The setting for Isengard, with the help of Weta Studios computer wizardry, is the Dart River, with the spectacular Mount Earnslaw in the background.
Te Anau
The Dead Marshes were inspired by Kepler Mire in the Te Anau region. It was originally intended to be a film location, but after the crew tried and failed to find any solid ground to stand on, they decided to recreate Kepler Mire in a Wellington backlot.
Te Anau, a small town, nestled on the edge of the massive Fiordland National Park, was the base for filming in a number of The Two Towers locations. Given the extremely high rainfall in the region (over 400 inches a year in some parts of the park), both wetlands and dense moss-covered rainforest are features of the area.
The Southern Alps
The Southern Alps of the Central and Southern South Island were used extensively for location shooting in the Lord of the Rings. For example, Mt Cook/Aoraki National Park forms the striking backdrop for the start of the The Two Towers - the Lord of the Rings. New Zealand's spectacular Southern Alps double as the great Mountains of Moria - in and on which Gandalf battles the fiery evil of the Balrog.
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