New Zealand Middle Earth Epic: (So Much) Inside Information

As I've said, this trip is a Lord of the Rings Pilgrimage of sorts.  I'm no Stephen Colbert when it comes to LOTR, but I love the score and watching the movies.  While the movies were filmed in a variety of places around New Zealand, something like 40% of all of the LOTR films was film in the Queenstown area.  I decided that perhaps the best way to deal with visiting so many of those sites was not to go by myself, but to have the local experts take me, so I did a full day LOTR filming locations tour.  Technically it was 2 half day tours, combined into one long day!  There were 4 of us who did the full day, while 8 others on the first tour and 6 others on the second tour only did the one portion.  The morning portion started at 8am and we finished about 12:30, while the second started at 1:30 and finished about 6:00, so we're talking 9 hours of LOTR!  And it was amazing!

We had different guides for each half and both of them are having the time of their life!  Benji in the morning said he can pretty much quote the entirety of all 3 films, while Tristan had 2 LOTR tattoos and moved from the UK specifically so he could give LOTR tours because he loves them so much.  You could tell these were fans and not "fans" or tour guides that learned enough to give tours.  

If you follow the road down, down, down, you'll hit the river where they shot Arwen's Ford of Bruinen scenes.

We started out the morning heading to more of an overlook than an actual location.  That's because the actual location where they filmed Arwen's "If you want him, come and take him" scenes for the Ford of Bruinen were filmed about an hour down a gravel road and we weren't going that far.  So Benji said "if you follow that road, you will find the location where Arwen's scenes were shot for that."

The Remarkables

But from this overlook, we also got our first view of the The Remarkables were jokingly referred to as The Reusables by Peter Jackson because they were used for so many scenes and/or they are seen in the background of many scenes.  It is where the Fellowship are led by Aragorn down the slopes of the Dimrill Dale towards Lothlorien.  They are also the mountains of Mordor.  You can see them behind fleeing Rohan citizens.  They are always there watching you!

From the overlook, we headed down to Arrowtown where the Ford of Bruinen scenes involving the Nazgul were shot.  So now you know, the two scenes were not shot at the same location.  Also, another thing I learned.  The Nazgul, when on their horses, were played by a bunch of teenage girl horseback riders because the Nazgul aren't living, meaning they don't weigh anything, meaning a horse can't look like it is laboring under the weight of a grown man, so they used girls.  So the next time you watch LOTR, just remember that those fierce Nazgul chasing Frodo around the Shire and beyond are teenage girls (when on horseback).

Ford of Bruinen and the Nazgul

Up next was the Gladden Fields where Isildur was attacked by orcs (in the extended edition - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Akw9CIxGEPA) after defeating Sauron, and killed.  In the regular version you only see him floating down the river with arrows in his back.  The river in question is only maybe 1 1/2-2 ft deep, so that poor stuntman had to float down a cold river, his face and body getting scratched and beaten by rocks.  The forest itself looks quite a bit different right now because it is summer and there are leaves on the trees, whereas the scenes were shot in winter, so no leaves.

Poor, dead Isildur

After leaving Arrowtown, we headed up to the Kawarau River which plays the role of the River Anduin and the location of the Pillars of the Kings or the the Argonath.  The Pillars themselves were CGI, but the location the 3 boats floated down the river was real.  Apparently the boats were built to Tolkien's books and not so much to proper boat design so they were rather unsteady.  Twice while filming these scenes Orlando Bloom had to help rescue Gimli's body double who fell into the water in heavy chainmail, while his own Elvish costume was a lot lighter and easier to deploy a hidden life preserver underneath.  I had actually visited this location the day prior, but obviously missed out on the storytelling portion.

Location of the Pillars of the Kings

Up next was the cosplay portion of the tour where they let us dress up in costumes and play with some old props and/or purchased replicas.  Who doesn't want to be Frodo with Sting?

Nerd!

Our last location on the morning portion took us up an overlook from whence we could see Deer Park Heights which was used for multiple scenes in the films.  Right behind it is the Remarkables so some of those scenes I mentioned earlier were actually filmed here with the Remarkables behind them, such as the fleeing Rohan refugees.  Also, Gandalf wandered this hillside at one point.  

Deer Park Heights with The Remarkables behind.

Looking another direction from this overlook you could see the location of multiple attacks on Rohan villages, though honestly I can't find any video of the scene in question, but I'm pretty sure it was an extended edition scene.

This rounded out the morning portion.  After a brief break for lunch, we started on round 2!  This time we were heading up towards the town of Glenorchy and beyond to Paradise.

Our first stop was at 12 Mile Delta.  From there, looking in one direction we could see the hillside that was used as Amon Hen from the end of Fellowship of the Ring.  In particular, this area was where the ruins where built that Boromir and Frodo argue just before the breaking of the Fellowship.  This land we couldn't go on because it is private land...now owned by Peter Jackson, who built his Queenstown home on a different portion of the hill.

Amon Hen in red, Peter Jackons' house in yellow.

Also at 12 Mile Delta were numerous filming sites.  This area was used for the scene where Sam, Frodo, and Gollum see the Oliphants and Faramir and his ranger ambush them.  An interesting fact is most of the extras in the scenes are soldiers from the NZ army!  The army was used multiple times during filming when they needed soldiers, or Uruk-hai, or orcs.  Sometimes Peter had to remind them that they had to lose and to not fight so hard. The interesting thing is this exact same area was used for the famous "Po-TAY-toes! Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew" scene. 

The site of the Oliphants.

From 12 Mile Delta, we continued toward Glenorchy.  We stopped at an overlook from which you could easily see Mt Earnslaw and it's glacier.  This is where the scenes of the Fellowship trying to take the pass to Caradhras were shot.  They were all helicoptered there, except for Sean Bean who is frightened of helicopters and hiked up there in costume.  Also, funny story, Bill the Pony isn't a pony, because they couldn't get a pony up there.  Instead it is two local women in a pantomime donkey costume.  Mt Earnslaw is actually seen quite a few times in the movie in different locations similar to The Remarkables.

Mt Earnslaw is just right of center, with all the snow on it.

After passing through Glenorchy we hit Lothlorien!  The forest used for Lothlorien is a semi-diciduous forest that is constantly losing and growing leaves so the forest floor is littered with gold leaves.  There we got round two of cosplay, and this time I did my best Arwen.

Lothlorien

The last location we were heading was on private land in Paradise.  Our tour was the only one allowed onto the private land, thanks in part to a friendship between the land's owner and the owner of the tour group!  This land has actually been used for other films as well, such as X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Chronicles of Narnia, and some upcoming Brad Pitt movie.  And apparently also Taylor Swift's Out of the Woods music video.  But in our case, this land was important because it is the location of Isengard in the LOTR films, and Beorn's house in The Hobbit.  

Isengard is located where the grey river gravel is in the middle and Fangorn Forest is to the right.  Mt Earnlsaw Glacier is just behind.

From Paradise, we made our way back to Queenstown and the end of a very long, exciting day.  It was definitely worth the cost of the tour and makes me think that perhaps I'll see if there are tours for the outside of, but near Wellington filming locations.  Unfortunately sleep was not to be had that night because it was boiling inside the hostel room.  The a/c wasn't turned on or it wasn't working.  Whatever it meant, I couldn't sleep.  At 5am I got up and went to take a cold shower, before returning to bed, feeling a little better.  But I made my decision that I was leaving Queenstown a day earlier than planned, in part, because of that.  But also because I had seen the things that I really wanted to see and anything I did that last day would mostly be filler.  So after packing up, I set out for Te Anau.

On the way to Te Anau, I made one side venture that I wouldn't have had time for if I hadn't left a day early.  I made my way to Lake Mavora.  To get there, I spent an hour driving 30km down a gravel road.  As I neared the lake, I hit the location on the edge of Fangorn forest where Eomer and the Rohirrim burn the orcs, and Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli fear maybe Merry and Pippin.  Also the site of the famous "Did you know that when Aragorn screams after he kicks the helmet, it's because Viggo broke his toe when he did that" scene.  

Orc burning scene was shot in this area.

So what is so special about Lake Mavora?  See if you can guess from these two photos...

That's right!  This is where the final scenes of Fellowship of the Ring were shot!  The scenes on the banks of the river where Frodo heads off and Sam is "coming with you!"  And a little ways away in the forest is where the scenes of the Uruk-hai and battle between them and the Fellowship take place.  So worth the trip!

Forest where the Uruk-Hai battle takes place at Amon Hen at the end of FOTR.  This is the area where Merry & Pippin hide out.

From there I headed into Te Anau just briefly.  It was there that I learned my long awaited for overnight cruise to Doubtful Sound had been canceled due to major boat issues.  That is a huge disappointment because I had booked that all the way back in July and it was the basis of the timing of my journey down the coast.  Instead, I'll have to just do a day tour which means only about 2 1/2 hours on the Sound instead of 18.  Bummer!