planning trip to New Zealand, help with tour ideas

C

captainrhetoric

Registered User
I am going to New Zealand in August and was wondering if any of you have gone there and done any of the LOTR tours?
I am deciding between three different tours, as I can't afford all of them.
One is in Christchurch and it tours the Edoras sights in an off road adventure.http://www.lordoftheringstours.co.nz/edoras_tour.htm
One is a tour of the Hobbiton sight with the houses still intact.http://www.hobbitontours.com/index.html
The other is out of Wellington and has like 13 movie locations in it. http://www.wellingtonrover.co.nz/rover_rings_tour.htm

I can't decide and was hoping some of you travellers or Kiwi or Aussie fans out there had some insight on this.

Is there a tour that lets you on the bridge at Rivendell?
 
If you're talking about the concrete span over the river to Elrond's house, this was a miniature. And the smaller stone bridge that we see in the shorts but not in the film ("You have given away your life's grace. I can not help you.") was a prop. Is there a different bridge that you were thinking of?

I haven't gone on any of those tours but what I do recommend is buying Ian Brody's book, The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook. With this book you can find many of the film sites around Wellington and Queenstown yourself, for the cost of a rental car for the day and petrol. (Note that Wellington's Lothlorien site is accessible only with a tour group, and Deer Park Heights in Queenstown has a $20-odd entrance fee.) That could be a worthwhile addition to any tour you do.

Click here for information about the book: http://www.aotearoa.co.nz/lotr.htm

One thing to look for in tours is a Qualmark (like on this site http://www.lordoftheringstours.co.nz/), which is an independent assessment of quality. But the greatest guide is, of course, recommendations from others who have been on the tours. Some TORNsibs have taken part in LOTR tours and I'm sure they'll chime in when they see your post.
 
independently is the best way to go - except I know you can't get to Edoras solo, and you have to do a Hobbiton tour at Matamata. Don't bother with the Wellington tours though, as most of the locations are quite easily gettable-to on your own with a hire car. And you need a hire car in NZ, public transport's useless outside of central Wellington and Auckland!

There is no bridge at Rivendell. In fact Rivendell itself isn't easily recognisable as Rivendell, although it's very pretty. I do think that the rest of Kaitoke Park (where the Rivendell location is) is nicer; there's an hour-long loop track you can do which either starts or ends at Rivendell depending on which way round you go. At the other end there's a great swing bridge over a gorge, which is fantastic.

IMG_0891

I'd strongly recommend going to the Putangirua Pinnacles (Paths of the Dead) because they're amazing. Phenomenal place. Again, the only cost is that of the hire car.

IMG_0972

And if you're in Wellington, "Get off the Road!" is easy to get to so long as you don't mind a little hill.

The location book is pretty good for finding everywhere, with some map/GPS coordinates and pictures to help you find locations.
 
Isn't the white bridge still available via a tour somewhere?
I am at this point deciding between christchurch/Edoras tour and going to matamata to see hobbiton. one has picture opportunities that are instantly recognizable, the other is supposed to be breathtakingly beautiful. I can't decide.
 
plus: if you go to the South Island, you'd probably be fine just by driving through Roha… excuse me, Otago and hiking round the Queenstown area. Buth then again, it'll be winter and you never know if the weather holds.
But it even if it doesn't – I envy you!!!!! Enjoy!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I did find most of it quite useful when shuya and I went in March, but as others have said some of the places (Lothlorien, Edoras, Hobbiton) can only been visited as part of a tour. One thing I did notice, however, is that some of the directions aren't exact. We didn't have a GPS, but - for example - the directions to Deep Park Heights say to go towards Queenstown airport. Actually, you want yo go up the street toward the airport, but instead of going left to the airport, go right to get to Kelvar Heights. The park will be a bit up that road. Deer Park Heights is worth the $20 fee to get in; it helps take care of the animals living on the property (goats, deer, Alpacas) as well as the property itself. You can even feed the animals, but beware - the second they see you go for that food tin, it's a stampede! Plus - the view is absolutely amazing. You can also see where the Fellowship pass the Argonath (Shotover river), and take a crazy jetboat ride down it.

The only 'tour' we paid for was the Hobbiton tour; you'll stop in Matamata where they take you by bus 15 minutes out of town to the farm where it was shot. Again, well worth the price. Only a few 'skeletal' Hobbit houses remain, but the Party tree and lake is unmistakable.

When in Wellington, no LotR tour is complete without a visit to the Embassy theater in Courtnay Place. Across the street in front of it is a very cool metal sculpture that Weta did. I'm not sure if they still do, but they were showing one of the films each Sunday.

'Rivendell' doesn't really look anything like it did in the films, although there are a few signs that point you in the direction of the filming location.

I look forward to hearing about your trip!
 
There honestly is no bridge at Rivendell. Are you thinking of the Lothlórien bridge? Lórien is unfortunately not visitable as it's on private property.
 
This is pretty much what you'll see if you decide to visit the site; the only way you'd even know you were on the spot is this sign:

rivendell3.jpg



rivendell2.jpg


rivendell1.jpg



http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c59/djdeathskiss1/rivendell1.jpg
 
thanks for the info. i guess i am thinking of the bridge at lothlorien. isn't it a white bridge that can be reached via a tour?
anyway, i am really deciding between either hobbiton or edoras tours at this point. one is off road and mountains, etc. the other is a few well recognized hobbit holes. hard to decide.
 
but it is unrecognisable as the Elven facade was removed. I've got a pic of it somewhere - I'll hunt it out and post it here later.

It's on the estate outside Wellington that is accessible only as part of a tour group, but the estate itself is beautiful - particulary for the dark-watered lake that doubled as the Silverlode when the Fellowship left Galadriel by boat. Get in touch with the Wellington Information Centre (http://www.wellingtonnz.com/BookingsVisitorCentre/) - they'll be able to tell you about this Lothlorien tour.
 
If you go to New Zealand, you must must must visit the Tongariro Crossing and Volcanoes National Park. This is where a tremendous amount of filming was done for The Lord of the Rings, specifically, the scenes that take place in Mordor along with some other important and climatic battle scenes. The volcano you see in the image below is the star of The Lord of the Rings, Mt. Ngauruhoe, which was filmed and served as Orodruin (Mt. Doom) in the movie. Ngauruhoe has been dormant for the past few decades; therefore, movie shots were overlaid with eruptive sequences thanks to some really well done CGI. Mt Ngauruhoe is New Zealand's most active volcano. Since 1839 it has erupted 61 times. By the way, it has been said that the New Zealand army was used in the battle scenes: Reports during filming said that the first takes were not successful, as the directors thought the fighting didn't look real enough. The soldiers put more effort into it, with the result that there were a few broken arms and legs and many severe bruises. The directors were pleased. *

Below the images are some links for more information and some great images of our "realworld" Mordor...


NZ_3104_MtNgauruhoe6WW.jpg


CRW_4754_large.jpg


Two really descriptive accounts of visiting the Tongariro Crossing:
http://abroadblogs.newpaltz.edu/blog/index.php?paged=2
http://www.peter-thomson.co.uk/...aland/tongariro.html
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top