Day 45 - Sunday 18 February 2024

Today, on my last day on the North Island, I've gone totally into the world of The Lord of the Rings with a full day tour.

Picked up from my hotel at 09:20, we had another pick up before we were whisked away for the day; there were three of us on this tour (there was another tour minibus from the same company on a similar schedule, but just the three of us in a car with a guide, Sam).

Our first stop was at quarry just outside of Wellington where Minas Tirith and Helms Deep had been built; it's now just back to a working quarry, so there was nothing to see here, but we did hear some stories of how they had to hide the comings and goings so no costume details were leaked.

The next stop was at the banks of the Hutt river, and a site where the party were floating down the Anduin river. The scenery here was a little more familiar, and I could almost picture the boats drifting past on the current. The guide had the same locations book that I have at home, and from the picture taken from the film I could see that this was the place.

The next stop was at Harcourt Park, and the site for the Gardens of Isengard; there are pictures in the book with Gandalf and Saruman where the background trees are easily identifiable. This was also the site where the Orcs felled the trees of Isengard to feed the fires; they bought two trees in which were hinged, and filmed from different angles they looked like different trees.

Yesterday when I was driving into Wellington, I passed a sign to Rivendell, and I'm pleased that I resisted the temptation to turn off then as this was our next destination; a good few miles out of Wellington, we followed the Rivendell signs to Kaitoke Regional Park, and maps laid out where the buildings of Rivendell had been. It was very much a case of 'Frodo recovered from the Morgul blade just over there' or 'The council of Elrond happened over there'. All the original scenery has long gone, and nature has reclaimed the site ..... with one exception. A small tower had been built that looks Elven, but it's not part of the original scenery. It does mark the spot where the party left Rivendell though.

Also here were the site of the Fords of Isen; again, nothing really to see, but it may look familiar when I compare it to the book.

From here we headed back to the traffic of Wellington on the way to lunch. There were a lot of road closures for a running event today, so the traffic was heavy, and we arrived at lunch a quarter of an hour behind schedule at 12:15; we were booked into a Weta Workshop tour at 13:30, so we had to wolf our lunch down when it finally arrived, and made it to the tour with a couple of minutes to spare.

It was a very interesting hour and a half, learning how Weta Workshops began, how being hired by Peter Jackson impacted what was a small production company, and seeing how they created some of the thousands of items that were used. Particularly interesting was learning what happened to make the prothetics and why they were one use only. Models of the three trolls from The Hobbit were outside, so that was my only photo opportunity here; we were asked not to use cameras during the tour.

Onwards once more, and we visited the site of the Stone Street Studios to look in through the gate, before heading to Mount Victoria. There were several scenes filmed here; there is a quarry where Dunharrow was filmed, a path that the hobbits ran down to escape the Nazgul in their flight to Bucklebury Ferry. Probably most famously though was the road that they fell onto after raiding the farmers field, started picking mushrooms, Frodo telling them to 'get off the road', and where they hid under the tree roots from the Nazgul (with all of the creepy crawlies).

This site is a mecca for fans as it's so accessible in a city centre public park, so many of the features have been eroded by many feet, notably the hiding spot that can be identified by the background trees, but a well trodden bare hill with a small alcove is all that's left of the hiding place.

We finished the tour with a trip to the summit of Mount Victoria, and some panoramic views of the city and the harbour.

Back to the hotel at just after 17:00, and as the bar and restaurant is closed on a Sunday evening I crossed the road for a cheeky Nandos.

I'm not quite sure what to think of today's tour at the moment; we visited the locations but there's not much tangible left (which after over 20 years isn't surprising). I do wonder whether in hindsight they'd have liked to have kept something at some of the sites to tempt the tourists, but as I learned at Hobbiton they didn't get anything permanent until it was rebuilt for the hobbit.

So, that's it for the North Island. Tomorrow I leave the hotel before 07:00 to catch the ferry to Picton, so I need to get all packed away this evening ready for departure.