Middle Earth Magic - 28 December 2007

Our day began with a delicious breakfast here at the B & B, which included scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, a roasted tomato, and a variety of cereal choices. I came to find that most cereals in New Zealand do closely resemble American brand cereals. I found a cereal that seemed to be as close as possible to our Raisin Bran, and I was content to eat that along with my hot breakfast.
At about a quarter after 9, our tour van arrived to pick us up and we departed for our tour of Middle Earth filming locations with 4 other people. We met a couple from Sweden who were also on holiday (the woman didn’t care much for LOTR, but her husband was a big fan). We also met a very interesting couple from Maryland who liked the movies but were truly fans of Tolkien’s books. The guy was a physics professor and his wife was a linguistics professor. They were very intellectual, so it was fun to get into a conversation with him about the state of the environment and environmental ethics. (I know my dad would enjoy shooting the breeze with him.) Finally, we met our awesome tour guide, Todd, who is a professional actor, part-time tour guide and a ton of fun. He acted in a couple episodes of Xena, he acted in Kind Kong (another Peter Jackson film), and he played two roles in LOTR – a courier to Lord Denothol (you can see him over Faramir’s shoulder in the scene where Denothol admits he would prefer Faramir to have died and Boramir to have lived) and Warrior #1 who rode atop the elephant that Legolas single-handedly brought down (because Legolas is awesome like that!).
We began our journey by driving to the summit of Mt. Victoria, where we could get the lay of the land. It was quite windy, wet, and dreary at first! Todd gave us a little history of the city of Wellington, most of which I don’t remember, honestly. I do recall that Wellington is much like San Francisco. The houses are built in a similar style because the roads are just as steep and hilly. Wellington also gets earthquakes all the time, usually small ones, since the city lies on 3 major fault lines and several smaller ones. Todd also pointed out the rugby stadium where Peter Jackson got about 35,000 people to make Orc sounds, stamp their feet, and chant ‘Death! Death!’. He would later use the recorded sounds for some of the battle scenes in the trilogy. This was a very cool factoid, but being the huge fan that I am and having watched all the DVD extras/documentaries included with the films, I already knew about that. Yeah, I know, I’m a dork, but it was great to be on a small, more personal tour of Middle Earth with other LOTR dorks like me! Bobby and I would both have an awesome time by the end of the day and this would definitely turn out to be a very enjoyable, worthwhile tour that we highly recommend to others.
After our visit to Mt. Victoria we drove back down the road to Buckland Forest, where we saw lots and lots of really creepy-looking pine trees. (They’re worse that the creepy trees at El Dorado Lake!) The leaves on this type of pine don’t appear until very close to the top, so the trees kind of look black and creepy and dead (even though they’re alive of course). Todd pointed out where the hobbits had rolled down the hill after getting caught on the neighbor’s farm and where they fell onto the road below where they discovered mushrooms. Soon, Frodo yelled to “Get off the road!” (This was where Jackson used a Hitchcock camera technique). Todd showed where they then hid from the Ring Wraiths. The tree they hid under was digitally created, since it had to fit all 4 hobbits. However, the two hero trees immediately behind the road were real, and I soon recognized them after Todd showed us a picture of the movie scene. Finally, on our way back to the van, Todd pointed out a spot where Aragorn and Theoden stood and watched the Rohan army.
After a lengthy drive we arrived at Harcourt Park where we enjoyed our choice of morning tea or coffee and yummy biscuits. Since I don’t drink either one, Todd graciously offered some hot chocolate which I was happy to drink (even thought it was disappointing). We then walked along a trail where Todd pointed out the Gardens of Isengard (where Gandalf and Saruman walked together discussing the fate of the world). He showed us where they filmed the scenes of the Orcs Felling the Trees. Only two trees were actually cut down, because Jackson used different angles and different extras to make it seem like different trees in each shot. Todd also gave us a quick story that he called ‘Ode to a Leaf Wrangler’ : Jackson didn’t like that the leaves of the trees were too small according to how Tolkein had described them, so the poor tree wrangler had to wire on thousands of leaves onto the two trees they used for the shots. Unfortunately, several of these wired-on leaves would fall off each time the trees were fell, requiring them to be reattached and requiring many hours of labor. Finally, Todd pointed out where Gandalf rode on Shadowfax to see Saruman (a lush green field in the same park).
Todd also said that Jackson was the best director he’d ever worked with. He apparently really helped Todd as an actor to get oriented and to visualize what would be done with special effects. Also, Todd said that he’s extremely down to earth and friendly (a Kiwi trait) and “would talk to the lowliest extra and the biggest star in exactly the same tone of voice”. Jackson also had a strong personality, as Todd recounted in a great little story: A few weeks before Return of the King was due to be released in theaters, New Line Cinema still hadn’t received their final copy of it from Jackson. Naturally, they were frantically wondering where it was. Jackson called them and said that he wanted to change the contract, because he felt that Weta Workshop had really created some of the characters of the movies and deserved rights to these characters. New Line kind of chuckled and said “That’s not how we do things in Hollywood, Peter”. Jackson simply replied with, “Well, welcome to Jacksonville.” and hung up the phone. Of course, he would later get the concession he wanted.
Once we finished up at the park we snaked our way up to the summit of another mountain along state highway 2. The speed limit is 100 km/hr in some spots and 10 km/hr in other spots – it was a fun ride! We snaked our way back down from the summit, eventually arriving at Fernside Farm, a private sheep farm. This was the site of Lothlorien and the famous White Bridge over a beautiful lake. The shore of this lake is where Galadrien waved goodbye to the fellowship as they continued on their journey.
The White Bridge is the only remaining “prop” since it was there to begin with. The bridge is quite different from the one seen in the movie, though. It was embellished quite a bit for the filming, to look much more magical and beautiful. In fact, Jackson had both sides of the bridge beautified even though only one side would be used for filming – he wanted the actors to really feel like they were in Lothlorien, not just on another movie set.
This lake was also used in the opening scenes of Return of the King, where Smeagol and Deagol were fishing. Deagol would find the ring, Smeagol would fight and kill him for it, and Smeagol would begin his descent into Gollum. We got to stand on the piece of land where Smeagol strangled Deagol – this was soooo cool!!
Next, we drove to a nearby town and had lunch at Lady Featherston Café. I had a yummy ham sandwich that was absolutely huge. I also got some yummy hot cocoa – New Zealanders don’t mess around with their cocoa and I like that! Bobby enjoyed a flat white and we all just sat and chatted while we ate until it was time to head off to Rivendell.
I think Bobby and I had some high expectations for what we would see at Rivendell, but it was actually a little disappointing. The forest where it was filmed didn’t closely resemble the Rivendell seen in the movies and we had to really stretch our imaginations to envision the sets that used to be there. Nonetheless, it was still a very beautiful forest and had a pretty river running through it. This river was actually where they filmed Aragorn washing ashore after he’d taken a nasty fall off a cliff and was assumed dead.
When we first arrived at the area, we could choose from two pathways to explore. We began by going to the right and crossing the swingbridge over the river, which I wasn’t so crazy about. Bobby seemed to enjoy it though, so I took a cute photo of him crossing the bridge where he looks kind of like Indiana Jones (especially with his bucket hat on with the sides snapped up). Once safely across, we explored a forest of native trees and ferns which helped inspire the design of TreeBeard and the Ents. It was easy to see the resemblance here, since many of the trees had a flaky bark and a deep root system like the Ents did. After crossing the swingbridge again and heading over to the pathway on the left, we explored “Rivendell proper”. This included, most prominently, the set for Frodo’s bedroom where he recovered from being stabbed by a Black Rider on Weathertop. Of course, since the set was no longer there (it was just a small field with greenery and trees around) we just had to take Todd’s word for it. We walked around this area for a little while, where Todd also pointed out the spot where the council of Rivendell met and the fellowship was formed. It was fun listening to him explain the logistics of this scene – the hobbits and the dwarves had to look shorter than everyone else, so they had to actually cut a hole in the floor of the set for John Rhys-Davis (who played Gimli) to stand in! Of course they also did some tricks with the camera and with actor doubles.
Finally, before we left, Todd showed us a picture of the scene where Frodo walks outside his room and looks out at the beautiful and magical Rivendell around him. The room was a set created by Weta Workshop, the beautiful Elvin-looking village in the background is actually a painting, and the numerous waterfalls in the far background was actually a photograph from Milford Sound (here in the southwest area of the South Island). However, the 60-foot tall waterfall in the foreground was actually created onsite. It was quite expensive, since the water had to be trucked in and trucked back out, but it was worthwhile since the waterfall was featured in several shots.
After wrapping up at Rivendell, we made the drive back into town and dropped off the Swedish couple, who had to return their rental car before 5pm. Next we made a quick stop in the town of Miramar, where we drove past Weta Workshop (aka Campground Studios). Of course we couldn’t go inside, but we did see some cool sound stages and green screens just outside the building. We also passed an old theatre that Jackson had bought when the trilogy was finished. He hopes to fix it up and turn it into an LOTR museum one day, but this could only happen if the Tolkien family allows it.
After dropping off the other couple, Todd dropped us off at the B & B. We thanked him for a great day and a great tour and just settled down in our room for a bit. Though it is a little small, it’s a very cozy room with a great big window showing off the gorgeous view of Wellington. The TV only had a couple channels, as is standard in NZ hotels, but I got to watch Home Improvement and The Nanny before we left for dinner.
We actually went back to the same Bistro we had dinner at last night. We toyed with the idea of going downtown to The Green Parrot, which was Viggo Mortenson’s favorite steak joint, but we just lacked the energy to drive down there, find parking, etc. So, we went back to the Bistro right down the road and had delicious meals again. I had the salmon again while Bobby opted for the chicken breast. This time though, I got the scallops for an appetizer – excuse me, entrée – instead of the “chowder” I had gotten the previous night (which was actually a bisque). Halfway through the meal it occurred to Bobby that he could get the delicious crème brulee dessert again! This time we both got the crème brulee and it really was pretty fantastic.
The night ended with packing, Bobby working out our schedule for the next day, and some computer time before bed.
Hope you all enjoyed this super-long journal! Thanks for reading and we’ll catch you later!
Love, Hayley and Bobby