New Zealand and the Lord of the Rings - HOLLYWOOD OUTSOURCED

Active Travel ^ | 2004 | Carla Land

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Out of the way and remarkably beautiful, New Zealand lives up to the masterfully crafted fantasy landscapes of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic masterpiece of literature, "The Lord of the Rings," and brings a degree of believability to a film based upon fantasy and fiction, sword and sorcery. And now these rather remarkable landscapes can be yours for the adventuring.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has earmarked more than a half-million dollars to help promote the New Zealand portrayed in the movie, "Lord of the Rings." The "New Middle Earth," as some are calling the New Zealand countryside, offers adventurous opportunities at nearly every turn, from dense forests to hypnotic waterfalls and world class rapids, to a backcountry Mecca of outdoor getaways.

The three "Lord of the Rings" films were shot over a wide area of New Zealand, including Matamata, Tongariro National Park and in Wellington in the North Island, as well as Queenstown and Methven, near Christchurch. The castle sets on Mount Somers near Methven have become the icon for the project with the towering Southern Alps behind it.

A special tour company has been formed in Auckland specializing in providing high adventure into the areas used for the filming of the movie. And tour operators all across New Zealand are expressing confidence the film will bring a much-needed boost to tourism in the region.

"Lord of the Rings" fan or not, New Zealand offers some of the best adventure opportunities on Earth. Discover this remarkable region before it surrenders to the dark lords of glitzy tourism.

[LiteKeeper]

Within one year of the release (1965) of the movie, The Sound of Music, Salzburg, Austria was conducting tours of the different sites (the actual sites of the adventure, and the movie sites used to accommodate the story line). It is still a MUST for visitors to Salzburg. I have taken the tour several times myself...and it is still wonderful.

[Renfield]

I got to visit Hobbiton 2 years ago, before the general public were allowed in. Nyaa Nyaa!!

[cwb]

Oh...the irony. What's interesting, is that Hollywood, for years, has been outsourcing. From series like "Forever Knight" to "Highlander" to any number of current TV series, Hollywood has increasingly turned to Canada for filming and production. Even the popular series, The X-Files, was filmed in what many call Hollywood North (Vancouver/BC). With movies like Blade II, XXX and many other big screen movies being made in parts of Europe, I'm surprised we haven't heard the same cries over outsourcing, as we do against other American companies. We're not just talking about jobs lost in the acting arena...these are also catering and construction jobs, which provide good money to those in the business. And of course, with reality TV taking over the networks, I can't imagine there are too many celebs that are thrilled with these new stars of primetime programming, either. I can feel their pain:)

[King Black Robe]

Good point.

[NorthOf45]

Nice! I'd love to go there even now. Although there would be a lonely feel to it.

[expat_panama]

Hollywood outsourced "Lord of the Rings" to New Zealand. So does this mean that the 'protection mob' has called for a boycott of Hollywood, the Oscars, the Movie Theaters? Maybe not: New Zealand isn't India, China, or Mexico. Nobody makes fun of New Zealand surnames, accents, or town names like they do when the subject is outsourcing to say, India..

Any suggestion why?

[Renfield]

The Alexander's sheep ranch was, perhaps, the most beautiful place I'd ever been. What a lovely country.

[Renfield]

They just haven't been exposed to any Maori place names yet. Man!! 45 letters, and 40 of them are vowels. I wish I'd taken pictures of some of the signs along the roads when I was there.

[Remole]

Is this really a photo of the movie set of Bag End?

[Oztrich Boy]

Nobody makes fun of New Zealand surnames, accents, or town names

Yes we do.

[expat_panama]

Yes we do.

I stand corrected.

[Renfield]

"...Is this really a photo of the movie set of Bag End?.."

Yep. The apple trees that were planted for the film had been browsed down to nubs by the sheep when we were there in February '02. The hobbit-holes only go about 2 feet into the hillside; the indoor scenes were filmed in a studio. And, that hillside is a damn sight steeper than it appears in the photo. It's almost impossible to walk up on two legs. Sheep don't have much of a problem, but I was the only one out of 5 humans (3 of them local Kiwis) to make it to the top row of hobbit-holes.

[Renfield]

"...Although there would be a lonely feel to it...."

There's NOTHING lonely about New Zealand. Kiwis are some of the friendliest people in the world, and they are particularly well-disposed toward Americans. Go...you'll have the time of your life.

[NorthOf45]

No, no, not New Zealand. I meant the LOTR locations. The photo I included has a lonely feel to it. Here are some more from around the net ...

[cyborg]

NZ ping

[Renfield]

That big tree in the third picture is a Monterrey Pine (not native to New Zealand). Its trunk is about 10 feet in diameter at breast height. It was the reason, so I'm told, that Jackson wanted to use that site for Hobbiton. He was flying around in a helicopter looking for suitable places and new this was the right one when he saw it.

Those stairs in the first pic weren't there when I was there. They would have been a help.

[Ladysmith]

LOTR ping

[HairOfTheDog]

Ring ping!

[ecurbh]

Ring Ping!!

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