day 6 - Lord of the Rings tour

Wow, Rich is a good sport! We spent the entire day listening to stories about the filming of Lord of the Rings and trivia. We were picked up this morning in a minivan, and toured with a group of "geeks" from around the world. People from Scotland, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, and Australia; all of whom had seen the movies at least once. We began the tour at the highest lookout in Wellinton. We stopped at various movie sites all around the area. We stopped at big sites such as "Isengard garden, where Saruman and Gandalf walked" and "the River Anduin", and small sites such as "where Frodo decided they had better get off the road, because he suspected that the Black Riders were coming" and "where Viggo Mortensen liked to go fishing when he had days off". We also were treated to film production stuff, such as the WETA workshop, where the special effects were produced; we drove past Peter Jackson's house (this is true- his Oscar statue sits in the window of a bedroom!); we saw a leftover catapult prop from the last movie; and also fun, we looked down on Miramax studio, and happened to see filming of a scene of 'natives' chanting for the upcoming King Kong movie (Peter Jackson's soon-to-be smash hit). We were not allowed to take pictures there, so we'll wait for the movie.

We ate lunch near Rivendell. We walked across a wobbly suspension bridge, hiked through a gorgeous rainforest. I wore elf ears, and stood where Orlando Bloom stood for his publicity photos. Rich claimed that I was the biggest LOTR fan among the group, but I think many people were bigger fans than me. Our tour guide, in fact, was a wealth of information about the books and the movies. He told us that this winter, we can expect a 25 disc set, with perhaps every scene ever filmed (and edited). Well, I can't think of every site we visited today- perhaps a dozen or more. Guess I'll attach the pictures now. Enjoy!

-Carol