“Remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door.
You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” ~J.R.R. Tolkien
Wellington, New Zealand is where Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor live and work. Richard Taylor owns and runs Weta Workshop and Weta Digital. I took a Lord of the Rings tour of Wellington and the surrounding area. It was a very good tour, both for the fan in me, but also of the city itself and the area around Wellington.
We started where the movies were first filmed - at Mount Victoria. This is a large hill (not a mountain by my standards) that has forests and lots of pathways. This is a public area, which caused a few problems while the movies were filming. We went to the spot where the hobbits fall off the cliff onto the path after being chased by the farmer through the Shire. This is where the "Get off the path!" scene and the woods before the ferry were filmed. The scenes of the hobbits' first encounter with a Black Rider.
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| The spot where the Black Rider stood on Mount Victoria |
No special effects other than a smoke machine for extra atmosphere were needed for those scenes. The woods were originally cut down by the British and subsequently replanted once they realized that the ground was prone to land slides. Therefore, the trees are not native New Zealand trees anymore and were planted too close together, thus becoming the scary trees that stand there today.
We went up the east coast, very beautiful coastline, to the Miramar peninsula where Peter Jackson lives, and the film studios and Weta Workshop are located. We drove by Peter Jackson's house, which is right off the main road with views of the beach. All windows were open, no blinds and some days the tourists can actually see him there barbequeing or sitting in his living room. Kiwi's leave him alone out of respect for what he has done for the country, so no one takes photos or anything. He has lived in that house for 25 years. It was a nice house, but not really huge like you would see in L.A.
We had "second breakfast" at the Scorch-o-Rama cafe, where the cast and crew ate quite a bit while filming. It is a really cool cafe that has seating across the road overlooking the sea. The waitresses cross the road to deliver the food.
Then we went to Weta Cave. This is a museum and gift shop beside Weta Workshop that has props made in the movies by Weta Workshop. Movies include: Lord of the Rings, King Kong, and the Chronicles of Narnia. Weta Digital is another branch specializing in digital special effects whose most recent film was Avatar. It was neat to see the actual puppet of Frodo used when Arwen saved him from the Nazgul and crossed the river to take him to Rivendell. Also, there were the swords, including Frodo's sword Sting, life size figures of the Urukai and a figure of Gollum. The rest of the Weta Cave held replicas that you could buy, quite expensive because they were made by the actual artists who worked on the films. For example, the One Ring is about $600. Would be cool to have, but I don't need it that much! They also had Frodo and Sam's hobbit ears, for $50 because they are made from the actual mold of Elijah Wood and Sean Astin's ears and are exactly the same molds that were used in the films. At the end we watched a behind the scenes film of Weta Workshop. It would be a really cool place to work!
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| "Gollum" at Weta Cave |
We drove past a post production company that looks from the outside like it could be a group of condos or a hotel. This post production place was created by Peter Jackson and has changed the New Zealand film industry because now big budget films can be made right in Wellington, not outsourced overseas. We also went by Peter Jackson's movie studios and lot. It is small compared to those in Hollywood. Lord of the Rings and King Kong were filmed there.
Then we went outside the city to a regional park called Kaitoko. This is where the Rivendell scenes were filmed. It is very pretty and has a temperate rainforest that we also took a walk through. There is a fern in New Zealand that goes silver in moonlight, or by the flash of a camera. This is New Zealand's national symbol. It was neat to take photos of this silver fern because it does show up silver on the camera.
I had mentioned when the tour started that Elijah Wood was the reason I watched The Lord of the Rings in the first place - I went to the movie because he was in it. So, while in Kaitoko Regional Park, my guide told me to stand amongst a group of trees in a specific spot. I was wondering why I was standing there when he said: "You are standing in Frodo's bedroom." It's amazing how the sets were built and set up in such a small area!
I had mentioned when the tour started that Elijah Wood was the reason I watched The Lord of the Rings in the first place - I went to the movie because he was in it. So, while in Kaitoko Regional Park, my guide told me to stand amongst a group of trees in a specific spot. I was wondering why I was standing there when he said: "You are standing in Frodo's bedroom." It's amazing how the sets were built and set up in such a small area!
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| In Kaitoko Regional Park, this is "Frodo's Bedroom" |
We went to Harcourt Park, in Upper Hutt, where the garden scenes of Isengard were shot, and the quarry where Helms Deep and the city of Minas Tirith were shot. My guide was an extra for an elf in the Helms Deep scenes. One guy on my tour was a hobbit extra in Hobbiton too. It was great to hear behind the scenes stories from them.
For information on the Wellington 'Lord of the Rings' Tour, go to:
http://www.wellingtonrover.co.nz/~Angie
