The Hindu Business Line : A real feel of Middle-earth

The Lord of The Rings trilogy has put New Zealand on the map in absolutely dream-like dimensions. Indeed, if locations were awarded Oscars, New Zealand would scoop the lot.

The land of the Kiwis is on a roll with Hobbit fever making it one of the hottest destinations of the Century. Film director Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers and now the new release, Return Of The King, has done for New Zealand what Paul Hogan's Crocodile Dundee did for Australia — but in wizard-sized multiples.

The same director in the same locations using the same set of actors filmed all three films. This sort of continuity makes it easy to watch all three films one after another without losing touch with the story. Even better, you don't have to share them with enormous crowds of people.

While New Zealand is remote to most of the world, once you get there, the diverse sights are never more than a day or so away by car or a short flight. Lush rainforests, rugged gorges and remote fjords, crystalline glaciers, spouting geysers, caves sparkling with glow-worms, majestic snow-capped mountains and volcanoes — the sights continue in endless wonder.

The Lord of The Rings (LOTR) trilogy could perhaps be mistaken for a promotional video for New Zealand's tourism department. The film series has put New Zealand on the map in absolutely dream-like dimensions. It seems like a tale almost as magical as Tolkien's. On the page, it is so varied and spectacular that the books had long been considered unfilmable. But Peter Jackson knew something Hollywood did not. As a Kiwi, he knew that his home country was more than a match for the imaginative breadth of Tolkien's vision. In fact, it truly blows the secret — there is simply no other place on Earth that is so spectacular — an awesome other world with broad rivers and vast lakes, gentle valleys, dark forests and foreboding mountain ranges.

Most of the filming has been concentrated in two places, the southern end of the North Island and in the highlands of the South Island. Some of the most memorable LOTR locations are those close to Queenstown: Glenorchy and Paradise, beyond the top end of Lake Wakatipu. Glenorchy is a beautiful hamlet with a tiny one-room building, that is the district library, which opens from 2.30 to 3.30 every Friday afternoon. It dates from the 1890s. Books line the walls, floor to ceiling. There are about 20 members, who turn up when the Library Service van comes from Christchurch three times a year. To live here is to choose your place and abide in peace, far from the daily torments of the real world.

Routeburn Track, Fanghorn forest one of the locations of the film.

Amongst the nearby pristine forests, the Fangorn Forest scene has been done close to the Mavora Lakes between the mountains of Queenstown and Te Anau. Here it's remote all right, but not dangerous. You can drink the water and if you have a fishing licence, catch trout for breakfast.

A must buy is The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook by Ian Brodie. The book is an entertaining and charming read, enriched with an introduction from Peter Jackson and comments from the film cast throughout. There are many pictures of movie locations; each location is described in one or two pages. Brodie is very clear about whether a location is accessible to the public or whether it requires a special tour or a stay at a private facility to get there. Obscure rural locations include small maps to help the reader find them. Perhaps the most useful part of the book for would-be discoverers of Middle-earth is the suggested itinerary at the back. In just 16 days, Brodie reckons you can visit all the important film locations, taking in the best of New Zealand's diverse scenery along the way.

The banks of the Silverlode River are actually on the grounds of Fernside, a tiny retreat fashioned from a 1920s' country house in the Wairarapa wine region, little more than an hour's drive north of Wellington. An old millstream and an ornamental lake in the gardens became a verdantly spooky piece of Middle-earth. Some of the other key movie locations include Tongariro National Park in the North Island. This volcanic plateau, including Mt Ruapehu, provided the spectacular scenery needed for Mordor, the slopes of Mt Doom and the plains of Gorgoroth. In fact, the New Zealand Army was permitted to provide extras for the battle scenes filmed here.

New Zealand's capital city Wellington and its surrounding areas provided many of the film's outdoor sets. The forces of good faced the forces of evil at the Citadel of Minas Tirith, right outside Wellington.

A panoramic view of Twelve Mile Delta Ithlien Camp.

Moving on to the South Island, the haunting landscape of the Canterbury high country was used for the windy and deserted lands of Rohan. The magical Elven city of Rivendell was largely filmed around Queenstown, and the beech forests near Glenorchy were perfect for the Elven sanctuary of Lothlorian. Nearby at Arrowtown, an old gold mining town, is the site of the fording of Bruinen.

Spectacular New Zealand landscapes have been a feature of all three films and The Return of The King showcases some new locations. The Putangirua Pinnacles in the North Island region of Wairarapa (one hour north of Wellington) feature for the first time in the movie (when Legolas tells the story of The Army of The Dead). The pinnacles look like something digitally constructed by director Peter Jackson, but surprisingly they are a natural phenomenon — eerie yet stunningly beautiful. A sheep station called Ben Ohau, near Twizel, was the site for the battle of Pelennor, one of the most important clashes in the LOTR story. Here, it couldn't be too hard to imagine the pounding feet of hundreds of horses.

This in brief is the whistle-stop tour of Middle Earth. Indeed, if locations were awarded Oscars, New Zealand would scoop the lot. Following the release of the third and final trilogy, New Zealand continues to expect more visitors wanting to get a feel of the real `Middle-earth'.

Fact file

How to get there: The two international airports are Auckland (North Island) and Christchurch (South Island). Travel time from India is approximately 20 hours. An airport departure tax of $NZ22 is payable on leaving the country. A visa is required.

Food: Look out for Indian food in New Zealand. In particular keeps your eyes open for the Little India signs. There are eight of these restaurants in New Zealand.

Tips: Just remember that during the blazing months of our Indian summer, it is winter out there and during our winter months, Kiwis enjoy spring and summer.

Picture: New Zealand Tourism Board

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