A little about Middle Earth

First, here is our guide Todd Rippon, of our tour company: Flat Earth New Zealand Experiences. Todd said we could use this image from his website. We admit, he didn't do the tour in costume. In fact, no one is allowed to use the costumes from the films, and all the sites that we visited have substantially been restored to their original condition. As a result you realize the vision that Peter Jackson had when he realized that a city park could be the scary site of the dark riders, an ordinary riverbed could be transformed to Rivendell, a gravel quarry could turn into Helm's Deep, site of a major battle between Orcs and good guys, and so on. (Note: today's guide to the wildlife refuge was a good guy in that battle.)

Here are a few images.

Frodo and the other hobbits hid near these trees in a city park overlooking a quiet Wellington neighborhood. The neighbors called the fire department when smoke and bright lights from the filming alarmed them.
This bridge on a quiet historic English-style estate became the magical bridge to Galandriel's magic land. Embellished with bentwood decorations, it was the site of her farewell to Frodo. Later, the same pond was used to film the scene where Smeagol (later Gollum) kills his cousin to get the ring that was on the bottom of the river.

Gandalf and Saruman walked on this very spot with their staffs.