CLICK DATE TO SEE PHOTOS!! MAY TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO LOAD...
Pre-Tour I arrived in Auckland late on November 24th, well actually it was 1am November 25. I spent a whole day trying to figure out my sleeping schedule!! I ended up walking around Auckland near my hotel. Then the rain came, kinda of a damper especially since I didn't have an umbrella or my luggage (it was still in LA!)
GONDOR PREMIERE TOUR
Day 1 (November 26)
Start in Auckland. I stayed at Spencer on Byron Hotel. Met the Ringers, Tehanu(Erica Challis) from theOneRing.net was there, and we met our tour guides who were both extras in TTT. Anwen and Derrek Carver, they were Rohan refugees.. Derek came in dressed as Gandalf, quite entertianing. Everyone one was wonderful. Met my roomate Gabby, she is a doll!! We have so much in common its scary.
*Day 2 (November 27)
Auckland to Rotorua via Hobbiton. OK Hobbiton is absolutely amazing!! Alexander's sheep farm had te hobbit holes still intact. Stood in Bag End Inn and stood under the Party Tree. Stay Tunded for photos.
After the tour which was slightly tainted by drizzle, we were shown how they shear the sheep, the guy was pretty quick, I was impressed heh.
After that we went to the Rotarua Geothermals, lots of bubbling mud and warm rocks. It was quite beautiful, the steam rising in the air and small geysers going off. Tonight I stayed at the Lake Plaza Hotel.
*Day 3 (November 28)
Rotorua to Ohakune via the Mt. Ruapehu sites of Emyn Muil and Mordor. Found the exact spots where Sam and Frodo were lost amid volcanic lava flows and where they first met Gollum. It started snowing while I was there, but it was still gorgeous. Then we travelled to and found the stream where Gollum caught his fish, took some water from it, it was freezing!!
**Day 4 (November 29)
Ohakune to Wellington via the River Anduin, - we met Chris ? and he played 'The Lead Black Rider' and was Viggo's riding double in a few scences, he showed us how they desensitize the horses. Also met the horses from the movie and almost got to meet "brego" whose real name is Urias, but Viggo owns him and apparently came to pick him up for a ride. Cute story-When filming LOTR, Viggo would sometimes come over just to ride the horse (which he now owns) and on one trip he forgot to grab the saddle and bridle. he drove way out into the pasture where the horse was and decided to ride horseback, the people at the ranch got a phone call from neighbor stating that there was a man riding the horses with no sadle, he simply stated "ya that would be viggo" Apparently Viggo is "a mad bastard" as he put it, crazy!! lol Also met Jane Abbot who is Liv Tylers stunt double, you can see her on the EEFellowship dvd. Got wonderful video of these horses!! The white horse she rode for us was Asfaloth!
SPECIAL!!
First Viggo Reads his Poetry!! Wonderful reading, the other poets were awesome, will post names shortly. Alan Lee sat right behind me and after show got his autograph!!
Second! The Lord of The Rings' Symphony: Six Movements for Orchestra and Chorus
A once-in-a-lifetime concert event sees Oscar-winning film composer Howard Shore conduct the NZSO in a one-off performance of ‘The Lord of The Rings Symphony: Live! Music from the Motion Picture Trilogy’
New Line Cinema has announced that the concert – a Symphony in six movements - will take place at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington on November 29, this was one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced. i was moved to tears!! Elijah and some blonde girl(grr heh) attended as well as Sean, Andy, John Rhys-davies, Billy, Viggo, Alan Lee and a few others. Peter Jackson showed up abit later. This was the night i first saw lij in person. Coming from Viggos reading, i was almost late for it, many people were there, then Billy pulled up. then Sean, then Orlando then elijah. no pics as I could not tae camara to Viggo. but roomate took some so maybe I will get some, she definetely got Orlando!! She is pretty sure she got the back of all there heads, which is good to see since we got to now what they look like from the behind (where am i going with this?)
*Day 5 (November 30)
Today we checked out the 'Get off the road!' site on Mt. Victoria. This was quite a hike but it was basically in the city of Wellington! We also saw the tree where they hid from the black Rider, but the big root wasnt there, you could still kind of tell it was the spot.
Today I took a trip past the Stone Street Studios, Weta Workshop, just drove by as they would not let us in. Then went to Harcourt Park where Gandalf met with Saruman. Beautiful place, stunt men were there to show us some handy sword work. Later I visited Fernside- the scene when the Fellowship left Lothlorien. Time to head back to Wellington. When we got back to Wellington we stopped at the Medieval festival for Elf ears. Ran back to hotel but noticed many fans outside stars hotel, so we stopped. DREAM COME TRUE!! elijah was out signing and coming our way. Got several pictures of him, and his autograph and a pic of me and him, I look fairly scary having just come from hiking up huge hill but he was absolutley gorgeous. I cant wait for you to see his eyes, they are unnaturally blue THUD!! PHOTOS
TORN Party!! This party was amazing!! wonderful costumes, met many people. Ian Mckellen was the first to show up, gave a wonderful speech which included "A woman came up to me and asked for Gandalfs autograph, I said he is not here, she said please may I have Gandalfs address, i said no you cant, she agian said just give me Gandalfs autograph and I said Woman he doesnt exsits!!" he is a funny guy. Sean Astin, Lawrence Makloare, John Noble, Richard Taylor and Gino Acevedo from WETA came over, they gave a good speech too.No other stars came but it was an awesome party with awesome music!!I stayed in the Ibis Hotel which was around the corner from the Inter-Continental Hotel where the stars were staying.
*Day 6 (December 1)
Up early on Premiere Day to check out the red carpet.
Before going to the red carpet we went to pic up our Lij photos and on the way saw Andy Serkis going into watch shop. Felt a little odd going up to him as he was just walking around shopping with no one else recognizing him but I am glad that i did!!
I sat in the Grandstand, in front of the Reading Cinema, parade was quick and short. The stars were in convertibles and they drove a little passed me so I could not get any good pics, and they didnt come to our section for signatures poo, however i got most of it on video!! Alan Lee came through towards end and I did get his autograph (agian) and then Sala Baker came through and got his as well. Started at 3:30, we left at 7pm and of course my luck was running out because The hobbits and Orlando came back up in golf carts and signed a couple autographs, they watched the film in the Reading Ciname rather that the Embassy. FYI the Embassy holds like 700 people, 2000 were invited hence the Reading Cinema usage..
NOTE
After yesterdays events, the climax of it all, the rest of the tour doesnt seem so important now. We shall see...
*Day 7 (December 2)
We flew to Christchurch. Fairly nice city with a beautiful Cathedral. Walked around abit and got lost. Had a good nights sleep after the past two days activities.
*Day 8 (December 3)
Christchurch to Twizel via Edoras, Mt. Cook and the Pelennor Fields. Walked through three freazing streams to get to the summit! It was well worth it though, it was Edoras, other than no houses it looked exactly as it did in the film! I was awestruck! We then climbed to the top of it but it was so steep that I gave up, i was out of breath! Next we went to The Pelannor Fields where it once rang to the thunderous sound of 300 horses on the charge! The bus driver who was not a fan of LOTR thought we were all mad, to drive all the way out there to see a field of prairie grass. But just then we heard the hoof beats of a single horse. It was an extra from the film, he came charging up. Told is stories of the filming. 400 horsemen showed up, only 200 used in the film. Many horsed together and there was bound to be a fight. It took 2 weeks to get the horses to line up in a straight line for the big run. During one take they had it almost perfect when one of the horse decided he had better thing s to do and charged of across the field. The rider was so mad that Peter and Co could hear him cursing at the horse the whole way, and the camaras followed him as he went over the hill. I am hoping this will be on the EE for ROTK lol. He then let us take pictures on the horse, but the ringers i was with are a bit mad, they decided to reenact the horse seen much to the real horse' dismay. A horse rearing up can be a scary thing lol.
*Day 9 (December 4)
We went to the Pelennor Fields location. The bus driver thought we were quite mad eally, why did we drive all the way out there to see a plain old paddock?! Well just then Kieren rides up on his horse at full gallop. He was an extra in the Pelennor scence, talked about filming and what went on. Got a picture of myself on his horse, it was quite fun.
Twizel to Alexandra via The Great Chase location. This is where Arwen and Frodo tried to escape the clutches of the ringwraiths. This was the foresty area. If I remember correctly this place is owned by a farmer who is not into LOTR, so we had to sneak in over a barbed wire fence and be quick heh.
Found the place where the Uruk Hai carried Merry and Pippin down and Pippin dropped his Elven Leaf Brooch.
We then found the Westfold village that was under siege from the Wild Men, there was still burnt wood there. The lake was there as it was in the film. So I took a piece heh.
*Day 10 (December 5)
Alexandra to Te Anau via Fangorn Forest and Nen Hithoel. We found the spot of the Orc funeral pile, and it also seemed it was the same spot where Gandlaf called Shadowfax. We then found the lakeside spot where Sam and Frodo left the Fellowship at the end of the first film. It was actually a picnic area. Up a steep hill was the tree Frodo hid behind when he decided to leave the Fellowship and the tree Merry and Pippin used as well. That was really cool to stand at that same tree!!
*Day 11 (December 6)
Today we took a trip to Milford Sound.Had nothing to do with LOTR but it was very beautiful. Lots of waterfalls, we had gotten there just after a heavy rain so it was spectacular. The Ferry ride was quite peaceful.
*Day 12 (December 7)
Te Anau to Queenstown via The Ford of Bruinen in Arrowtown and Kelvin Heights Deer Park. In Arrowtown we went to The Ford of Bruinen. This was a nice site, right in the middle of a town. There was a bike race that day so many bicyclist about. You could easily see where Arwen stood and said "Come and claim him." The flood scene was filmed up farther up stream. More cold water to trudge thorough sheesh. At kelvin Heights we found the path of the Rohan refugees and where Aragorn fell over the cliff. The lake was there that the refugees walked near and Aragorns cliff was as it appeared in the film but the drop off was about 2 feet, no river there lol. we also found the spot where the Warg Scout was standing on the rock, someone had a picture with them which helped. Some other scenes were filmed here, like the rock Legolas stood on when he fired arrows at teh Wargs.
*Day 13 (December 8)
A visit to Amon Hen, this is called 12 Mile Delta. This was quite a hike up as it was a very steep road, the bus could not get us up there. It was quite a site. This would also mark the end of Quickbeam and crew who joined us on the second half of our tour. TheOneRing.net is filming a movie about LOTR Fans.They are hoping to make it a feature lenth movie that will be shown in theaters, we can only hope.Lord of the Fans
*Day 14 (December 9)
Today is a free day as it is the end of the tour really. We had dinner at the Rydges Hotel with the other tour group that was following us a day behind. It was quite emotional as we all grew fond of each other. Gifts were given to our tourguides Derrek and Anwen Carver and to the leader of this craziness Vic Davis. A song inspired my Frodo and Sam was sang to Anwen in Danish, I dint know the words but it was beautiful all the same.
*Day 15 (December 10)
Time to depart- the tour ends. 'Haere ra' ~ farewell ~
December 11 and 12
Walked around Queenstown alot and did alittle souvenir shopping. Gabby had to leave today so I spent the 12th packing my stuff together for the long flight home.
*(December 13) In Denver CO for a stop over, My sister and I attended the Extended Edition of The Two Towers, I was pleased that she liked it. It seems I have gotten sick over the past few days, in fact it seems most of the people on the tour came down with something by the end, wow now I kinda know how Frodo felt at the end, sick and tired!!
Trip is November 23 to end on December 13 2003.
Email: demonbuttercup@msn.com
