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		06/05/06 - 07/05/06 - THE LORD OF THE RINGS WEEKEND There's been a slight change of plans. Basically there are no jobs available in Queenstown until June/July, when the ski season starts. You have to arrive in Queenstown around now to get your accommodation sorted, but you then have to be able to afford to hang around for a month to wait for the jobs - which I can't. So, I've borrowed money to do the things I want to do here, and then I'm going to Wellington (the beautiful capital city) to get an office job. I'll work for 3 months solid to pay back what I've borrowed and save up for my last stretch of the holiday in August. One of the things I wanted to here was go to all of the Lord Of The Rings locations. Now I could either pay a whole bunch of money to go on different tours to different sites; or I could rent a car for the weekend and go them all myself. I obviously did the latter, especially since I have the location guidebook, which tells you exactly where all the spots are. It even gives precise co-ordinates, which would be great if I could read them. So on Saturday I rented out a car, and first went up to Deer Park Heights, which is an 800m high conical hill just outside of Queenstown. There's several different locations up here, all of which are marked with small signposts. The majority of them are from The Two Towers when they are travelling from Edoras to Helm's Deep and are attacked by the Wargs. When you watch the film it looks as if its all filmed in one area, but the locations for the different shots are actually all jumbled up around the park. (Above) The cliff Aragorn falls off in The Two Towers The other scene shot there is from the Extended Edition of Return Of The King when Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli exit the Paths of the Dead. Aragorn thinks they're buggered because he sees the Ships of Corsair sailing to Gondor to help the bad guys, but then the King Of The Dead comes out and agrees to open a can of wup-ass on the orcs (words quoted directly from Tolkien). (Above) Exit of The Paths Of The Dead from The Return Of The King Extended Edition My next stop was the Kawarua River to get a shot of one of the many rivers used for the River Anduin, and the Pillars of the Kings in The Fellowship Of The Ring. After that I went to Arrowtown, an old mining village. Two locations were here, the first being the Ford of Bruinen, where Arwen escapes the Black Riders in The Fellowship Of The Ring. The other spot is from the prologue of FOTR, where King Isildur is killed by orcs and the ring is lost for 2500 years. Finally, I drove to the other side of Queenstown to The Twelve Mile Delta. This location was for Ithilien, where Sam and Gollum argue about food in The Two Towers and then they (with Frodo) see the army of the men of Harad and the Oliphaunts before getting captured by Faramir and co. (Above) Where Sam and Gollum argue about cooking On Sunday I drove for 2 1/2 hours to get to the Mavora Lakes. I really enjoyed the driving - listening to music whilst cruising through New Zealand's amazing scenary. Go to these locations is actually a really good excuse to see different parts of NZ you wouldn't necessarily go to, but are certainly worth visiting. There's a couple of locations at the lakes, and none of the tours go here which makes it a bit more special. The first was just before the lakes and was used for the edge of Fangorn Forest in The Two Towers. The scene where Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli find the burnt pile of orcs they think Merry and Pippin are in as shot here. Also when they leave the forest and Gandalf calls over Shadowfax. The second location was actually at the lakes. The North Mavora Lake was used for the final scenes of Fellowship Of The Ring. The fellowship have just rowed between the Pillars of the Kings and make camp on the lake shore. The Uruk-hai then attack and Frodo leaves with Sam across the lake. (Above) Lake from the end of The Fellowship Of The Ring The location guidebook told me how to find the tree that Frodo hides behind from the Uruks and right next to it is the large tree stump Merry and Pippin hid under before they call him over. When I took the photos I basically posed as if I was reenacted the scene to make the locations more recognisable, which I'm sure you'll all find hilarious. (Above) End of Fellowship where Frodo decides to go it alone. Looks like I'm testing to see if it's raining! Down on the shore I took photos of the lake and also posed as Frodo standing with the ring in his hand before he gets in the boat. Fortunately no one was around to see me do this because I probably looked like a right tit. In fact I hardly saw anyone around the lakes, so once again I had a beautiful spot in NZ all to myself. (Below) The most fun I've ever had driving. Beautiful scenary and no cars on the road! Next: The Thrillogy: 3 Bungies In 1 Day! Previous: Welcome To Middle-Earth! Main Menu

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