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04/07/06 - 10/07/06 - MT DOOM & HOBBITON
Okay, so I've actually been in Taupo and Rotorua, but this sums up pretty much all I did in the two places. Granted I did a sky dive right at the start in Taupo, but after that I was just waiting around to do the Tongariro Crossing.
The Tongariro Crossing is a day long walk through the volcanic area around Mt Ngauruhoe, which was used as Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings. During winter, you need a guide to do the walk because of the ice and snow, and you also need the weather to be perfect and clear, otherwise they won't let you do it.
Unfortunately the weather was crap all week, so I didn't get to do it. I wasn't too bothered - I was just grateful I had good weather for the sky dive, plus I got a great photo of Mt Doom as we drove into Taupo anyway. I spent the rest of my time there walking around the Huka Falls and the thermal pools, hot pools and geysers - it was just like Yellowstone National Park in America except nowhere near as good. Apart from that I just chilled out watching DVDs and went to the cinema to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2.
On Saturday I moved on to Rotorua. I stayed in a room with a group of people from Yorkshire who were all traveling together. I met them in Taupo as they were also on the Kiwi Bus. The earth's crust under Rotorua is only 4km thick which means there's tones of thermal activity around the area. This means the whole town stinks of sulphur (or rotten eggs!). I spent the afternoon in the hostel's swimming pool. The pool is just as hot as the spa which meant it was great to chill out in.
Sunday I did the tour to the Hobbiton set. The set is by Matamata which is about an hour away from Rotorua. All of the sets from the trilogy were destroyed after filming. They had began demolishing Hobbiton but then stopped because of bad weather. They had agreed to come back 6 months later, but within that time the farmer (who's land the set was on) had loads of people knocking on his door asking to visit the location. He then managed to work out a deal with New Line Cinema so he could keep the remains of the set and open it up to the public.
Peter Jackson originally spotted the location when flying over the area, looking for a suitable spot for the Hobbiton set. He then sent someone from New Line to visit the farmer. The guy knocked on the farmer's door asking if he could have a look around, and the farmer said, "Well we're just watching the rugby and it's only half time, but I'd be happy to show you round after". The New Line guy decided to just look around himself. It seems funny to imagine the farmer just sitting inside watching the rugby whilst some guy from New Line Cinema is walking around his land, planning to build a set there for one of the biggest movies of all time.
6 weeks later New Line came back saying they wanted to build there. The location is absolutely perfect. Not only does it match the descriptions in Tolkien's book exactly, with big England-like rolling hills, and a big tree by a small lake; but in every direction you look at from the set there is no sign of human life - no roads, no pylons and no buildings. There was only one stable on the horizon which was dressed up to look like a tree for the film.
This also means the set was perfectly hidden. There's a main road only 2kms away, yet when driving along it you would have absolutely no idea a film was being made. The set required over 150 vehicles, to carry all the equipment, catering and trailers for the actors, yet the car parks were built specifically behind hills so no one could see them. Peter Jackson even got the government to make a no fly zone over the area for a 5 mile radius!
Peter Jackson employed people from the local area to work on the set, just like he did all around the country, yet no one in the town knew what was being made there because everyone who worked on the set was under contract not to speak about it. Other films made in the country such as The Last Samurai, brought their own people over from the States to work on the film. This is probably why New Zealand really took the LOTR films to heart - 178 different locations were used which meant people from all over the country were involved in making the films.
The great thing about any of the LOTR tours around the country is everyone who runs them either worked or knows someone who worked on the films. This means you get to speak to people who have some first hand stories and experiences from the making of the films.
What remains of the set are the basic structures of the hobbit holes and some of the paths and fences built. Nowhere near as impressive as the set in its original form, but better than nothing. Besides, it's the actual location that I was more interested in seeing, since the interior of the hobbit holes were done in the studio in Wellington. The bridge, the pub and the mill were all gone, as was Sam's house from the end of Return of the King. However, all of the hobbit holes on Bag Shot Road, including Bag End (Bilbo and Frodo's home) were still there. As was the area where Bilbo's party took place, with the huge 'party tree' beside it.
The tour guide pointed out where all the different scenes were shot. It's amazing the amount of attention to detail was used. For example, in the book, whilst describing the area, there are two sentences about a plum tree and some hobbit children playing with plums underneath it. So Peter Jackson got a dead apple tree, which looks like a plum tree but is bigger because an actual plum tree would be the wrong scale for hobbits. The tree was planted, decorated with fake plums, and then some hobbit children played underneath it. In the film, the camera brushes past it and it's only on screen for 2 seconds!
Another example is the oak tree above Bag End. They found an actual oak tree they wanted to use and proceeded to take hundreds of photos of it from every single angle possible. They then cut it down one branch at a time, labelling it and packing it up. Finally, they took it to the set and put it back together one branch at a time using wires and cables, so that it looked exactly the same as it originally did. Then they imported 250,000 fake oak tree leaves from Taiwan and attached them one by one to the branches. Finally the tree was complete - it's in the film for 11 seconds.
I got to actually go inside Bag End, but it's basically just a shed inside because like I said, the real inside was done in the studio. I also got to drink a bottle of the beer the hobbits drank in the film. Of course it's only 1% alcohol, so that the actors didn't get wasted during the takes.
I had a really great time visiting the set. I spent my last day in Rotorua buying gifts for home, walking around the local area and chilling in the hot swimming pool, which I had all to myself - nice.
Next: Auckland & The Bay Of Islands
Previous: Back On The Bus: SKY DIVE!
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