Exploring Middle Earth

I’ve recently been strolling down memory lane and longing for some of the amazing adventures we had, prior to COVID. One such journey we had was one out of the box, we did a self-drive Lord of the Rings tour of Middle Earth, aka New Zealand’s South Island. Not being part of a large tour gave us access to places many people don’t normally see. We started out from Christchurch and met up with various small tour companies along the way.

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Edoras

Actually called Mount Sunday, according to local legend shepherds would gather and climb this hill on a Sunday and get roaring drunk. The hike nearly killed me, so steep. Our intrepid guide Andre from Hassle Free Tours NZ took us to the filming location of Edoras, the capital city of the Rohan people. Of course, there is nothing left of the film set, but the views were amazing.

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Pelaanor Fields

Leaving Christchurch and heading through McKenzie Country, don’t forget to stop at Lake Tekapo and the gorgeous Church of the Good Shepard, although apparently these days it is fenced off (so sad), total bucket list item for me — even if it has nothing to do with LOTR. Headed off to Twizel and our next small Tour of Pelaaanor Fields and Gondor with OneRing Tours NZ.

This area is the site of many large battle scenes, 360-degree views of NO modern-day structures at all. We got to play dress-ups and play with weapons. Leave your introvert tendencies at home and allow your inner geek to shine, you will have so much more fun. And you won’t be the only LOTR geek.

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The Wizards Vale

Heading toward Queenstown via Wanaka and exploring the areas around were more LOTR scenes were shot at Glenorchy, Paradise, 12-mile Delta, Middle Earth forests and more, in a 4X4 with Nomad Safaris. There is a lot to see and do around Queenstown for the adrenaline junky too, but I preferred the quiet life around Arrowtown.

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Fanghorn Forest & Nen Hithoel

Heading this far South was a shock to our systems, it was Mid Summer when we went and woke to fresh snow on the Remarkable Ranges and temperatures 0C and lower! We left Queenstown and met our next guide John who was an Ex DOC (Department of Conservation) Ranger who worked with Peter Jackson around the TeAnau area on LOTR. Exploring the Fanghorn Forest (Beeches Forest) and then NenHithoel (Mavora Lakes).

All pretty much private land and we had guided access to it. Granted it was freezing and raining the whole day, but such an amazing adventure. John even opened his home to us and told many a tale of working on set.

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It’s not all LOTR

We spent 14 wonderful days in New Zealand on our trip, not all was LOTR related, but a big chunk of it was. That was the beauty of this self-drive option, we could do things when we wanted and do other bucket list items too. While in Te Anau you must visit Mirror Lakes, Gunns Camp, Cascade Creek, Falls Creek and Milford Sound, we traveled with Fjordland Tours NZ and had the most amazing time.

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You might be asking by now, what about The Shire (Hobbiton) and even Weta Workshop? Yes, we’ve been there too, but they are actually on the North Island and not part of Middle Earth as such. But no fear, I will cover them too … in another post.

Most of these images were captured back in 2015 with my first DSLR and a kit lens. I am still pretty proud of a lot of these photos, and sure I have probably improved my knowledge and skill since then. But this just proves that passion and enthusiasm can go a long way in capturing amazing images of one in a lifetime adventures, treasured for years to come.