It may have been a while, but remember “Project New Zealand”? (No? If not, you can catch up on the story of why New Zealand is a project at the original blog entry.) Back in October, I brought you a collection of restored NZ photos with a specific Lord of the Rings theme and promised part II at a later date. Today is that later date. Enjoy!
The view from Mount Sunday, a rocky hill in the South Island's Rangitata Valley used to portray Edoras in the Lord of the Rings movies
The North Island's Matamata is one of the most easily recognizable Lord of the Rings locations in the country: after all, it was used for the Hobbiton set and still boasts guided tours of the area!
Several filming locations can be spotted on hiking trails circling Mount Victoria in the North Island's Wellington. This particular spot was used in the first movie as the location for the hobbits' first sight of the Black Riders.
Left: This section of the Kawarau River outside the South Island’s Queenstown was used as the gorge into which the Argonath (Pillars of the Kings) were digitally inserted. | Right: This rocky wall in Queenstown’s Deer Park Heights was used to portray the exit to the Paths of the Dead.
The North Island's Tongariro National Park was used for much of Mordor, and the perfectly-shaped volcanic cone of Mount Ngauruhoe (here sheathed in cloud) served as artistic inspiration for Mount Doom.
This valley to the side of Mount Sunday might be more recognizable to movie fans as the site of the Rohirrim's burial mounds.
This enormous tree ("the Party Tree") was one of the primary reasons Matamata was picked for Hobbiton.
This misty scene in Deer Park Heights served as an area for the Rohirrim's battle with the wargs in The Two Towers.
This riverbank in Arrowtown, Queenstown's next-door neighbor, served as a filming location for Arwen's confrontation with the Nazgul in The Fellowship of the Ring.
Harcourt Park outside Wellington provided the neatly manicured gardens for Saruman's tower of Orthanc.
Isengard was digitally inserted into this valley in the South Island's Glenorchy
Good news for the fans: not only are these hobbit holes still intact, but reports indicate that their renovations after the filming for The Hobbit will be left completely intact for future tourists!
Aragorn falls off this "cliff" in Deer Park Heights in The Two Towers. Lucky for him, the drop off this rock outcropping is only about four feet in real life.
Morning shadows slowly recede from Edoras, buried in the Rangitata Valley
No wonder this area of Tongariro National Park was used for the landscape of Mordor!
The area around Diamond Lake, just outside Glenorchy, boasts the forests where scenes based in Lothlorien were filmed.
Mount Doom / Mount Ngauruhoe in all its glory, as scene from the tail end of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.
Project New Zealand: Lord of the Rings Edition (part I)
Project New Zealand (part II)
Project New Zealand (part I)
Comment
Wow, what a beautiful photo and place. New Zealand is high on my list of places to visit! one day, one day…