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Rachel's Travels...
Saturday 23 - Today was my Rover Ring Tour (ie lotr tour). Had done some lotr stuff yesterday, so some of it was repeated.
Again started off by going to Mt Victoria (3rd time I've been there now). But this guide, called Dan actually knew where the exact locations were. So first he showed where Frodo actually said 'get off the road' and then the spot where the black rider was. We then went and had a look at where the studios were where a lot of the stuff was filmed (they are filming King Kong there now). We had to climb a hill and look down on it, but you could see the blue screen and buildings. We then drove past the Weta workshop where they did all the special effects. Then we went to the Chocolate Fish Cafe which overlooks Scorching Bay. It had a main road running between the cafe and the outside tables so they by law have to put signs up warning motorists that there are 'waiters crossing'. Apparently a lot of the lotr cast ate in here, but its a famous cafe in Wellington in its own right. Had a very nice chocolate brownie and sat outside and looked at the bay, even though it was freezing. Then we drove past Peter Jackson's house, past the airport, which has a giant gollum (his head and hands) reaching out trying to grab the one ring on one of the buildings. We also went past one of the locations where they are shooting King Kong.
Then we had lunch (sandwhiches and chocolate brownies) at Kaitoke Forest Park and went for a longer walk around the park. Dan then went completely indepth on exactly where the sets were for Rivendell, ie Frodo's bedroom was here, Legolas' publicity still was taken here etc.
Then we went to Harcourt Park in Upper Hutt which was the location for Isengard. Although again the sets were removed, they had to make a path for when Gandalf rode to Isengard, and when they put the grass back they used a different spieces, so you can still make out the path. They also shot Gandalf and Saurman walking in the gardens here, as well as the trees being pulled down. The last place we went was to the Hutt River for the River Anduin location. The tour was ok, but I knew most of the stuff he was saying from watching the dvd's and I had seen a lot of the locations already, but I still injoyed the day, and I wasn't by far the biggest nerd there (that honour went to a german lad).
The guide kept saying that Viggo Mortenson (Aragorn) went to the Green Parrot cafe for steak and chips. I really fancied that so I went and found in when I got back. The fillet steak was absolutely lovely and they gave me two big bits. I was so stuffed by the time I had finnished, so just went back to the hostel to pack and get ready to leave for Picton in the morning.
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