The gateway to Middle Earth

It’s great to be part of the excitement!   We’re taking three coachloads of passengers from all over the world to be at today’s Premiere of The Hobbit – part of a twelve day tour of ‘Lord of the Rings’ film locations across the North and South Islands.  Our tour includes visits to Hobbiton and the Shire in Matamata, the Weta Workshops studio in Wellington, Mavora Lakes in Fiordland (where five ‘Lord of the Rings’ scenes were shot) and a trip into ‘Rohan County’ in the stark, remote landscape of Central Otago.

Fast Facts:

  • The original cut of ‘Lord of the Rings’ ran for four hours and thirty minutes.
  • It is estimated that filming of the trilogy pumped about $200,000,000 into the New Zealand economy.  The New Zealand government even created a Minister for Lord of the Rings, whose remit was to exploit all the economic opportunities the films represented.
  • The large tree that stands above Bag End was built especially by the production department.  Every leaf had to be manually attached.
  • The design for the Hobbits’s feet took over a year to perfect. Over 1800 feet were produced for the 4 lead Hobbits alone, and each pair would take about an hour and a half to be put on over the actors’ real feet.
  • John Rhys-Davies, who plays Gimli the dwarf, is the tallest of the actors who play members of the Fellowship.  He is 6’ 1”!