Lord of the Rings

Niamb

My husband and I are Lord of the Rings fans and really want to see some of the sets where the movies were made in New Zealand. I see that these are not included on the tour, but are there opportunities to visit these sites during free time on this tour? Is a visit to Matamata, situated 2 hours' drive from Auckland, 45 minutes from Hamilton and 1 hour from Rotorua, where the set for Hobbiton is located a possibility? I know the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the Hobbit Trilogy were filmed throughout New Zealand, so I'm sure some of the scenic areas we visit will be places that were backdrops for filming, but I'd also like to see some of the set locations.

crackers54

I was there just days before the premier of the movie and there was lots going on in Wellington for the premier. We had a bathroom break in town outside of Auckland were they had stuff up for the rings. It may have been the town 2 hours south of Auckland, but was only enough time to use the bathroom and have a coffee break.

In Wellington I would recommend a rings tour even if you need to give up the tour of the city. We had a bus driver towards the end of the tour that was an extra on one of the movies.

Wellington is probably the only place to do rings related tour.

ScrappyMac77

I too am going on the Australia/NZ tour in September 2015 and was thinking of adding on a day at the end and taking that Saturday to go see the Hobbit area. Is that something that Tauck can help with, or do I need to plan it myself? Wondering if anyone has done that!! I may look into what crackers54 says about Wellington.... This trip is my No. 1 bucket list item, and if I'm going that far, I want to see something of where the LOTR was made!

jdurkin

ScrappyMac77 wrote:

I too am going on the Australia/NZ tour in September 2015 and was thinking of adding on a day at the end and taking that Saturday to go see the Hobbit area. Is that something that Tauck can help with, or do I need to plan it myself? Wondering if anyone has done that!! I may look into what crackers54 says about Wellington.... This trip is my No. 1 bucket list item, and if I'm going that far, I want to see something of where the LOTR was made!

I would think that since the excursion is outside the Tauck tour, you would be on your own with this one. If you google Lord of the Rings tours you will find quite a variety of offerings. However, I think you might find that the "one day" you mention will be very restrictive. As you say ..."if I am going that far ...", better to give yourself the time to make your dream come true. Who wants a nightmare as a memory!

Cheers,

Jan

mjfromca

On your free afternoon in Wellington, you can go to the Weta Cave. Some in our group took an LOTR tour on one of the free afternoons in Queenstown.

We drove through Matamata, but did not stop. If you really want to see Hobbiton, you'd need to stay on in Auckland and book a trip back there yourself. It is 2 or 2 1/2 hours outside of Auckland, so the logistics might be a bit tricky.

Niamb

Thanks for the advice. We're not going until 2016, but I think we'll extend our stay a few days before we leave Auckland and take a trip to Hobbiton before we leave. I'll definitely look into the tours in Wellington and Queenstown as well.

British

We were in NZ in January. The Lord of the Rings tours were not something I was interested in but noticed there were tours from the WELLINGTON tourist center, which incidentally has a lifesize statue of Gandolph that I took a photo of with my husband posing by it. I think there was a full day tour and a shorter one. Recommend going to WELLINGTON at least two days early and then you can do this tour comfortably and stay awake on it. Whoops just realized if you go on the combined Australia and New Zealand tour you will not be able to do that. We did the tours separately to maximize site seeing and avoiding going to Australia during the very hot summers and New Zealand during their cold winters. Queenstown, plenty of time to do your own thing there, not sure about where the Hobbit tours are from there. Auckland, again you definitely would need to stay on at least a day to do a tour. There is very little time in Auckland, we stayed an extra day but my husband was ill by then and we could not do the things we had planned at the end of the tour.
One thing that I did learn on tour was that some of the L. Of the R sites were kinda superimposed on each other. So they do not really exist on their own. You fly into Rotorua and fly straight out again after the visit to the Cultural center, definitely a no to visit sites from there.