New Zealand: Day 31
February 2, 2013
Once more the day began sunny with blue skies; again, the clouds were high altitude cirrocumulus. It was another very warm day in New Zealand, with temperatures in the 80s. By the end of the day, however, cirrostratus clouds began to predominate, and mid-altitude cirrus clouds overtook the sky. I thought New Zealand might even bid me farewell with a spectacular sunset. The cloud conditions were all set for a brilliant display, and beams of light pierced through the darkening sky. But as darkness fell over the land, the cloud cover closed up again, leaving only a hint of a golden glow in the most distant reaches of the horizon. Temperatures dropped into the 60s with the coming of the night.
The Rings Trail South tour came to a close today with what definitely was the best of the tours on the trail. I spent the day with our guide, Steph, and a couple from Chicago who were even more hardcore fans than I am. They, too, had been to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey at The Embassy in Wellington (Day 10), and they had been to Hobbiton, a locale I had failed to visit. I particularly liked this tour because even though we went to fewer locations, we spent more time at each stop, seeing how Peter Jackson's principle of parsimony operated. At each shooting location, Jackson maximized the potential of that spot, filming numerous small scenes that combined to make a larger segment.
For example, we started at one of the locations I had visited yesterday on the Nomad Safaris tour, the location used to represent Ithilien where Frodo and Sam first saw an olyphant. Yesterday our guide showed us the location and gave us a high-level overview of what occurred there. We spent no more than 20 minutes at the site. Today, however, we spent almost two hours at the same location as Steph showed us how Jackson was able to develop a wide variety of scenes from a relatively small area. As I learn more about Sir Jackson and his trilogy, I become increasingly impressed with his genius.
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where Frodo and Sam first saw an "olyphant" |
Juicy details were available too. The whole project was given the code name of Jamboree in order to give some degree of privacy and protection to Jackson's project. It was mockingly described on the first page of the scripts as "an affectionate coming of age drama set in the New Zealand Boy Scout Movement during the years of turmoil ... 1958-63." Our guide, drily observing she was coming to the conclusion her boss was a bit of a thief, produced one of the call sheets for a day of filming at Ithilien. The level of detail in this tour was loving and appreciated.
We moved to another location and spent time reconstructing the scenes involved in the Battle of Gladden Fields where Isuldur was betrayed by the One Ring. A short distance away was the setting for part of the scene where Arwen rescued Frodo from the Nazgul at the Bruinen crossing into Rivendell; other parts of that one scene were filmed elsewhere and seamlessly stitched together to create one of the most magical scenes of The Fellowship of the Ring, when she dares the Nazgul, "If you want him, come and claim him!"
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was filmed along this path |
The touring portion of the day included a visit to the site where another magnificent scene from The Fellowship of the Ring was shot, that of the Fellowship traveling down the River Anduin just before they reach the Pillars of the Kings at Argonath.
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at the approach to the Pillars of the Kings at Argonath |
The tour ended with a presentation of the best collection of replicas yet from the film. Our friends from Chicago were besides themselves. Their delight was infectious, and I even allowed Steph to take a few photos of me clowning around with some of the replicas. You'll have to wait for the high res photos to see those, but a picture of the collection is below.
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Tired from a full day in the sun, I took a nap after returning to the B&B. For my last dinner in New Zealand, I wanted to do something distinctively Kiwi, so I returned to Fergburger. This time I was much more impressed, resuming my vegetarian ways with an excellent felafel burger. It being Saturday night, I could feel the party atmosphere among the youthful visitors to Queenstown rising, and the music from the clubs pulsing in the streets, so I scurried back to safety at my B&B. I have an early start tomorrow, with plans for one last adventure before leaving New Zealand
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with his dual blades... |
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Last revised: August 27, 2015.
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