We did a Lord of the Rings Tour of New Zealand in April 2004 as part of Red Carpet Tours and visited many of the film locations.
As we all know, the real star of Peter Jackson’s trilogy of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien‘s Lord of the Rings is the beautiful country of New Zealand (plus of course, a number of “human” actors in “supporting” roles).”
Tourism New Zealand even issues postcards saying “Welcome to New Zealand, Home of Middle Earth” that are distributed to cinema goers watching the films around the world. New Zealand, being a relatively young country (from a geological perspective), has a stunning diverse set of landscapes that seem to fit the various locations of Middle Earth as described by Tolkien perfectly, ranging from the idyllic and rustic Hobbiton, the rugged Misty Mountains, the mighty River Anduin to the forbidding Mordor.
Welcome to New Zealand, Home of Middle Earth.
(Tourism New Zealand)
![](https://travel.christham.net/wp-content/uploads/2004-LOTR/NZ-Middle-Earth-map-1280x769.jpg)
I first read the book(s) when I was 15, and have always felt that they would someday make a great film. Ralph Bakshi‘s animated version, released in 1978, was a disappointment, but my hope was finally realised when New Zealand born director Peter Jackson made the definitive trilogy, with the backing of New Line Cinema, released over 2001-2003.
Red Carpet Tours does a very comprehensive Lord of the Rings Tour of the locations in New Zealand used to shoot the film, so we decided to take the tour commencing around Easter 2004. This web site is a “travel diary” of my experiences on the tour that I shared with the other members of the “Fellowship” as we journeyed across New Zealand.
This is a travel diary consisting of images and personal commentaries for each day of the tour. The images of locations used in the films are also accompanied by frames from the movies (where possible) and quotes from the book(s). We did not visit all the known locations. Also, not all scenes in the film were in the book(s) so some images do not have corresponding quotes. All quotes from the book are taken from the illustrated single volume hardback edition published by HarperCollinsPublishers (1991) ISBN 0-261-10230-3. All frames from the movies are taken from the Region 1 Extended Edition DVDs of The Fellowship Of The Ring, Twin Towers and The Return of the King – the images remain the copyright of New Line Cinema.
LOTR 2004 Day 0: Auckland
![](https://travel.christham.net/wp-content/uploads/2004-LOTR/Ferry-Building-1280x960.jpeg)
LOTR 2004 Day 1: Auckland to Rotorua
![](https://travel.christham.net/wp-content/uploads/2004-LOTR/Hobbiton-sign-1280x960.jpeg)
LOTR 2004 Day 2: Rotorua to Ohakune
![](https://travel.christham.net/wp-content/uploads/2004-LOTR/Tongariro-National-Park-1280x960.jpeg)
LOTR 2004 Day 3: Ohakune to Wellington
![](https://travel.christham.net/wp-content/uploads/2004-LOTR/Embassy-Theatre-1280x960.jpeg)
LOTR 2004 Day 4: Wellington to Featherston & back
![](https://travel.christham.net/wp-content/uploads/2004-LOTR/Tour-group-1280x720.jpeg)
LOTR 2004 Day 5: Wellington to Christchurch
![](https://travel.christham.net/wp-content/uploads/2004-LOTR/Southern-Alps-1-1280x960.jpeg)
LOTR 2004 Day 6: Christchurch to Twizel
![](https://travel.christham.net/wp-content/uploads/2004-LOTR/Tour-group-2-1280x960.jpeg)
LOTR 2004 Day 7: Twizel to Cromwell
![](https://travel.christham.net/wp-content/uploads/2004-LOTR/Mt-Cook-1280x960.jpeg)
LOTR 2004 Day 8: Cromwell to Te Anau
![](https://travel.christham.net/wp-content/uploads/2004-LOTR/Blood-has-been-spilled-in-the-night-1280x960.jpeg)
LOTR 2004 Day 9: Te Anau to Milford Sound & back
![](https://travel.christham.net/wp-content/uploads/2004-LOTR/Milford-Sound-5-1280x960.jpeg)
LOTR 2004 Day 10: Te Anau to Queenstown
![](https://travel.christham.net/wp-content/uploads/2004-LOTR/Tour-group-3-1280x720.jpeg)
LOTR 2004 Day 11: Queenstown to Auckland
![](https://travel.christham.net/wp-content/uploads/2004-LOTR/Dart-River-Safari-11-1280x960.jpeg)
The “Action Figure” Version of the Lord of the Rings
![](https://travel.christham.net/wp-content/uploads/2004-LOTR/Gandalf-Aragorn-Gimli-and-Legolas-1280x720.jpeg)
Chris,
Thank you for a lovley tour around New Zealand ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H ^H^H^H Middleearth.
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