today we did another lord of the rings tour. there were 4 others on the tour from central california, oddly enough. they were in new zealand on a hunting trip. (republicans!) our first stop was at puzzling world to get a sense of movie magic, specifically to check out the ames illusion room to see how they make some people appear larger or smaller on the screen. we also looked in hologram hall and the hall of following faces, which reminds me the following faces of the haunted mansion in disneyland.

from giant to dwarf

the roman toilets at puzzling world

aragorn's sword passed down from isildur, bailin's axe, arwen's sword, aragorn's hunting knife, legolas's daggers (clockwise)

parachutes required because it's so windy

then we went to the wanaka warbirds museum because ian brodie is the curator there. brodie is the author of the LOTR film location guidebook but he doesn't work on the weekends. we went there anyway to look at some replica weapons from the film. we had fun posing with them.

on the road to the cromwell area because this is where arwen's flight of taking injured frodo was filmed, you know the exciting chase through the forest. after that we stopped by the kawarau bridge area to see the where the pillars of the kings along the river anduin was filmed. i was surprised to see how close the road is. there was a funny sign along the road.

kawarau suspension bridge: birth of the commercial bungy

view of the river anduin if you were the eyes of the pillars

then we went to arrowtown where they filmed isildur and his men marching after acquiring the ring and where the ring betrays him.

isildur marches right behind some houses

we had lunch in arrowtown

in a few minutes we were in queenstown. i was surprised at how close it was. we went to deer park heights where a lot of filming takes place. it costs $20 to enter on your own so you could do it if you had a car or went with a tour group. it's a deer farm that has other animals you can feed. it's very windy up there. cold wind. so cold that twiddle thumbs and i were the only ones who did the full tour. after a few minutes in the wind, the republicans stayed in the car and we walked around.

deer park heights was used as rohan for when the people have to flee to helm's deep. as they flee, they encounter orcs and wargs who attack. this is when aragorn falls off the ledge and they think he is dead. ok, now you can picture it so view the location photos.

you better bring something warm to wear at deer park heights

we are playing the part of the rohan refugees

legolas looking over the ledge was reversed so i did the same with this photo

deer park heights offers an excellent view of queenstown

leftover set of a north korean prison from the disney film "the rescue"

the animals of deer park heights

isildur's sword after it shatters, isildur's sword reforged, sting, theodin's sword (clockwise)

after walking around rohan and re-enacting the scenes, it was time to pose with more replica weapons and an actual elf cape and brooch that was used for filming.

on the return ride back we passed through cadrona and saw the infamous bra fence. no, i didn't take any pictures!