From the Dominion Post:

The skeleton that remained of the set has been a very popular tourist attraction. We also know that it has since been rebuilt for The Hobbit – and that this time it won’t be removed once filming is completed. It’s been designed to last 50 years.

But what surprises me is that the public can visit the rebuilt set right now before the cameras roll.

Ian Brodie, author of the detailed and very handy Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook, is the media and communications manager for the Hobbiton movie set.

He told me that multiple tours continue to visit the set each day. “The only thing they [visitors] have to do is sign a non-disclosure agreement.

They can take as many photos as they want, they just can’t post them up online or do those sorts of things. Certainly they are seeing it at its best.”

[Read More]

samdir discovered this little gem while on hobbitontours.com:

“Hobbiton Movie Set will be closed for all tours from Wednesday 05 October 2011 to Tuesday 08 November 2011 inclusive. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Could this be a sign that the production is heading to the Hobbiton set for a month worth of filming? Stay tuned!

White-out weather chaos moves north

The snowfall in Wellington caused excitement and chaos throughout the city last night.

Snow settled in the northern suburbs, including Churton Park, Newlands and Karori, and there was flooding in Kilbirnie.

The final of the Ford National Hockey League was called off mid-game because of the weather.

English actor Stephen Fry, who is in Wellington filming The Hobbit, was among hundreds of people who took to Twitter.”It’s been an exciting day here in Wellington. Snow. That’s unusual … NZ is same latitude as Melbourne so it’s rare,” Fry tweeted. [Read More]

Hollywood star Orlando Bloom has been seen out and about in Wellington, joining a growing number of Hobbit actors arriving in the city as production resumes after a three-month hiatus.

Wellingtonians Miranda Webster, Aggie Galloway, Kayla Carruthers, Sam Walton and Hannah Robson met Bloom yesterday when they saw him shopping in the central city.

Ms Carruthers, 19, said she and her friends were on Vivian St when they saw Bloom go into a photography store.

“We weren’t sure at first if it was him or not, so we waited around casually outside the stop, and then when he came out we saw it was definitely him.” [Read more]

Veteran actor Stephen Fry has arrived in Wellington to begin filming his part in The Hobbit.

Fry, a prolific tweeter, touched down in the capital a few hours ago, telling his Twitter followers it was “brightish but not freezing”.

After announcing he was going for “a little explore”, he posted a photo of Max Patte’s Solace in the Wind sculpture on the waterfront, prompting Wellington fans to head to the water. [Read More]