A recent CNN story about film tourism featured a woman who enjoyed two guided tours of LOTR film locations. Of course I was curious to know whether the woman, Michele Maro, had taken the Red Carpet tours that are advertised on TORN. A chat to RC tour director Vic James confirmed that indeed Michele had enjoyed her Red Carpet experience so much that she’d returned for a second tour – and she’s not the only one to have done that. “You’d be surprised how many people come back because they want to do the tour again to meet new LOTR friends or see New Zealand in a different season,” James says.
Category: New Zealand
Aaron N brings us the sad news: The answer you have been waiting for on the River Anduin is not what you’d like to hear. I am afraid The Geographic Board are no fun when it comes to Tolkien.
When Michele Maro became captivated by “The Lord of the Rings” movies, she never imagined she would one day be walking around in the Shire, touring Hobbiton and peeking into hobbit holes. Those are all fictional places, but fans can visit the closest thing possible in New Zealand, where the trilogy was filmed and where specially designed tours will take visitors to some of the stunning locations featured in the movies. Maro, who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, spent two weeks in New Zealand in 2003 being guided around forests, national parks and farms, exploring sites that she didn’t think were real when she first saw them on the big screen. More…
The March 20th edition of the WETA Newsletter mentions TORN and our ‘Cruise to Middle-earth’ vacation we posted about earlier in the year. Ringers on the cruise stopped by the WETA Cave for a very special treat. From the newsletter: “Our friends from T.O.R.N visit the Weta Cave – On a Cruise To Middle-Earth, a large group of Tolkien fans from TheOneRing.Net came to visit us. It was a real pleasure to have you here and to show you around. It takes a special kind of fan to travel all the way to little New Zealand. In the photo you also see Richard Taylor, Tania Rodger and Daniel Falconer who hosted the group on their visit.”
Mt Doom over Mt Ruapehu? The Rohan Plains over the Canterbury ones? Rivendell over Upper Hutt? Lord of the Rings film sites have been drawing tourists for years, but now there is a bid to officially name one of them after its movie moniker. Fiordland motor camp operator Aaron Nicholson has written to the Geographic Board proposing a new name for a stretch of the Waiau River between Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau. The two-kilometre stretch doubled as the Anduin River in Fellowship of the Ring, with cast members floating downstream in elfin boats. Mr Nicholson wants the unnamed stretch to be called Anduin Reach. He has taken his quest online, drawing support from Rings fan websites and a YouTube video. “We’ve had comments from all over the world saying this is a good thing.” Bid to get Rings river renamed for tourists
“A” sends along word that the Anduin River renaming project we posted about a while ago has gained some traction in the local NZ papers. The Fiordland Advocate has this article up about the renaming effort, take a look! More..