Glenorchy & LOTR Tour & Arrowtown

Hello my dear Hobbits,

I'm going to tell you about the story today. A story called "The Woman of Adventure". This story is about a young woman who didn't pay attention to where her feet were taking her and is now on the other side of the world and is having some adventures here. Sometimes these adventures are high up on the tops of mountains and sometimes they are deep down in the caves of long-gone streams. No matter where these adventures are, the young woman enjoys how beautiful this earth is and how nice it is to share these little stories with you.

This part of the story is about an adventure that led her to the trail of a long-past and yet future story. The story of a ring. One ring to rule them all, to drive them into darkness -.... This story was told by Tolkien and made into a film by Peter Jackson and the young woman was a big fan of these books and the films. For this reason, she booked a special tour that visits the filming locations near Queenstown and also reveals a few details about how the filming went.

The adventure began early in the morning and the young woman took the bus into town. Here, she first treated herself to a coffee, as her feet needed some support to avoid tripping over each other.

After her feet were fully awake and her mind was slowly entering the waking world, the young woman went to the secret meeting point where Vicky was to pick her up. The vehicle for the journey was a rattling old white van with a few LOTR inscriptions here and there - but that didn't stop Vicky from maneuvering the group of around 8 people to the first filming location in no time.

Vicky taught the young woman that the black trees in the forests are the legendary Manuka trees from which the liquid gold honey can be extracted. (Quick fact: This honey is really delicious but also damn expensive!)

The first stop on the journey was the filming location where Frodo, Sam and Gollum discuss in the second part how best to prepare a hare and how the three later spot the Haradrim warband with the oliphates - just as the young woman could see a few quiet bushes from this point.

The group set off again and took a short break at the lake on the way to the second stage. The view from there was a feast for the eyes and should be sung about in the songs of all the halls.

The second stop was Isengard. From a plot of land purchased by the company specifically for this purpose, the community of nerds could overlook Isengard. The home of Saruman - the feared evil white wizard from LOTR. In addition, there is a lot of filming location magic from The Hobbit on this plot of land, as the bear shifter's house was also filmed here. On this green patch of earth, the trees in the films came to life and decided to go into battle against Saruman.

The young woman, shrouded in shadow, was also the size of a tree.

The last stop for the nerd community was a filming location that was used for various scenes. These include: Gimmli being threatened with an arrow by the elves because he was breathing too loudly; Boromir being killed when the hobbits were captured by the White Hand; hobbits hiding from the White Hand's minions; the sacred forest; .... In total, the filmmakers returned here three times to film more scenes. The young woman particularly enjoyed this stop because the guide Vicky lent the community weapons and cloaks that belonged to the great and brave characters from Tolkien's works.
(I think I would make a really good hobbit! ;) )

This part of the adventure was over after 4 hours, but that didn't stop the young woman from taking advantage of the daylight and the warm rays of the sun and making another trip. This time she went to Arrowtown - an old gold mining town that was only an hour away in a large multi-seat vehicle called a bus. The young woman wanted to take a closer look at this town because of its history and also because it was another LOTR filming location.

Another place where the young woman's industrious feet have taken her is the filming location where the elf woman Arwen drove away the enemy's evil ringwraiths and used the power of water to keep them in check.

If she wasn't paying close attention, her feet led the young woman to a small, old and leaky dam. She didn't know what else to do but to renew it and work on getting the stone to help her get to the other side of the (raging) river on dry land.

Having overcome this hurdle, the young woman has calmed her breathing and absorbed the feeling of the American-inspired suburbs that this city exudes.

After so many adventures, the exhausted young woman was taken home in a multi-seater vehicle and ended the evening in one of the giant hot tubs on the campsite. What a wonderful life the young woman has and how lucky she is to be able to experience all of these adventures. And if her feet can carry her any further, the young woman will experience many more adventures that will take her to her limits and to the limits of this world.

With this in mind, the young lady wishes you that you too will start an adventure today!

Your young lady