But first thing first. I'd actually done it. I actually went into the travel office and booked myself on a day-tour. This wasn't just any day tour. This was the OFFICIAL Lord of the Rings day tour that takes you to where they filmed a large chunk of the second film, The Two Towers. I actually shelled out the $200 for the 9 hour trip, that departed at 9am on Friday morning. I was a little skeptical. Would I be on a bus with complete fanatics, or would this be worth it? So after our night of Karaoke, I woke myself up at 7:30am to pack, check out, and go wait for the tour bus. I was able to store my luggage at Base.
What an excellent morning. It was a bit cloudy when I left the hostel in search of tea and a muffin, but it was warm. I went to the Starbucks on the outer part of the cathedral square in the heart of the city. Mum, I was all set to use my Starbucks card but they didn't accept it. Bummer, I'd have liked to say I used it here. So I bought my venti tea and a blueberry muffin and, armed with my mini backpack and a positive attitude, I set out to meet my little tour bus.
It came around the corner in full force, a 6-wheel, 15-seat bus with the huge letters written on the side: 'Lord of the Rings tours'. I climbed on board in a flash, not keen to have the onlookers associating my face with the cheesy bus. I was met with the faces of my companions for that day, many of whom I anticipated to be on board. There was a cute older couple from Seattle, a group of 3 sexagenarians from Britain, a German girl, and two brothers, one of whom had ginger hair and a minor mental handicap, and the other who was dressed like Neo from the Matrix meets Woody from Toy Story. What a group. I could see I'd fit right in.
One very promising individual was the bus driver named Hammond - a Kiwi version of my Dad, although he had white hair. Dad, I couldn't believe how much this guy reminded me of you!! We had the best bus driver. Not only were we lucky enough to have him take us on the tour (he only works once every two weeks) but he has worked with Peter Jackson on the Lord of the Rings sets doing sound editing, had won 2 Oscars for his work on the 3rd LOTR ROTK and King Kong, and he knew the location inside and out. He also confessed that the other drivers were not associated with the films at all and that he was the only tour director who had this level of connection to them. WOW! He only told us this full story on the way back and he'd only said he'd done sound editing on the films enroute to the location. But, being the movie buff I am, I did manage to corner him during one of our first pee breaks in a town called Staveley and asked about winning an Oscar for the movie. He looked at me like I was onto something but I'd have to wait for the full story later.
Check out these pics below: First is Hammond, on our tour, and the Second is Hammond (far right) winning his Oscar!
We stopped a few times before actually reaching our destination. Where we were going was called Mt. Sunday, although the LOTR fans will know it as 'Edoras' the location where the mighty king Theoden holds court in the land of Rohan, home of the horse lords. I'm laughing out loud writing this. As we approached, we snaked through the giant hills, with huge, high peaks all around. They had no snow at the top, but would have had some at the time of filming. We stopped at various vantage points to take photos (let me just say how unloading and re-loading people, many of whom are less mobile than others, on and off a bus is quite a task.)
Then, when you truly do approach the mountain, the driver puts on the Lord of the Rings theme music over the speakers and the nerds go insane with excitement. I was full of cringe moments, laughing to myself about where I was and how, if anyone in this world besides Sandy, Nick, Rick or Kate were with me, I'd be getting the death stare for me bringing them there.
By this time, the mentally handicapped ginger boy (he was at least 21) was over the moon with excitement. We climb out of the bus for another photo opp and he's running around the group shouting 'This is the best vacation ever!' and yelling 'I'm feeling LOUD!' We haul ass back into the bus and are literally at the helm of this giant landscape. The driver tells us to buckle our seat belts and proceeds to drive through the rockiest, most unstable area I'd ever seen. I thought we'd tip over multiple times and he advised us to watch our heads on the windows as we were tossed around like salad.
Then, he advised we unbuckle our seat belts. Waiting for the universal 'why? you're crazy' he informed us that we'd be crossing through a shallow river and that should we tip over, our escape would be facilitated without the constricting seat belts. We gladly unbuckled them. Finally, our journey was almost complete. Aside from the cheesiness of it all, it was actually quite a feat to think of how the crew filmed in such a location. The small lump of a mountain is actually 600 ft. above sea level. It is nestled onto the valley floor and surrounding it is a wall of even higher peaks, some four times as large, forming a ring around the valley. Famous for reaching winds of up to 180km/hr, we were very lucky with the sunny, warm day. It's truly breathtaking to see it all. It's phenomenal, I've never seen anything like it in my life.
This is the moment when the driver unloads the legitimately real LOTR weapon props used in the movie and hands it to the true fanatics. He gave the ginger boy the axe to wield around like Gimli and we all slightly questioned this decision. I noticed the other passengers fearing for their lives should this kid swing too wildly and chop off someone's appendage. We kept our distances.
We hiked higher and higher, avoiding the cow dung, until we were at the top of the hill, or on the exact location where the great hall was constructed for the movie. Hammond held up photos to show us what it all looked like when it was built. He pointed to different spots where King Theoden pushed Wormtongue out of the hall and down the steps, and where Theoden mourned for his son by the grave.
My all time favourite part of the movie is in Part 3 when the lighting of the beacons occurs and I asked about the peak where it appeared. It's when Aragorn first sees it and comes rushing to tell the Rohan guys that Gondor is calling for aid. This ever-so-detailed question destroyed my skepticism about whether I truly fit in with all the nerds. I did.
At this point, Hammond was about to show us a particular area where a scene was filmed and he asked for a volunteer to help demonstrate. I was hanging back to take some photos when I overheard the scene he was describing, which called for a young blonde girl. I knew exactly what part he wanted to portray but it was only when the ginger-haired guy started shouting for me to come over did I realize I had no other choice. This is the kind of stuff that would happen to me or Kate. Everyone watched as I followed Hammond to the spot on the edge. He told me to look out in the right direction and stand still. There I was, Eowyn, princess of Edoras, and the other tourists snapped away their cameras with me the focus of the recreation!!!!!! See the comparison:
Wwwwwwow!!!!! The funniest thing is that all 12 other people on the bus will have this exact photo on their cameras to take home and show everyone because as I stood there, trying not to LMAO, they were all taking their photos of me. It was quite the moment in my life.
I even got a pic of me holding a sword, which I won't post, it's just too embarassing...
There were a few other people also visiting the LOTR site in their own group. They were my age, also staying at Base, and they'd rented a camper van to go up to Mt. Sunday. It made me feel even more lame knowing that I was with the official tour haha. One of them asked me to get a group shot of everyone and I got talking to them. There were two guys and four girls, one guy from the States, and they all said to look them up when I get to Queenstown. Wow, what are the chances of meeting people THERE.
The rest of the tour included lunch and champagne back at the cabin. While the other nerds sat inside, I brought my food outside to sit quietly overlooking the gorgeous view. It was another unreal 'am I here' moment, ahhh. We all drove back into Christchurch and Mike picked me up and took me to Jamie's where we chilled and had Thai food. So here I am! What an adventurous two days. So amazing, what a great time so far in New Zealand. I love it here and can't wait for more.
Just to close, I want to say, Happy Bday SHPEE!!! Have such a great day and have fun in Whistler. Check out this special birthday message I did for YOU!! love ya xoxoxox
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryOK5wieg6s
We stopped a few times before actually reaching our destination. Where we were going was called Mt. Sunday, although the LOTR fans will know it as 'Edoras' the location where the mighty king Theoden holds court in the land of Rohan, home of the horse lords. I'm laughing out loud writing this. As we approached, we snaked through the giant hills, with huge, high peaks all around. They had no snow at the top, but would have had some at the time of filming. We stopped at various vantage points to take photos (let me just say how unloading and re-loading people, many of whom are less mobile than others, on and off a bus is quite a task.)
Then, when you truly do approach the mountain, the driver puts on the Lord of the Rings theme music over the speakers and the nerds go insane with excitement. I was full of cringe moments, laughing to myself about where I was and how, if anyone in this world besides Sandy, Nick, Rick or Kate were with me, I'd be getting the death stare for me bringing them there.
By this time, the mentally handicapped ginger boy (he was at least 21) was over the moon with excitement. We climb out of the bus for another photo opp and he's running around the group shouting 'This is the best vacation ever!' and yelling 'I'm feeling LOUD!' We haul ass back into the bus and are literally at the helm of this giant landscape. The driver tells us to buckle our seat belts and proceeds to drive through the rockiest, most unstable area I'd ever seen. I thought we'd tip over multiple times and he advised us to watch our heads on the windows as we were tossed around like salad.
Then, he advised we unbuckle our seat belts. Waiting for the universal 'why? you're crazy' he informed us that we'd be crossing through a shallow river and that should we tip over, our escape would be facilitated without the constricting seat belts. We gladly unbuckled them. Finally, our journey was almost complete. Aside from the cheesiness of it all, it was actually quite a feat to think of how the crew filmed in such a location. The small lump of a mountain is actually 600 ft. above sea level. It is nestled onto the valley floor and surrounding it is a wall of even higher peaks, some four times as large, forming a ring around the valley. Famous for reaching winds of up to 180km/hr, we were very lucky with the sunny, warm day. It's truly breathtaking to see it all. It's phenomenal, I've never seen anything like it in my life.
This is the moment when the driver unloads the legitimately real LOTR weapon props used in the movie and hands it to the true fanatics. He gave the ginger boy the axe to wield around like Gimli and we all slightly questioned this decision. I noticed the other passengers fearing for their lives should this kid swing too wildly and chop off someone's appendage. We kept our distances.
We hiked higher and higher, avoiding the cow dung, until we were at the top of the hill, or on the exact location where the great hall was constructed for the movie. Hammond held up photos to show us what it all looked like when it was built. He pointed to different spots where King Theoden pushed Wormtongue out of the hall and down the steps, and where Theoden mourned for his son by the grave.
My all time favourite part of the movie is in Part 3 when the lighting of the beacons occurs and I asked about the peak where it appeared. It's when Aragorn first sees it and comes rushing to tell the Rohan guys that Gondor is calling for aid. This ever-so-detailed question destroyed my skepticism about whether I truly fit in with all the nerds. I did.
At this point, Hammond was about to show us a particular area where a scene was filmed and he asked for a volunteer to help demonstrate. I was hanging back to take some photos when I overheard the scene he was describing, which called for a young blonde girl. I knew exactly what part he wanted to portray but it was only when the ginger-haired guy started shouting for me to come over did I realize I had no other choice. This is the kind of stuff that would happen to me or Kate. Everyone watched as I followed Hammond to the spot on the edge. He told me to look out in the right direction and stand still. There I was, Eowyn, princess of Edoras, and the other tourists snapped away their cameras with me the focus of the recreation!!!!!! See the comparison:
Wwwwwwow!!!!! The funniest thing is that all 12 other people on the bus will have this exact photo on their cameras to take home and show everyone because as I stood there, trying not to LMAO, they were all taking their photos of me. It was quite the moment in my life.I even got a pic of me holding a sword, which I won't post, it's just too embarassing...
There were a few other people also visiting the LOTR site in their own group. They were my age, also staying at Base, and they'd rented a camper van to go up to Mt. Sunday. It made me feel even more lame knowing that I was with the official tour haha. One of them asked me to get a group shot of everyone and I got talking to them. There were two guys and four girls, one guy from the States, and they all said to look them up when I get to Queenstown. Wow, what are the chances of meeting people THERE.
The rest of the tour included lunch and champagne back at the cabin. While the other nerds sat inside, I brought my food outside to sit quietly overlooking the gorgeous view. It was another unreal 'am I here' moment, ahhh. We all drove back into Christchurch and Mike picked me up and took me to Jamie's where we chilled and had Thai food. So here I am! What an adventurous two days. So amazing, what a great time so far in New Zealand. I love it here and can't wait for more.
Just to close, I want to say, Happy Bday SHPEE!!! Have such a great day and have fun in Whistler. Check out this special birthday message I did for YOU!! love ya xoxoxox
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryOK5wieg6s
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