Okay, here it is, the day you’ve all been holding your breath for. (You may not have known it, but you were). But to start. Our journey began in mayhem. We stoutly (stoutly?) made our way to our ferry, which would take us from the south island to the north island and land in Wellington, an hour early. We arrived to find it deserted, therefore finding it difficult to find someone who could direct us to the proper location.
We at last found a man suited in a reflective yellow jacket who showed us where we were to go, commenting that we should hurry. We arrived at the proper ‘bridge’ moments later only to be informed by the woman at the dock that she had been trying to contact us and that it was 7:45 (our ferry leaving at 8). Unbeknownst to us, the previous night had been the ominous daylight savings, moving the clock forward by one hour. We congratulate our former hotel on pointing this out to us.
A little panicked, we managed to drive onto the boat a mere five or ten minutes before it pulled out. What followed were three horrible and painfully cold hours of nausea (for some of us at least). We gladly left the ferry after said event before heading off to our final destination, Mt. Victoria. To start, we got lost.
To add to our list of plights, our car was running low on gas, so stopped off at the nearest gas station. Sherry headed inside to locate a map. I followed after her several moments later. And who should we meet in this gas station but an orc! (No joke, I’m being serious). This particular orc fought at the battle for King Theoden’s Helm’s Deep in The Two Towers.
I might mention that the quarry where this scene was filmed is not far from where we were. However, it is on private land and therefore hard to access. It is also a barren quarry. All things of interest have been stripped and are now on tour. Please buy tickets if you wish to see them.
The orc did not look like one would suspect an orc to look like, sporting long (long) blond hair pulled into a ponytail, a T-shirt and shorts. Although he was on the slightly pudgy side and only a hair shorter (or perhaps taller) then me.
But to carry on. The orc directed us to the route that would take us up the mountain and to the observation tower. Unbeknownst to him the observatory, of course, was not our destination. However, we faithfully followed his directions up and around the mountain until we finally pulled to a glorious stop in front of the sign: Lord of the Rings, Filming Location.
We headed down the path, loyally following our meager map, hand written directions scrawled across it. Our next hint was a second sign boasting: Lord of the Rings, Filming Location, pointing up a path that branched off from the main one. We headed up the path, scanning the overgrown forests for any sign that this or that was the spot.
Not long after, we came to a clearing, where we suspected certain scenes had been filmed. To make everything as clear as can be, let me describe which scenes we were on the lookout for. Begin in the movie The Fellowship of the Rings. Fast forward to the scene titled (on the DVD scene selection menu) A Shortcut to Mushrooms. If one recalls, the hobbits (Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pipin) are wandering across Farmer Maggot’s (sp.) field. Merry and Pipin have raided the farmer’s crop. They hand the crops off to Sam when they collide with Frodo and Sam before taking off into the field.
The hobbits then come to the edge of a cliff before tumbling down it. Pause if you will as they are tumbling down the cliff. The field of crops was filmed somewhere else. I do not know where. But the tumble was filmed up the path and in the clearing we had found. The tumble was originally covered by a lot of grass and ferns. The trees were also covered in leaves because the scene was filmed in the summer. We were at the spot at the beginning of spring and five years after the scene had been filmed. Not only has the landscape changed slightly, but has been stripped of grass and ferns by the many eager, Lord of the Rings loving fans. It made the location a little more obvious.
We were having difficulty finding the other locations, which I will describe later on. So, we abandoned our quest for the time and continued on on the path, hoping that the scenes might possibly be further on. We sat down to lunch, only to be nearly run over by one of the many bikers we had seen along the way.
After our hearty lunch, we turned back and returned to the location of the tumble. I had purposely turned off on the incorrect path earlier because it looked interesting. Therefore, when I reached the clearing, I began to climb up the sloping hill, only to have Sherry point out that I had mistakenly taken the correct path and we were back at the spot.
I continued on never the less and climbed to the top of the mountain. I then turned around and made my way back down. Sherry had started to climb up after me, but had stopped to look at a rock, which she then claimed was another filming scene. Please return to your film. You will remember that the hobbits then fall off of a short drop and land on a path only to joyously find a patch of mushrooms.
Frodo begins to wander around the path, looking it up and down and commenting that he thinks they should “Get off the road.” We then see an impressive special effect as Frodo stares off into the forest, which creates a green tunnel that seems to widen and come closer to Frodo. Frodo proceeds to shout, “Get off the road!”
The hobbits, carrying their mushrooms, stumble off the side of the road and under a tree, which roots create a nice overhang. As the dramatic music plays, a Nazgul on horseback comes around the tree. Pause here. Sherry believed that the rock she was looking at was the overhand where the hobbit cowered in terror from the Nazgul. Let me point out that the large tree roots (and tree) they were hiding under, was not an actual real tree. It was manufactured and is therefore no longer there.
We snapped a couple pictures and returned to the path, debating about where the tunnel that Frodo saw might be. We decided it must be somewhere along the path before heading back to the car. But wait, our quest was not over. Dan pulled out our laptop and I inserted the first disk of The Fellowship of the Ring. We then proceeded to watch and examine the scene I have just described to you.
We then placed the laptop in our backpack and returned to the spot, only to realize that our previous assumptions had been incorrect. Forgive me for misleading you, but I will now set everything straight. Imagine a path, a hill sloping down to it and a second hill sloping down after the path to the end of the mountain. We are standing on the path.
Sloping down the bottom of the mountain is the spot where the hobbits tumbled, as we had assumed earlier. The area is fairly clear of trees and not very steep. Therefore, a nice and gentle roll. If you look at the movie you will realize that most of the tumble is shot from the side. There are four trees surrounding the spot, creating the illusion that they are narrowly avoiding trees. One can imagine when the trees have leaves and before the ground was trampled and stripped of grass, it would have fit the movie perfectly.
Now, the hobbits go over a small overhanging. Return to the path at the top of the tumble. There is a large tree, its many spindly branches hanging out over the path. Walk to and a little past the tree. This is where the hobbits went over the overhanging and landed. To make sure everything is clear, yes. The hobbits tumbled down a hill only to land back at the top of the same hill.
The mushrooms are no longer there, but they would be under the trees branches if they were there anymore. We assumed then that the tunnel was down the path we had walked up.
The final scene where the hobbits hide is none other then a hallowed out seat big enough to accommodate four hobbits at the top of the tumble. If you return to your movie and continue on from where the Nazgul appears from behind the tree. Right before he jumps off his horse you will see the camera lower itself so that you can only see the tops of the hobbits heads. This could never be accomplished if the surface was flat. It does look like where the hobbits are sitting is flat in the movie even though the area we were looking at was sloped, but after taking several pictures we realized it was very easy to make the area look flat even though it was not.
After walking back and forth several times, we pulled out our laptop and started up the scene again. We located the tree the mushrooms were under, pointed out the tree that is behind Frodo in the scene where he is glancing up and down the road while the others gather mushrooms and pointed out the tree that flashes past in the tumble.
If you were to continue watching the movie the Nazgul will exit and the hobbits will run off into the forest. Night will descend as the hobbits continue to run only to be confronted by the Nazgul several more times. All of this is filmed in the same forest, although it is unknown to us where. You may continue watching until the hobbits leave the forest and hop onto the ferry. The filming is no longer taking place in the forest, but somewhere else. I would also like to point out that there are several more scenes from the movie filmed in various locations around Mt. Victoria.
As a final note before our heroic quest filled with hobbits, Nazgul, deceptive rocks and over three hundred pictures ended. When we examined the film and the path side by side we realized the tunnel was not filmed in this location. We do not know where it was filmed, but it was certainly somewhere else on Mt. Victoria, perhaps on some path that we walked on, unknowing it was the true location of the filming of the tunnel.
