New Zealand: Journey to Middle Earth
As they say, no trip to New Zealand is complete without a visit to “The Lord of the Rings” movie location. As an avid fan of “The Lord of the Rings," I visited three movie locations: Mt. Victoria in Wellington, the Hobbiton Movie Set (a bit cheesy) and Edoras. And the most impressive was my journey to Edoras. (Sorry, for the reference to those of you who have not read “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy or seen the movies.) In J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictional Middle-Earth, Edoras is the capital city in the kingdom of Rohan, built atop a rocky outcrop in a valley surrounded by craggy mountains. The countryside of Rohan is a land of pastures and lush tall grassland that is frequently windswept. Peter Jackson brought this fictional place to life in the film “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” which was filmed on location in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. Many scene shots were taken from the Rangitata Valley. The movie set was built on top of the hill called Mount Sunday (Edoras). ...