Swords in Paradise
Leaving Glenorchy the tour group next visited Paradise Valley in Mt. Aspiring National Park. We stopped at the site of Middle Earth’s Lothlorian Forest. Francesco Garino, our guide, took out some Lord of the Rings costumes for us to wear. Cloaks, pointed hats … and swords. Don’t know whether these were Weta-made or screen-used. Watch […]
Glenorchy: A real-world window to Middle Earth
48 kilometers, or 28 miles north of Queenstown is the small settlement of Glenorchy (population 318 as of 2018 census), which lies at the northern end of Lake Wakatipu. Peter Jackson filmed Lord of the Rings around the neighboring mountains. Naturally, tour groups come to visit here. This is the boat shed with emphemera inside […]
The Road to Middle Earth
New Zealand is known as the shooting location for Middle Earth. It’s also the home of Weta Workshop, the production company that created the makeup, armour, weapons, costumes, and special visual effects. So naturally, I had to take a Lord of the Rings tour. Researching on the web, I found one “My Queenstown Diary” webpage […]
My Trip to New Zealand Begins
It took about a month of planning–figuring out what places to visit, how to travel to each, the availability of the transportation, the kind of transportation, the time and distance it took to walk to the accommodations, the availability of the accommodations, making sure I filled government requirements for passage, adjusting flights to allow time […]
The World’s Top 25 Media Franchises
At Visual Capitalist, Katie Jones reports on “The World’s 25 Most Successful Media Franchises, and How They Stay Relevant,” published November 22, 2019. Click here for details.
