The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook

The Good: During June/July of 2003 I had the unbelievable opportunity to spend 6 weeks exploring New Zealand (this was before the revision of the book to include the Return of the King locations). As a lover of Tolkien and the LOTR movies I knew I could not miss seeing some of the filming locations used to portray 'Middle-Earth.' Ian Brodie's location guide is a godsend! I do strongly recommend renting a 4WD vehicle - the best locations are way off the beaten path and there is no other way to get to them!North Island Highlights - 1) Visit the remains of the Hobbiton set in Matamata. Even without the remaining Hobbit hole facades, this lush green country is instantly recognizable as the Shire. To walk up the same stone steps at Bag End that Gandalf climbed is unbelievable. If you're lucky, you'll get one of the Alexander brothers as your guide!2) Do not miss the opportunity to reenact the "get of the road" hobbit sequence on Mt Victoria. We had a bit of trouble finding the spot as much of the smaller brush and shrubbery had recently been trimmed, but once you're there you will recognize the location (focus on finding the older tree growth)!3) Spend some time in Kaitoke Regional Park - aside from the lush vegetation you won't recognize anything directly from the movie, but the park is gorgeous and offers several walking trails.South Island Highlights - 1) You MUST make the trek out to Erewhon/Mt Sunday. This was one of the best days of my trip. It is a long unpaved road and an endless drive deep into what seems like the middle of nowhere, but very much worth it! Mt Sunday/Edoras is instantly recognizable and you'll hardly notice that Meduseld isn't still standing there in all its glory. The Rangitata Valley is immense and breathtaking. There simply aren't words to describe the experience. Oh yeah, and it really is windy!2) Queenstown, Queenstown, Queenstown! Do not short yourself on time in this adventure capital of New Zealand! You will recognize the Remarkables, overlooking Queenstown, from the movie immediately - they were used in many landscape shots in the film. Deer Park Heights is amazing - the LOTR locations are labelled with small guide markers, but also take your time to enjoy the animals roaming the preserve! When you find the tiny mountain tarn Peter Jackson used to film the refugees escaping Rohan you will truly come to understand this man's genius and vision! One of the Glenorchy Dart River safaris out of Queenstown is the best way to see the Isenguard location!3) The second greatest day of my New Zealand trip was yet another long unpaved drive to the Mavora Lakes. I can't stress 4WD, common sense, and following speed signs in unpaved locations enough here - going slightly too fast at a road bend, we did at one point lose traction and drive staight off the road. Nonetheless, this worthwhile drive hits several locations. Without a GPS device, you'll find the burning Orc hill/Fangorn Forest location easiest by lining up the mountains to

It has been interesting reading the reviews of my book. As a Tolkien fan for the last 32 years I wanted people to enjoy the scenery of New Zealand as it relates to Middle-earth.Certainly there are more than 3 locations easily accessible. In fact, 90% of the locations listed in this book are accessible by car. There are very few (about 6) that are only helicopter accessible.The GPS co-ordinates are listed to enable some fans to find the exact spots. They have been checked to within 5 metre accuracy.The book is not intended as a travel guide to NZ, hence the sparseness of maps. I would recommend any visitor purchasing a good NZ atlas as well.My major disappointment with this book is the small pictures - but the book is a guide to allow people to pit it in glove-boxes or backpacks.A much larger coffee-table version will be released later this year with more pages and much bigger pictures.

I just returned from New Zealand. This book is everywhere there at substancially more money.It is supposedly a best seller there.That aside if you want to know about where some of the movie sites are, this book will pinpoint it down for you. It is a good thing to read before you go. Many, many of the sites are on private land there and you can't get to them, others are way, way down dirt roads and best accessable by 4x4,car rental companies severly frown on using their cars on unpaved roads. The GPS coordinates are in the book and you may want to try to find them yourself. However, several local tour companies have sprung up, especially in the Queenstown and Matamata area, that use this book and will take you to the exact locations quickly. I found the book a real asset in that it not only told you things about the movie but also delved into interesting related sites, like what to see in Wellington or Te Anua. I learned from the book that Hobbiton is still partially in existance, far of in the middle of a huge sheep station, only accessible by a local tour company. To know that is worth the price of the book.

Having just returned from NZ on a self-guided Lord of the Rings tour using this book as our map, we found it very good in providing details of what was filmed where and whether it was feasible to get there without a helicopter tour or how much driving would be involved on gravel roads etc. Some directions were a little difficult to discern on the ground (not having access to a GPS)but we eventually found our way to all of the sites we wanted to get to (we visited about 20 locations mentioned in the book)- you will usually find some other fanatic wandering around in the remote location carrying this same guidebook. If you are planning a trip to NZ and want to see some LOTR sites, get this book. It also provides information on other interesting things to do in these film locations.

We were in New Zealand last February when we found the version that preceded this one. It was a WONDERFUL book because it was concise, yet full of details. Each of the major sites was described with pictures, text, maps, directions, and even GPS coordinates. We went to about a half dozen of the sites, and loved the book as a companion to our travels. The sites are, in general, not marked, and we would have found them only by using this book. For "Lord of the Ring" aficionados traveling to New Zealand, this is "must have" book!