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It's an early start for 'The Pelennor Fields', sited just outside Twizel at the 'Ben-Ohau Station', and yet, oddly, it feels more like 10am than 7.30am as we trek onto the private land that was used to shoot the largest battle scenes in the film trilogy, as featured in 'Return of the King'.
Our site guide is Kieran, who played one of the Rohan riders ('I was second on the left from Theoden') and has a few anecdotes to tell about what it was like filming. He explains that it took two and a half weeks to get all 260 horses charging in a straight line. The road we have used to get to the location - in a straight line leading to a ridge where the charge started - was laid especially for the camera's, and Kieran explains that false perspective was used to show them killing orcs with large gaps between the horses and the orcs the riders were stabbing at, to avoid injuries to or from the horses. He says that with all their costumes and prosthetics the horses were genuinely terrified of the orcs, and took time to get used to them. He also relates an account of how the Rohan shields were so heavy that one girl fell off her horse but that this was used in the movie by digitally making it look as if she'd been hit by an orc arrow which had caused the fall.
		Kieran talks about the security that was in place, with each piece of costume bar-coded and checked out and checked back in at the end of each day. He says that all the costumes had to be kept as Peter Jackson wants to keep them for 'The Hobbit', which causes much animated talk in our tour group, but which needs to be taken with a very large grain of salt, I think. Interestingly no camera's were allowed on set but on a day off all the cast were given digital camera's to take pictures with, but which were taken away at the end of the day with the promise that all pictures taken would be given to the taker once 'Return of the King' was released. Before taking this trip I've wondered what a typical 'tour group' fan would be like, and looking around me I am reminded of Erica Challis' comment in a radio interview she did for the premiere: that there is no such thing as a 'typical' fan. All age ranges are represented here, and despite some initial concerns, only one or two strike me as 'clingy', or rather more 'intense' about the movies than might be considered healthy. The way one or two hang on to every word of our guide and become excited at his revelation that while Ian McKellen didn't really talk to any of the extra's much, Liv Tyler and Elijah Wood seemed very 'open', strikes me as rather 'stalkerish' and obsessive, but thankfully is not typical of the tour group members as a whole. It's a curious facet of these movies that every little detail gets pored over by the fans, and I'm sure that if I'd announced myself as the uncle of the boy whose son bought a jug of milk onto the set I'd have at least a couple of people begging me for my autograph! I quickly find myself in a slightly difficult predicament in that tour guide Erica Challis and I are the only ones present who've seen the third movie which includes the battle scenes that were filmed at this location. People point, confused, to two ridges, wanting to know which one they should be clicking their cameras away at. I don't have the heart to say 'Does it really matter?' and just say I can't remember. I get the feeling that one or two people think that I am withholding information and that when I say I don't tend to be watching every nuance of the background scenery the first time I see a film, I'm just using it as an excuse not to reveal the precise details. It's funny how just because you write for the fan club magazine people automatically assume you know everything about the movies and the book, no matter how much you protest that this isn't the case. The location itself is quite a contrast with 'Edoras' (Mount Potts) from yesterday. It has the same gorgeous mountains in the background that uplift the spirit, but it feels much more tranquil because there's no real breeze to speak of. I detach myself from the hubub of questions being directed at Kieran (several of which the poor chap can't possibly have an answer to) and just enjoy the scenery and sense of peace of the place. Alas, all too soon it's time to move on to our next destination. We have quite a long coach journey ahead of us - a good few hours, and the chance to catch up on sleep for those of us still trying to cope with the 6.30am start. Inside the coach the 'extras' from The Two Towers extended DVD are shown for those who don't want to sleep or watch the subtly changing scenery, which is never anything less than awe-inspiring. As we travel through small outposts or villages I'm struck by how neat and tidy everything is, with closely cut lawns and incredibly beautiful gardens so much the norm, one wonders if it's a condition of New Zealand citizenship that you have to be a keen gardener. Our lunch stop is Alexandra, which looks like it's one of the bigger towns on our maps, but turns out to be a small town with a single short high street. Perusing the stores it's noticeable, as it has been everywhere else, how the stores all feature 'Lord of the Rings' prominently. Ian Brodie's 'Location Guidebook', revised in November after being updated with new material based on The Two Towers Extended Edition, is already in its second printing and is absolutely everywhere - book shops, tourist shops, garages, chemists. As are most of the Harper Collins tie-in books to the third movie, which contrasts sharply with the UK where you really have to hunt them out in most book stores. There is some uncertainty about whether or not we can see our next location: the pine forests used for the chase scene in the first movie, where Arwen, carrying Frodo on horseback, is being chased by Black Riders. In the event it proves to be impossible as there are fences all round the property with farmer's trucks lurking near the entrance. It transpires that the site has recently been sold to a new farmer who is not so accommodating of tourists on his land as the previous owner had been. We've seen enough from the coach windows anyway - the scene is instantly recognisable. Our next stop is 'Rohan', featured in several scenes in the movie - Eomer and the Riders of Rohan surrounding Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, Legolas standing looking for signs of the orcs that have taken Merry and Pippin, Pippin dropping his brooch, the burning of the Rohan village, to name just a few. The farmer who owns the land steps on our bus and proves to be an entertaining, if rather eccentric, character. He tells of the history of the land, how rabbits are a real pest and it would cost more to poison them than the land is worth, but that a recent virus outbreak has helped with the problem. It's clear that he's had something of a harsh life as a farmer, although one feels that his hopes that the movies, which he says are 'just starting to make people interested in visiting the sites', will bring in a large number of lucrative visitors, may be slightly misplaced. He and his wife run 'one of the oldest hotels' and have installed a new toilet block on the premises, but one wonders if the cost can ever be recouped. He knows the locations used intimately, but, alas, his knowledge of the books or the actual movies themselves seem hazy, to say the least. Numerous references to 'Arrowgone and Legalo' cause sniggers to be (badly) stifled, but his enthusiasm and attempt to really make the trip memorable win most over. We're a relatively quiet crowd, so his attempts to get us to 'act out' movie scenes on the original locations meet with a large amount of apathy. Things get slightly bizarre when he produces a set of bagpipes and insists on leading a small group re-enacting the orcs scene from the movie where the army is carrying Merry and Pippin. The re-enactment over, our guide positions himself over by one large rock and starts to grapple with the bagpipes. Unfortunately, the bagpipes appear to win, although some present swear they heard bars from 'Amazing Grace' during the cacophonous demonstration. The Rohan village set is interesting because, as is explained on the extended edition DVDs, the fires actually got out of control. We find large burnt trunks near where the villager's huts had originally been sited.
At the end of our little tour (which has been a hike of probably about two hours) we are taken back to the afore-mentioned hotel. The farmer and his wife are clearly proud of their recent refubishment and the piano they have in the bar, but the dank smell and general sparseness causes more than a few raised eyebrows given the hard-sell we've been given about the place. It's clearly aimed at backpackers on a very tight budget who are not overly concerned about anything other than a bed for the night, and at just NZ$20/night (about £8) it seems churlish to turn one's nose up. We reach our hotel for the night, The Golden Gate Lodge, in Cromwell at about 6pm - too late for any of the shops other than the supermarket to be open. It's a spartan, rather antisceptic environment - everything's neat and tidy, even the incredibly tacky large sculptured fruit that form the main entrance to the little community. It's like a ghost town, and although one can't help but be impressed by the beautiful scenery and mountans that appear to surround the community, there is something quite unsettling about the place. It reminds me of my trip to the tourist town of Sedona in Arizona - the sort of place that's nice to visit when the weather's nice and the place is busy, but not much fun when the tourists aren't around. Most of the tour decline the invitation from tour guide Ben to eat in the main restaurant, preferring to just eat in their rooms. I forego the usual web log processing and decide on an early night. Before I settle down I watch the local news, and 'Lord of the Rings' is still heavily featured, despite the cast being long gone. 'Soundbite' interviews with the cast members praising New Zealand are broadcast, together with a story about the New Zealand fly-by on premiere day which also buzzed a children's school at one of the teacher's requests. The pilot and Bruce Hopkins have apparently visited the school to thank the kids for their support (they'd formed themselves into groups that said 'Thanks' and could be seen from the air by the pilot), and again I'm impressed by how much Bruce does to promote these movies, all under his own steam and, one suspects, for no real remuneration other than the joy of doing the job and meeting people. It's another early morning tomorrow as we head off at 7.30am to Te Anau and the locations used for 'The Breaking of the Fellowship' and a chance to take a helicopter ride, plane tour or jetboat trip down the River Anduin (aka Waui) Back to Day 11 report Forward to Day 13 report Stay tuned for future reports (indicated by a photo appearing in the main Itinerary calendar)

Email: ian@iansmith.co.uk