Day 1 Arrive Auckland

On arrival in Auckland collect your rental car, and make your way to the Crowne Plaza Hotel for 2 nights.

Day 2 Auckland

Today visit Kelly Tarltons Underwater World and the Auckland Skytower. The rest of the day is at leisure.

Day 3 Auckland/Matamata/Rotorua

Depart Auckland for Matamata. See the remnants of the original Hobbiton village set from The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy on picturesque private farmland near Matamata. There are spectacular views across to the Kaimai Ranges from the rolling green hills of the farm. Although the Hobbiton movie set has been returned to its natural state, hobbit holes and some structures from the film set are still present. Continue on to Rotorua. 2 nights Park Heritage.

Day 4 Rotorua

Today entrance to the Rainbow Springs, Rainbow Farm Show & the Kiwi Encounter are included. Entrance to Whakarewarewa village is also included.

Day 5 Rotorua/Taupo

Depart Rotorua for Taupo. Scenes involving the dark lord Sauron’s domain of Mordor are represented in the films by the rocky plateau of Tongariro National Park, a dual World Heritage Area dominated by its three active volcanoes, Ngauruhoe, Tongariro and Ruapehu. Other worldly formations, sulphuric pools and hot springs add to the strangeness of the barren landscape. Though the summit of the famous volcano, Ruapehu, is not to be seen on screen out of respect for the wishes of the native Maori people to whom it is sacred, nearby Mount Tongariro served as the menacing Mount Doom. The area was used to film the prologue of The Fellowship of the Rings (the battle marking the end of the Second Age of Middle Earth) was shot in the off-season at Whakapapa ski area, on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu. The slopes near Pinnacle Ridge and the car park are where the orcs attacked Elrond and his army, and digital ‘characters’ were later added to create the vast orc host. 2 nights at The Caboose.

Day 6 Taupo

At leisure. Lake Taupo offers some of the best trout fishing in New Zealand and is an ideal location for all kinds of water sports for the thousands of holidaymakers who visit here each year.

Day 7 Taupo/Napier

Depart Taupo for Napier. Napier is a family resort area and offers many attractions for visitors. Surrounding Napier and its neighbour Hastings, are rich farming lands supporting vast orchards, vineyards and sheep farming. After 1931′s violent earthquake and subsequent fires (256 people lost their lives) most of Napier’s commercial heart was destroyed. Napier’s harbour sustained a massive upheaval and 4000 hectares of new land was formed. The people of Napier rebuilt their city – which has lent an ‘art deco’ flavour to the downtown area. Napier’s Art Deco style is unique with its Maori motifs and the buildings of Louis Hay.

Overnight Te Pania Hotel

Day 8 Napier/Wellington

Depart Napier for Wellington.

Wellington, capital of New Zealand, was used as a base of operations for The Lord of the Rings production. Here Peter Jackson and the cast and crew recorded the studio scenes including Edoras and Helm’s Deep interiors featured in The Two Towers and performed all the post production work. The city’s iconic landmark, Mount Victoria, also provided the backdrop for some key scenes, including those where the hobbits hide from the Black Rider, and later, when they race to catch the ferry with the Rider in hot pursuit. Wellington’s Miramer Peninsula served as the outskirts of Bree, and the Prancing Pony and village of Bree were built around army barracks at Fort Dorset, in Seatoun. 2 nights West Plaza.

Day 9 Wellington

You will be collected from your hotel for your full day Lord of the Rings tour. Visit film locations for the Outskirts of the Shire, The Race to the Ferry, Dunharrow, Village of Bree, Rivendell, Fords of Isen, Gardens of Isengard, River Anduin, Minas Tirith and Helms Deep with your friendly informative storytelling guide. Lunch is included.

Day 10 Wellington/Picton/Nelson

Depart your accommodation for the Wellington Ferry Terminal. Drop your rental car and depart on the Interisland ferry. On arrival in Picton, collect your South Island rental car and depart for Nelson. 2 nights The Rutherford Hotel.

Day 11 Nelson

At leisure. Beautiful Nelson, famous for its sunshine, artisans and stunning coastline, provided two of the trilogy’s more spectacular locations – Mount Owen, which doubled as Dimril Dale hillside, and Mount Olympus, where the rocky outcrops served as the Eregion Hills and the rough country south of Rivendell. It was on Mount Olympus that the fellowship took cover from the crebain, the black crows of Dunland that were Saruman’s winged spies. Both locations are within Kahurangi National Park, one of three magnificent National Parks located in the Nelson region. The crew had to be transported by helicopter to these remote and isolated sites.

Day 12 Nelson/Punakaiki

Depart Nelson for Punakaiki. A visit to the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes is highly recommended. Overnight Punakaiki Rocks Villas

Day 13 Punakaiki/Franz Josef

Depart Punakaiki for Franz Josef. 2 nights Punga Grove.

Day 14 Franz Josef

Today is at leisure to relax and explore. The best observed and recorded of all the country’s many glaciers, Franz Josef lies 25 kilometres to the north of Fox and was named after the Austrian emperor by Julius Von Haast, the first European to explore the glaciers here. View the glacier from the lookout point at the end of the Franz Josef Road.

Day 15 Franz Josef/Wanaka

Depart Franz Josef for Wanaka. The Lord of the Rings literally dropped out of the skies into the small farming village of Tarras. Searching for open plains dotted with trees and some forest, no fences, no houses and uninterrupted views from flat land to snowtopped mountains, the crew descended in helicopters onto the banks of the Clutha River just outside Tarras township. Here, their crews filmed many of the sequences featuring the Black Riders as they searched for Frodo, pursuing him across the golden plains, and of the Orc attacks on the Fellowship. In all, crews were in this area for a month, filming many of the most immediately recognisable scenes of The Fellowship of the Ring, including Arwen and Frodo galloping through the trees to the Ford of Bruinen. Overnight Mt. Aspiring Hotel.

Day 16 Wanaka/Queenstown

Depart Wanaka for Queenstown.

Nestled on the shores of Lake Wakatipu Queenstown is a year-round alpine resort that caters for all interests. It enjoys a magnificent setting amid steep mountain ranges and pockets of native bush with the jagged peaks of the Remarkables Range rising from the lake. The town is compact enough to travel around on foot and features over 100 restaurants. The lake was scooped out by glacial action thousands of years ago. A mysterious phenomenon causes the lake to vary several inches in depth every few minutes.

The majestic beauty of New Zealand’s adventure capital was an ideal setting to capture Tolkien’s Middle Earth, and the cast and crew fell in love with the dramatic mountain scenery of this region. There were also many scenes shot in the areas around Queenstown. The hilltop of Deer Park Heights (800m) was used for locations in all three films, including the scene where Gandalf rides to Minas Tirith on the West Road to Gondor, and the scene where the refugees escape from Rohan. The snowcapped Remarkables, which tower above Queenstown, doubled as the slopes of Dimrill Dale, down which Aragorn leads the fellowship to Lothlorien after their ordeal in the Mines of Moria.

Day 17 Queenstown

You will be collected from your hotel for The ‘Safari of the Rings’ tour – a scenic charter that gives a spectacular look at the diversity of the scenery in the area. It is based around several of the specific sites where filming took place. These are real places; there are no film sets; they are areas of outstanding natural beauty that need no enhancement. Here it is possible to experience the magical atmosphere captured in the film.

Day 18 Queenstown

3 day ski pass is included. Lift Pass only for Coronet Peak, The Remarkables or Mt Hutt. Spend the day skiing.

Days 19 & 20 Queenstown

Enjoy two more days of skiing.

Day 21 Queenstown

Today is at leisure to relax and explore.

Day 22 Queenstown/Milford/Te Anau

Depart Queenstown for Milford Sound.

Remote, mysterious and uniquely New Zealand, Milford Sound is a spectacular reminder of the forces of nature that shaped this land. Formed thousands of years ago during the ice ages, Milford Sound is the northernmost fiord in Fiordland National Park and is, without doubt, the most dramatic. Here in this place of unparalleled beauty, you will find cascading waterfalls, luxuriant forests and the towering pinnacle of Mitre Peak, rising one full mile to the sky. No matter what the fiord’s mood, shrouded in mist or with sun glistening on deep waters, it will inspire you. Board your cruise with Red Boats.

Areas near Milford Sound in the Fiordland National Park provided many scenic locations for the trilogy, including scenes involving Isengard, Lothlorien and Amon Hen at nearby Glenorchy. Further afield, the Te Anau region – gateway to Fiordland – provided locations for Nen Hithoel, Silverlode River and Fangorn Forest.

After your cruise make your way to Te Anau. Overnight Te Anau Hotel and Villas.

Day 23 Te Anau/Queenstown

This small town at the edge of Lake Te Anau and the massive Fiordland National Park was a base for several of The Two Towers locations including the Great River Anduin and Fangorn Forest. Given the extremely high rainfall in the region (over 400 inches a year in some parts of the park), both wetlands and dense, moss covered rainforest are features of the area. The Waiau River, which flows between Lake Te Anau and Lake Manapouri, became Anduin for part of the fellowship’s journey, prior to their arrival at the Brown Lands. Towering above the deep blue waters of Lake Manapouri, near Te Anau, the bushclad Kepler mountains provided another spectacular location. Amid their peaks, the remote Norwest Lakes were used to represent the rugged country south of Rivendell. The opening sequence of the Flight to the Ford, showing Arwen and Frodo fleeing from the Black Riders, was also filmed here.

Depart Te Anau for Queenstown. Overnight Villa del Lago.

Day 24 Queenstown/Twizel

Depart Queenstown for Twizel. Overnight Mackenzie Country Inn.

Day 25 Twizel/Christchurch

Twizel lies just down the road from Mt Cook/Aoraki National Park, where the spectacular opening scenes of The Two Towers were filmed. This mountain town, set in the heart of the McKenzie Basin, was used extensively for scenes involving Rohan. Ben Ohau Station, a working high country sheep station nestled at the foot of the Southern Alps, provided the plains of Rohan where Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli pursue the Orcs at the start of the film. In the third and final film of the trilogy, The Return of the King, Ben Ohau became the setting for the pivotal battle of Pelennor Field as well as the Eastemnet Gullies.

Depart Twizel for Christchurch.

2 nights Rydges Hotel.

Day 26

At leisure

Day 27 Depart Christchurch

Return your rental car. Check in for your onwards flight.