South Island time to kill - Lord Of the Rings places requested.

[jbauer]

I'm the "San Franciscan in New Zealand" and am planning to ride the Southern Cross with some of y'all in about a month. When the rally is over, I plan to chill in the South Island for a while and soak it in.

I've never been to the South Island before (do you capitalize it when you write it?) and am looking for suggestions of great places - that I can plug into my GPS, if possible, of MUST GO TO places. So I admit, I'm a big movie buff, and I loved the Lord Of the Rings - would LOVE to visit some key spots that are relevant. I also loved "The Worlds Fastest Indian" and would visit any relevant spots (a museum?) based around Bert Munro (corrected - thanks Maximusdemeritus!) and his life...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can give me!

- Jon

[Madness]

Thats Bert Munro.

Sorry, I'm a North Islander, but we do have LOTR sites here in Wellington too.

[Bass]

I was in Invercargill last Christmas and the museum had a Burt Munro section open. I don't know whether that is still true, however.
Oreti beach, the beach racing scene, and where Burt competed regularly is only about 8 km out of town. I think his shed in Bainfield Road is long gone now though.

[Lissa]

I got given the Lord of the Rings location Guidebook one year.. never read it.

South Island:
Takaro Road - Fangorn Forest
Ida Valley and poolburn - Rohan
Takaka Hill - Cheetwood Forest
Kawarau River - Pillar of the kings

I have some information from the book if want to know more just pm me.

[xwhatsit]

Thats Bert Munro.

No it's not you great bollocks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Munro

[crazybigal]

castle hill, near arthurs pass on the way to christchurch
http://www.flickr.mud.yahoo.com/phot...-21963825@N00/

http://travel.webshots.com/album/71327501RXnAlM

queestown sets, most were out in glenorchy, 45min drive from queenstown, worth a visit.

north Mavora lake was also in the first movie,(Fangorn Forest & Nen Hithoel)
i remember being on the beach there oneday and remembered seeing it in the movie.
http://tramping.ferguson.org.nz/mavora/image005.htm
http://www.beechwoodlodge.com/lotr_film.htm

most other queenstown sets were small and dont really exist anymore.
http://www.queenstown.nz.com/lord-of-the-rings.aspx

another good site,http://www.destination-nz.com/page.p...tent/lotr.html

[Jantar]

How did a question on places to visit in the South Island turn into a debate on how Bert/Burt Munro's name is Spelt. Well at least I can clear up that question so we can get back on topic.

From the biography of Burt Munro by Tim Hanna, "One Good Run". In the introduction on Page 9 it says "Readers will notice that Burt begins life as Bert; this is deliberate as he only adopted the former spelling after his first trip to America". Further on the book explains how his name was misspelled on his American documentation (as in an article published Motorcyclist Magazine), and it was easier to change the way he spelt his name than to try and get the magazine changed. So, in New Zealand it was Bert Munro, and in USA it was Burt Munro.

[Bass]

So, in New Zealand it was Bert Munro, and in USA it was Burt Munro.

Well bugger me!!! (no not an invitation) Invercargill is my home town and both my parents knew Bert / Burt, but I never knew that.

[darryn1]

beautiful scenery down here. hit picton, go over the queen charlotte drive to havelock, then do the whangamoas to nelson. head out past richmond and turn in to follow the golden downs forestry through to st arnaud. hang a right and follow the buller river into murchison, then head on to greymouth. from there to hokitika / ross is a short dtrop until you're back on the west coast heading down to fox glacier / franz glacier. then the haast pass is an outstanding, beatutiful ride. the gates of haast are spectacular too with waterfalls next to the windy road. plenty of laybys and photo pertunities there. once you come out of the haast at makaroroa it's just a quick buzz up the coast and inland a bit to lake hawea and wanaka. wanaka to queenstown via the cardrona road is brilliant. from queenstown down is spectacular anywhere you go. lindis pass from queenstown/cromwell will get you through to omarama and then you're in mackenzie country going past mt cook, lake pukaki and lake tekapo which are all very scenic. once you're out of there you'll come out at a stones throw from geraldine / temuka / timaru. anywhere else after that is brilliant roads too. i'd watch for highway patrol anywhere in the tasman district (nelson / marlborough - as they seem to have a very poor sense of humor and will lurk miles from anywhere just to snatch poor innocent speedsters). anywhere else - they seem to be not as nazi like, and 3 weeks ago when i approached a marked ar at 155km/h down near wanaka, all i got was a finger shaken at me. you'd get stung for 111km/h in marlborough.
good luck with the ride, it'll be fantastic. enjoy.

[Mr Merde]

Call in at the Wanaka Aeroplane Museum and ask to talk to Ian Brodie. He wrote the guide to LOTR locations and loves to talk about them.

[Madness]

No it's not you great bollocks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Munro

It's closer than what he had originally; Bob Monroe???
Anyway, go play with your cylinder head.

[T.W.R]

Rangitata headwaters (Erewhon/Mesipotamia stations)

Access through Ashburton lakes ( Clearwater & Camp ) via Mt Somers

[Jantar]

beautiful scenery down here. hit picton, go over the queen charlotte drive to havelock, then do the whangamoas to nelson. head out past richmond and turn in to follow the golden downs forestry through to st arnaud. hang a right and follow the buller river into murchison, then head on to greymouth. from there to hokitika / ross is a short dtrop until you're back on the west coast heading down to fox glacier / franz glacier. then the haast pass is an outstanding, beatutiful ride. the gates of haast are spectacular too with waterfalls next to the windy road. plenty of laybys and photo pertunities there. once you come out of the haast at makaroroa it's just a quick buzz up the coast and inland a bit to lake hawea and wanaka. wanaka to queenstown via the cardrona road is brilliant. from queenstown down is spectacular anywhere you go. lindis pass from queenstown/cromwell will get you through to omarama and then you're in mackenzie country going past mt cook, lake pukaki and lake tekapo which are all very scenic. once you're out of there you'll come out at a stones throw from geraldine / temuka / timaru. anywhere else after that is brilliant roads too. .......good luck with the ride, it'll be fantastic. enjoy.

Darryn1, I don't believe jbauer will have time for the luxury of the route you suggest. He only has 48 hours ,from mid-day on 25th April to Mid-day on 27th April, to get from East Cape to Bluff. However us Southerners will set him out on the more scenic parts of the South Island for the trip north.

[shafty]

Darryn1, I don't believe jbauer will have time for the luxury of the route you suggest. He only has 48 hours ,from mid-day on 25th April to Mid-day on 27th April, to get from East Cape to Bluff. However us Southerners will set him out on the more scenic parts of the South Island for the trip north.

I'm assuming he's thinking "post the SX" Jantar - not a lot of time for sight seeing huh!

Also CHEERS for the heads up on the book - its gotta be compulsory reading for any Kiwi/Any Kiwi bike lover

[Karma]

Personally I wouldn't bother going and looking for LOTR scenes... most of the film was evidently put together from many different locations and so you'll never see anything worthwhile anyway. We took a drive out to the location of Rivendell, but found that it had all been taken down and replanted, so we were in what could have been any old forest.

Save yourself some time and do something worthwhile, snowboarding in queenstown (right time of year?) or something like Fox Glacier is always worth a look see.