“I saw a great picture taken from the air by the local paper, Mountain Scene.
They’re not willing to part with it though.
The image they have is of the top of some grand stone building with huge statuary on it. It’s being built on a knoll near Closeburn. There are blue squares that are being laid out next to it, they look like crash pads, so there might be some flying stunts planned to happen there.
Some people claim that the film co. have bought the property that this new set is on, but their publicist denies this. PJ may have bought a neighbouring bit of land here.
I saw the remains of the set by the Kawerau River, basically some polystyrene steps and bits of masonry, painted to look like slimy stone. Don’t know if they’ll rebuild in the same place. There used to be a natural stone arch or bridge there and it’s been washed away. The whole area is wasted by the floods and the water is still roaring with incredible speed and power all through the gorge, even though it hasn’t rained seriously since the floods.
Filming is still going on pretty intensively in the Paradise Valley. People reported seeing the forest filled with smoke during filming one day.”
