On we speed from the movie set back towards civilization. Well, to Clearwater anyway. The time is getting on to near 8:00 am now and the sun is climbing into the sky. Pretty soon the still air will be disturbed as the legendary winds begin their journey from the head of the valley. We power out past the horse stabling areas and on past the FX sheds. All are quiet as everyone has either headed out to the set or they are resting up, their early morning preparation shifts over. Speaking of shifts, we chuck the dark lord into 5th and leave a huge plume of dust in our wake…
As we wind towards the bridge we look back, casting our gaze nor-west for perhaps (very likely in fact) our last view of Edoras, The Seat Of the Mark. I still cannot impress on the reader enough, the magnificence of the setting. Whilst the actual set itself, perched high upon Mount Sunday, is a marvel of engineering and film-making magic it is the setting for all of this that boggles the mind. The river valley is absolutely vast, bordered on all sides by tussock and scree-covered hills/mountains. The river is but a shade of it’s former self, resulting in a wide gravel and tussock plain. It is like another world – Middle Earth in fact. Tis a pity the mighty Sauron is not blessed with chunky tires and 4WD ability – look out – it’s Minas Tirith!
Over the bridge and up the hill, along the long gravel road until Lake Clearwater. It certainly looks like it was made by Hobbits. Through the gate and all is quiet. We decide to head down to lakeside and quaff a few provisions. It has after all been quite a morning’s adventure. Our meager travel rations expended we decide on a wee jaunt through the town. Leaving Sauron to rest outside a pokey villa, we ramble through the dusty narrow streets. We find signs of recent activity but all is now deserted. Here and there schedules are taped to doors and clothes are drying on verandahs but not even a mouse stirs. Atop the main hill of the town is a large portable shower complex that sticks out like a sore thumb (apologies – kiwi colloquialism). It is not nearly as rustic as it’s surrounds and screams money!
Walking back downhill to find our mighty steed we come across a new edition to the ring family. RING 4. Narya, Nenya, Vilya and now Toyota!
With not much else happening in Clearwater we decide to be on our way. Our journey now leads us to the plains town of Methven, a gateway to Mt Hutt Ski Field and home base for the bigwigs and supply lines of the Lord Of The Rings production. We hope to mingle this evening with the stars, if indeed they are out on the town letting their hair down. Back through Mt Somers we speed; it is unlikely that even Shadowfax (let alone the local highway patrol) could keep up with Gauthaur and his passengers.
After the principle filming wrapped for Lord Of The Rings, Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) travelled to a farm in Northland. The farm had been “taken over” by the production so they could do all the horsey things they needed to do for the film. Apparently Viggo turned up in a limousine dressed in boots with a full length weathered coat and scraggly long hair. With him was the girl who had been hired to tend his horse; the one he had primarily ridden in the film. He then proceeded to negotiate a price for the horse and also one for the girl. I do not know the price but it was quite a princely sum. The intention was for her to travel to the states to continue caring for the horse.
Attached is 4 pictures of the horse ridden at a horse trial by one of NZ’s foremost show riders.
– looking towards the Rangitata river valley towards Mt Sunday (above right of right shoulder) from the Clearwater road.
– looking south from the Mount Sunday summit.
– looking east from the Mount Sunday summit – same as the view from the trailer (almost).
– looking east from the Mount Sunday summit – same as the view from the trailer (if I had a wide-angle lense!!!).
– looking west from the Mount Sunday summit – inc. trig station (which I scratched my name into of course!).
– looking north from the Mount Sunday summit – view of the car park built by the movie crew (in the process of being covered up).
– the trig station on the summit of Mount Sunday – vandalised by me on the dates shown… }8)
They have done a good job putting the place back to normal. The road they built up the back of the hill has either been removed or covered over with soil. The whole road is covered in grass seed and the odd tussock seedling. The wind however has other ideas so I wish them luck in getting anything to grow. The wind rips through that valley at a tremendous rate – I was picking grass seeds out of my teeth for a few days…
Super Ringer Spy Glaurung shared with us his adventures in the South Island looking for Middle-earth. Read on!
PART TWO
Journey To The Crossroads
Then before us (well, on the right actually) appeared the still waters of Lake Camp (now known as the Bywater). The road follows the edge of the lake and descends upon the small community of Clearwater. As we drove in we weren’t exactly ready for anything. The early start and bumpy gravel road were not a good combination. As we entered the township we drove smack-bang into an assembling convoy! The main road continues up the valley with the village on the right (and Lake Camp on the left); a gate (open thankfully) straddles the road level with the boathouse at the western end of the lake. Before us a wagon train (if you will) was forming. 4WD vehicles and utes churning up the dust and heading through the gate towards the movie set…
Flight To The Ford
So what to do? Well, what any other sane Ringer fan worth his salt at half past six in the morning would do! After a few seconds of heated debate (and the odd change of gear) “boot” was planted and we joined right in! The Mighty Sauron was stuck between a mighty Holden HQ ute and a fairly large Pajero 4WD. As we drove along at rather a fast whack (wishing Sauron had bigger wheels and just a touch more suspension and ground clearance), we debated how good an idea this was and whether the personalised registration plate at each end of the vehicle would aid us, or count against us…
The Passing Of The Grey Company
Onward we travelled, ever wincing at approaching vehicles and wondering just when someone would notice the Dark Lord in their midst. I had driven this road before but not at such a speed and never in convoy with the very subject of our covert mission. And I didn’t remember the road being this long!!! Finally down the hill we spiralled, and out onto the plain that was the domain of the new-age Rohirrim…
The first sign of civilization came upon our left: the horses and accompanying equipment dominating a large fenced pasture, opposite (on the other side of the road) were a myriad of tents and outbuildings housing Technical (if the signs were at all accurate). We slunk on past in our dusty convoy as the odd vehicle peeled off to no doubt deliver their occupants to another days’ hard work. The road soon climbs away on the right side of the valley and starts to wind again around hillocks and through the odd ford. All the while, Edoras looms large to our left looking very quiet and still (it is only half-past dawn after all). Suddenly through the dust brake lights are shining and we are soon upon the entrance to the set. More debate and indecision followed by a moment of clarity as we suddenly decide not to chance our arm too much! A higher gear is chosen and on past the gateway and up the valley we speed…
The end of the road is the entrance to Erewhon station , a rather large high-country sheep farm way out at the back of beyond.
We bring the mighty Sauron to a stop and exit the vehicle to stretch our legs and soak in the rather freezing backwater air.
Farewell To Lorien
After much banter concerning our good fortune thus far, and a fair bit of marvelling at just how much dust your average Dark Lord can accumulate after 35 kilometres of dirt road, we started back towards the Seat Of The Mark. From this side of Edoras the road that has been built up the back of the hill is in plain site. It remains to be seen how well the landscape is returned to its original state once the movie people have left. From the scale of the vehicles travelling up that hill road it would seem to be quite the permanent structure. But this is the least of our worries as we ride along the ridge road, the sun in our eyes and surely reflecting our presence back for the whole world to see (alas, silver is not the best colour for a vehicle in bright sunlight trying to travel in seclusion). We approach the turn-off to the set (now on our right) and find all is quiet – with much haste we leave Edoras in our wake and make a hasty retreat…
Ignore what you see above, it is Glaurung here with you now. I’d like to tell you a tale… and show you a little of New Zealand…
Nothing sounds better than the 5 o’clock whistle, especially when a weekend over the edge of the wild beckons! The horse was saddled and off we set into the unknown. Our hopes weren’t high; we assumed security would be tight surrounding the Edoras set. We figured we might get as close as Lake Clearwater before we came across some form of movie constabulary. We were under no illusions as to the fact that this weekend was the halfway mark in the filming at Erewhon and sightseers and Ringer spys would not be too welcome.
As we left Christchurch the sun was setting behind the snow-clad Southern Alps. The road to Rakaia is straight and boring, and beyond is more of the same. It looks nearly the same be it night or day. Halfway between Rakaia and Geraldine strange yellow and black signs appear on the roadside near intersections. They are shaped as an arrow and bear 4 letters: J A M B. We know the meaning and follow them inland…
At The Sign Of The Prancing Pony…
Nestled before the foothills lies the tiny hamlet of Mt Somers. Main features are a dodgy pub and a rather cool church on a hill overlooking the village. We made our way to the holiday park prepared for the meagre lodgings it doth provide. Whilst checking in at the office we noticed a newspaper on a nearby desk; it was indeed the Timaru Herald with a large picture of the Edoras set at top right. We took the office lady by surprise when we questioned her as to what it was. The amazement on our faces when told that a movie was being filmed nearby took her quite aback…
We unloaded our mighty steed and spruced ourselves up a bit before a short walk to the local watering hole. We needn’t have bothered. Yokels and sheepherders abound, we were slightly out of place but we found a quiet corner in which to swill our ale (and watch Auckland beat North Harbour at rugby – sweeet). Once the clock struck eleven we made our way back to our roof and four walls and fell asleep to prepare for our early start…
The Road To Isengard…
It is really hard to get up at six in the morning even when the view was this good. The rising sun painted the snow-covered hills a blood-red colour and the cold chill of dawn got us packed up and on the road real fast. We rode west from the town towards the Ashburton Gorge and Erewhon beyond. After 24 kilometres we reached a crossroads; the road onwards to Lake Clearwater was metalled and not the comforting asphalt which complements high speeds.
We paused for breath (and a photo of course) and then carried on. We faced 10 kilometres of gravel road before we would reach the community of Lake Clearwater. The landscape is suddenly very barren on either side of the road with many distant snowy peaks and roadside tarns. It can best be described as breathtaking but grim.
As we continued we were aware we were not alone. To our left, a few kilometres across the tussocky ground there appeared a beast in the sky. White in colour and with spinning blades it sped across the countryside. We guessed it carried some high-ranking official (maybe even PJ himself) and were heartened that our journey may not have been totally in vain.
Along the road at regular intervals are cattle-stops in to keep stock under control. Or at least there were. Now there is a section of fence missing through which you drive as the cattle stops are marked off. They appear to have been damaged somewhat, undoubtedly by a lot of “large” traffic. The Lord Of The Rings has left his mark on the land…
After the principle filming wrapped for Lord Of The Rings, Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) travelled to a farm in Northland. The farm had been “taken over” by the production so they could do all the horsey things they needed to do for the film. Apparently Viggo turned up in a limousine dressed in boots with a full length weathered coat and scraggly long hair. With him was the girl who had been hired to tend his horse; the one he had primarily ridden in the film. He then proceeded to negotiate a price for the horse and also one for the girl. I do not know the price but it was quite a princely sum. The intention was for her to travel to the states to continue caring for the horse.
