Description
The ornately detailed world of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth was portrayed in spectacular fashion in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. Now you can see many of the amazing filming locations yourself – presented in all their amazing beauty by Wellington Rover Tours.
As the first company in North Island to operate Lord of the Rings tours, Wellington Rover Tours are considered on of the best by Ring's fans. With the tour staffed by fun and knowledgeable guides, who themselves are Lord of the Rings fans, as well as roomy, comfortable vans and intimate group sizes, you are assured of a great time. The two tour options are structured in a way to guarantee the best experience, from the order locations are visited to the order the scenes are visited; Wellington Rover Tours have it all sorted out.
Half Day Tour
While this is a half-day tour, designed to save time, it is certainly not 'half a tour'! This tour showcases the best seven locations from the full-day tour and spans both North and South Wellington. Perfect for Lord of the Rings fans who can't spare a full day, this tour covers quite a lot of ground but still leaves plenty of time to get to know each location, recreate scenes and listen to the interesting commentary about how the movies were made.
The first scene you explore will be Mount Victoria and the 'recreation greenbelt'. This is where the hobbits were chased by Ringwraiths and hid alongside the track. There were other scenes filmed here too. Next, you will travel north to Hutt Valley where you will see the Hutt River (Anduin) and Harcourt Park (Isengard). Enjoy morning or afternoon tea under the gorgeous Rivendell Elvish trees at Kaitoke Regional Park and then spend some time at Minas Tirith and Helms Deep, which is located in a quarry that is now closed to general visitors.
Full Day Tour
This is the ultimate tour for Lord of the Rings fans and includes a few more location, 25 scenes and many more Rings stories than on the half-day tour. First, you will tour the southern suburbs to look at the Bree and Dunharrow locations. You will also see Seatoun, Miramar and the South Coast where some of the main stars of Lord of the Rings lived during filming. You will then stop at WETA CAVE (except during public holidays), where you will see the amazing statues, models and memorabilia created by the brilliant artists there. You will also learn about current and future Peter Jackson/WETA creations and get all the gossip about who is currently in town from Hollywood!
As with the half-day tour, you will explore Hutt Valley, including Hutt River (Anduin) and Harcourt Park (Isengard). Enjoy morning or afternoon tea under the gorgeous Rivendell Elvish trees at Kaitoke Regional Park and enjoy an amazing 45 minute walk through the NZ native forest. If weather is poor, the tour is shuffled to include morning tea muffins in Rivendell and lunch at Scorch-O-Rama instead.
Trip Includes
- Complimentary Wellington city hotel transfers
- Full day or half day guided tour to film locations
- Picnic lunch (full day tour)
- Visit to the Weta Cave (full day tour)
- Morning & afternoon tea
- Souvenir map
Duration
- Full day tour- allow 7.5 hours
- Half day tour - allow 4 hours
Departures
- Full day tour departs at 8.30am (returns by 4pm)
- Half day tour departs at 8.30am & 1.30pm
- Departs from the Wellington i-Site Visitor Centre on Wakefield street
- Free pick up from your city accommodation is available
- Operates daily year
Other Information
- No matter how many locations other companies promise, you can be sure Rover Tours are showing you the most
- Cruise ship passengers must book directly with your cruise ship booking desk
- BE THE ELF YOU ARE! We carry ears in our vans so you can wear them during the day
- Operates all year round
- We search for and intensively train up the best individuals we can find into great guides so we can offer the best small group interactive tours in Wellington
- Full day tour visits: Outskirts of the Shire, Race to the Ferry, Dunharrow, Village of Bree, Rivendell, Fords of Isen, Gardens of Isengard, River Anduin, Minas Tirith
Helms Deep, as well as Miramar Peninsula for Movie Studio Drive, Wellywood Suburbs & a visit the WETA CAVE
- Half day tour visits: Outskirts of the Shire, Race to the Ferry, Rivendell, Gardens of Isengard, Great River Anduin, Fords of Isen, Minas Tirith, Helms Deep
Reply from Everything Travel Group
Hi Nigel,
I can understand your frustration about not being able to go on the dolphin swim. Unfortunately we require operators to manually inform us when their tours are full. When this is done, we update the availability on our site. We hadn't yet heard from the operator that the tour was full when your booking came through a couple of days before your desired date of travel. We always do our absolute best to accommodate last minute bookings but unfortunately it doesn't always happen as we'd like and in your instance we were unable to get you on. Your refund was processed immediately back to your card as requested. We are sorry for the disappointment this caused. We are always looking to find ways of improving the downside of this time lapse between tours filling up and the operators informing us and we will continue to work on this. Thank you for providing us with your feedback.
Regards
Belinda Stewart
Posted 21-Mar-2017