Riders of Rohan

I mostly bypassed Queenstown. The schtick on Queenstown is that people either love it or hate it, as near as I can tell. It has the vibe and feel of Jackson Hole and is about the size.

I headed on up to Glenorchy. Glenorchy is an even smaller town at the head of Lake Wakatipu and the base of Humboldt Mountains. It is also the place where a lot of the tourist activies from Queenstown head and is the starting point for all kinds of treks.

But since I wasn't trekking, I decided to go horseback riding. I went on the Lord of the Rings Tour. And once again, it was an amazing time.
We road for about 2 hours and this was the first time in the half dozen or so times that I have been on a horse in my life, that I actually felt in control. At the end of the ride, one guide said
"For those that have done it before and want to canter follow me, the rest stay with Lisa and walk." Of course I asked to come along and canter even though I had never done it before.
She let me and it was great, and I didn't fall off.

Ok, back to the LOTR tour. We road through the forest where they filled the battle of Amon Hen (you know end of the first movie). And out to a magnificent overlook.
From here you looked out on the Dart River plain, which was the backdrop for Isengard.
(Once they digitally took out the river). And we saw the mountains used for the Misty Mountains and Mt. Earnslaw. They used this as the scene when they are trying to cross the mountains in the snow and get turned back. Apparently they had to be taken up to the Mountain in helicopters.

Ok now for useless LOTR info.
2 of the horses with us were used in the movie. They actually used about 200 horses for the big battles and just looped the imaging. So they wanted very plain horses so you wouldn't recognize the horses as you watched the movie. 2 of the guides for Dart River Stables and their husbands were Riders of Rohan, and once in costume they could only recognize each other by their horses. The horses had to audtion. They would have to walk, trot, gallop and stop in a line. Any horse that didn't, didn't make the cut.

Because they didn't want anyone to see anything about the movie before it was released, no filming was done on Public land. They used mostly sets or private land. Most of the private land had to be returned to its original state when they were done. They would use the public land for back drops and such. Go out, film the scenary and come back.

They also did lots of digital enhancing afterwards, so sometimes you have to use your imagination or almost be told that this was a certain scene.

No matter, the scenary is just grand.

Glenorchy Pictures

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