In exciting news, and designed especially for those visiting Aotearoa New Zealand, the community of Kiwi Signum fans further invite you to join them on a road trip to take in some of the sites where Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies were filmed.
This is in addition to the three-day Moot in Wellington, and is an optional extra. The Moot itself will be lots of fun and we expect many people will come only for the moot, doing their own travelling and holidays.
Registration for the Moot, Sumitting Proposals or Registering for the roadtrip is via the Signum Website
Itinerary at a glance:
- North Island Pre-Moot: 1 to 5 Feb, starting in Auckland and ending in Wellington including a banquet at Hobbiton and a walk to Mount Doom. Final cost confirmed end of March; indicative cost $1450 NZD.
- Moot: 6 to 8 Feb, in Wellington.
- Rest day / do what you want / informal group plans: 9 Feb, in Wellington.
- South Island Post-Moot: 10-14 Feb, flying out of Wellington and ending in Queenstown, including sites for Edoras, Rohan, Gondor. Plan your own homeward travel from Queenstown on the 14th (or go to further NZ adventures). Final cost confirmed end of March; indicative cost $1900 NZD.
What to expect
There are many, many excellent providers of LotR tours and tour experiences in New Zealand. (There are also Hobbit, Narnia, and Rings of Power options.) With our pre and post Moot travel we are not trying to copy the special options the professional providers offer – which include rafting down the barrel-riding river, helicopter trips (Crebain from Dunland! Hide!) and general New Zealandy adventures. We unreservedly recommend these tours and various day experiences from other providers and recommend people check them out to see if one of these is for you. See Red Carpet Tours which is considered the best as a starting point.
What we are proposing is more of a group travel experience – think a buddy roadtrip movie – which will focus on discovering the scenery together: a group of friends out for an adventure. We will do a mix of paid experiences and our own exploring. We are planning to drive rental cars and vans, and stay in motels, modest apartments and backpacker accommodation; we’ll eat out but also self-cater. Everyone will need to take a turn helping out at some point. We won’t see everything, but we will see some spectacular and memorable things. We expect that most of the time we will all be together but may split into two groups at some points to provide options. Our friends from Signum studios (Maggie Parke) as well as Corey will speak and lead discussions at the most significant sites.
Day-by-Day itinerary and costs
Pre-Moot: 1-5 February
Cost TBC but around $1450 NZD. Max people: 64. For your own room rather than sharing: add approx $200. Final costs coming in April.
1 Feb: Pre-Moot trip begins in Auckland city midafternoon. We’ll start by learning about the craft of movie making with the Weta Unleashed experience followed by a ‘worldbuilding’ hands-on workshop. We’ll stay at a midpriced hotel a block or two away, and have a meal out together in New Zealand’s largest city. Jetlagged folk can skip out and turn in early as needed.
2 Feb: We’ll train to south Auckland and collect our rental vans, driving on to a picnic lunch at Hamilton Gardens and then to our accommodation (split over two motels) in Cambridge, where we’ll check in and costume up (optional of course) before the big event: an evening tour and banquet at Hobbiton.
3 Feb: Drive to the Tongariro plateau. Visit Tawhiri Falls (Gollum’s pool) and Meads Wall (Emyn Muil) near Whakapapa village. Complete the drive to our accommodation at Ohakune, where we have full occupancy of a lodge for two nights. Downtime, maybe stretch legs by the river, and then dinner out.
4 Feb: Doom day. We split into two groups, returning past Whakapapa to the Tongariro Crossing area.
- For keen walkers: early start to catch shuttles for the Tongariro Crossing (Lonely Planet’s “best one-day walk in the world”) past the foot of Mount Doom and up over craters, steam vents, and past volcanic lakes. Experienced hikers familiar with the terrain will be with you; moderate fitness is necessary. It’s an 8 hr one-way track and is 20km. Shuttle back.
- For everyone else: later start to do the first section of the Tongariro Crossing to the Soda Springs with great views of Mount Doom. It will take about 3hr return at a more leisurely pace, and is a total of 6km. In the early afternoon, back at Whakapapa take a gondola ride for spectacular views and a hot or cold drink at the top. Drive back to Ohakune.
We will recombine back at our accommodation in Ohakune and enjoy a shared meal and planned evening entertainment together.
You don’t need to choose which walk you would prefer yet. More information about the walks will come out later in the year. Both are great options. If the weather is bad, we’ll all do the shorter walk.
5 Feb: Morning visit to ‘Gollum’s fish’ film site, then drive to Wellington. Should arrive into Wellington around 3pm. Free late afternoon and the option to plan your own accommodation from here.
Moot: 6-8 Feb
Including this here for completeness.
Your in-person moot ticket will cost USD$100. It will cover snacks but not lunches or dinner, so factor that into your planning, as well as around $25 for each of our two optional evening excursions.
You will also need your own accommodation in Wellington for the nights of 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 Feb. We have a hotel option in Wellington you could book if you choose to.
Free day: 9 Feb
A day to explore the city, or get out of it to the surrounding area. Spend more time with your new friends (or much needed time by yourself). Informal and optional group activities could include Zealandia, Te Papa, a day trip northeast to see Rivendell, the ‘paths of the dead’ valley, plus Martinborough wineries, or more local exploration of the Weta Workshop Cave and extra hands-on workshop activities. Local hikes, mountain biking, ferry trip to a little island, and other water activities are also good options, along with shopping or just lazing on the inner city beachfront. If we are extremely lucky there might even be cricket on.
You will need your own accommodation this night too.
Post-moot: 10-14 Feb
Cost: around $1900. Max people: 60. For your own room rather than sharing: add about $450.
10 Feb: First flight of the morning out of Wellington to Christchurch. Drive to Mount Sunday (Edoras). Drive to Tekapo for beautiful views and on to Twizel where dinner catering will be arranged after this big travel day.
11 Feb: In the morning, a guided tour of the Pelennor Fields locations with local, Dawn. In the afternoon, options are:
- Visit Aoraki Mount Cook National Park, getting up close to a glacier.
- Visit Tasman Downs, where scenes from the Hobbit were shot
- Rest time in Twizel, maybe spend some time by Lake Pukaki.
Dinner tbc.
We will be in a dark sky reserve for these two nights, so stargazing will be a must once the moon has gone down…
12 Feb: Drive to Queenstown. Visit sites en route: Anduin, Agonarth, various mountain scenes. Stay in low-rise apartments in Queenstown.This is NZ’s premium tourist resort town which we’ll explore on foot from our central location. Dinner out.
13 Feb: Day trip to Glenorchy area: Ithilien/Mumakil site, more mountains, Lothlorien and Orthanc. Head to Arrowtown for the Fords of Bruinen and a final shared meal / breaking-of the-fellowship party. Second night in Queenstown.
14 Feb: The end of all things. Travellers either fly homewards or continue to explore New Zealand either on their own or add package trips to further locations from tourist providers in Qtown. Also serves as the gateway to Fiordland where more adventures await!
FAQ
When you say costs, what does this include?
Experiences, accommodation, transport, and food. We have assumed 60-75% of people will twin-share rooms. Those who want their own room will be looking at an additional ($250 (North Island) and $450 (South Island)), to be finally confirmed in April. Let us know your preference when you sign up.
You will want to have money for extra snacks and drinks, and other shopping – and for your entry visa to NZ.
What’s the timeline for paying?
The deposit is when you sign up, the balance is due 1 November.
I’m [special] and have particular needs / requirements. Can I come?
We’ll plan the trip for the people we have coming, as much as possible. Yes.
I really want to see [my favourite film location] or [things relating to my particular interest]. Can we do that and go there?
Maybe. Tell us more. And remember you can do more holidaying without the group.
Will there be evening ‘sessions’ during the travel?
There will probably be semi-planned stuff we do in the evenings – rewatching LotR films, perpetual ‘Corey’s dice game’ sessions, board games, really it will be up to the group – people will also be tired and want to go to bed so this will always be optional. We will have one evening of programmed discussion, music, and other activities per island.
How will I get to the start of the group travel?
Fly into Auckland. It is straightforward to travel between the airport and the CBD either on the airport bus or uber/taxi.
Tell me more about the meals?
We will menu plan and get your dietary requirements later in 2026. Meals for the road trip sections are included in the cost, you’ll probably want extra for snacks and drinks. We will have standard breakfast stuff and (mostly) picnic lunches; dinners mostly in restaurants.
I’m … not much of a walker.
There is no getting away from this trip (like any touristy holiday, really) requiring a reasonable amount of walking. If this is a challenge for you, we’d suggest you start by checking out the accessibility info on the Hobbiton website to see if this is for you (the main tour is 90-120m of walking, but some accessibility accommodations are possible). We can also consider whether there are shorter walk options in the Tongariro National Park that would suit you. In the South Island, Edoras/Mount Sunday while not arduous is a 3km round trip, and most other sites will also require walking.
Travel insurance
We would encourage you to get your own travel insurance, as this is not covered by Signum.
If you are especially worried, or have complicated insurance stuff to worry about, you can find out about NZ’s free no-fault injury cover for everyone, including visitors, here, noting there is also a link to what it does not cover.
Why are the costs still indicative?
We have day jobs and it’s a lot to plan. The main issue holding us up is getting a confirmed price for airfares from Wellington to Christchurch, which is taking longer than hoped due to fuel shortages and price volatility in the last few weeks. And there are a couple of things we have quotes for but need final pricing on. This should be sorted in the next couple of weeks.
Don’t forget …
If you are planning to come for the whole thing, you will need about $3350 for both trips, plus about $250 for the moot and moot activities, plus your own accommodation, meals and transport in Wellington for 5 nights. And flights into Auckland and out of Queenstown. And travel insurance, and a visa. Yes, we know it’s expensive. We love it here and can’t wait to share it with you – please come!