Our self-guided motorcycle tours of New Zealand ride past a string of filming locations from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. In the North Island they pass Matamata, home of the Hobbiton Movie Set, and cross Tongariro National Park, where Mount Ngāuruhoe stood in for Mount Doom. In the South Island they ride by the Pelorus River, the farmland near Twizel used for the Pelennor Fields, the Kawarau Gorge and Arrowtown, and out past Glenorchy to Paradise.
Most are beside the road. A few, Hobbiton among them, are on private land and seen only on a tour you book yourself. The table gives each location, its film and the day each journey reaches it.
| Location | On screen | Film | On our journeys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hobbiton Movie Set, outside Matamata | Hobbiton, in the Shire | Both trilogies | North Island Day 3; Ultimate NZ Day 3; Aotearoa Odyssey Day 5 (a short ride off the route; tour only) |
| Mangaotaki Rocks, near Piopio | The Trollshaws | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | North Island Day 4; Ultimate NZ Day 4; Aotearoa Odyssey Day 7 (private farm; tour only) |
| Mount Ngāuruhoe and Mount Ruapehu, Tongariro National Park | Mount Doom; Mordor | The Lord of the Rings trilogy | North Island Day 5; Ultimate NZ Days 5 and 7; Aotearoa Odyssey Days 8 and 10 (in view from the road) |
| Mount Victoria, Wellington | The woods where the hobbits hide from a Black Rider | The Fellowship of the Ring | Ultimate NZ Day 8; Aotearoa Odyssey Day 11 (rest day) |
| Pelorus Bridge, on the Pelorus River | The dwarves’ escape in barrels | The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug | South Island Day 2; Ultimate NZ Day 9; Aotearoa Odyssey Day 12 |
| Mount Sunday, Hakatere Conservation Park | Edoras | The Two Towers; The Return of the King | South Island Day 6; Ultimate NZ Day 13; Aotearoa Odyssey Day 16 (the day past Mount Somers; Mount Sunday is about 48 km off the route) |
| Farmland near Twizel | The Pelennor Fields | The Return of the King | South Island Day 8; Ultimate NZ Day 15; Aotearoa Odyssey Day 18 (private land; tour only) |
| The Kawarau Gorge | The Argonath, the Pillars of the Kings | The Fellowship of the Ring | South Island Day 10; Ultimate NZ Days 15 and 17; Aotearoa Odyssey Days 18 and 23 |
| The Arrow River, Arrowtown | The Ford of Bruinen | The Fellowship of the Ring | South Island Day 8; Aotearoa Odyssey Day 22 |
| Twelve Mile Delta, Lake Wakatipu | The Ithilien camp | The Two Towers | South Island Day 9; Ultimate NZ Day 16; Aotearoa Odyssey Day 19 |
| Paradise and Dan’s Paddock, beyond Glenorchy | Lothlórien; Isengard | The Fellowship of the Ring | South Island Day 9; Ultimate NZ Day 16; Aotearoa Odyssey Day 19 |
| The Kepler Mire, near Te Anau | The Dead Marshes | The Two Towers | Aotearoa Odyssey Day 20 (on the side trip to Lake Manapōuri) |
| Mount Gunn, near Franz Josef | The peaks where the beacons are lit | The Return of the King | South Island Day 11; Ultimate NZ Day 18; Aotearoa Odyssey Day 25 (the night at Franz Josef) |
Wandrith has no connection with the films, their makers, Hobbiton Movie Set or Wētā Workshop. The locations are as Tourism New Zealand’s newzealand.com and the Department of Conservation (DOC) give them, checked in October 2026. Many scenes were changed digitally, so a place rarely looks exactly as it does on screen.
Hobbiton, near Matamata
The Hobbiton Movie Set is on a farm outside Matamata, in the Waikato. It was built for The Lord of the Rings and rebuilt for The Hobbit, and it stayed. Our routes come through Matamata on Day 3 of the North Island journey and Ultimate NZ, and Day 5 of the Aotearoa Odyssey, on the way to Rotorua; the set is a short ride off the route.
It is private land, seen only on a tour. Tours start at the farm and in Matamata, and the operator advises booking early, as it can’t add places once a tour is full. If Hobbiton matters to you, book it as soon as your dates are confirmed.
The next day, State Highway 3 runs through Piopio, in the King Country (Day 4 of the North Island journey and Ultimate NZ, and Day 7 of the Aotearoa Odyssey). The limestone cliffs of Mangaotaki Rocks, on a farm nearby, were used for scenes in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The cliffs are visible from the road, but the filming location itself is seen only on a tour.
Tongariro National Park: Mount Ngāuruhoe
Tongariro National Park is the volcanic plateau at the centre of the North Island. Mount Ngāuruhoe, its steep cone, stood in for Mount Doom in The Lord of the Rings, and DOC lists the Whakapapa skifield, on Mount Ruapehu, for scenes in Mordor and the Emyn Muil.
On Day 5 of the North Island journey and Ultimate NZ, and Day 8 of the Aotearoa Odyssey, the road comes off the Forgotten World Highway to National Park village and runs round the northern side of the mountains to Tūrangi. State Highway 48, the road up to Whakapapa Village and the skifield, leaves the route east of the village. On Day 7 of Ultimate NZ and Day 10 of the Aotearoa Odyssey, the Desert Road crosses the eastern side of the plateau, below Ruapehu, on the way to Wellington. DOC gives the Gates of Mordor as the Tukino skifield, reached on foot from a gate on its road, off the Desert Road.
Ngāuruhoe’s summit is sacred to Ngāti Tūwharetoa, and DOC asks walkers not to climb it. From the road, on a clear day, it is in view for a long way.
Wellington and the Pelorus River
Ultimate NZ and the Aotearoa Odyssey spend a rest day in Wellington before the Cook Strait ferry (Day 8 of Ultimate NZ and Day 11 of the Aotearoa Odyssey). The forest on Mount Victoria, above the city centre, is where the hobbits hide from a Black Rider in The Fellowship of the Ring, and its tracks are a walk from the centre. Wētā Workshop, which made props, armour and creatures for both trilogies, runs tours at its workshop in Miramar, on the peninsula where the rest day has short loops to ride.
In the South Island, the road west from Havelock crosses the Pelorus River at Pelorus Bridge, a forest reserve beside State Highway 6 (Day 2 of the South Island journey, Day 9 of Ultimate NZ and Day 12 of the Aotearoa Odyssey). The river is where the barrel escape in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was filmed.
Mount Sunday and Twizel
Mount Sunday, the hill in the Canterbury high country that stood in for Edoras, isn’t on our routes. DOC puts the start of its track on Hakatere Potts Road, about 48 km west of Mount Somers, and the route passes Mount Somers on Day 6 of the South Island journey, Day 13 of Ultimate NZ and Day 16 of the Aotearoa Odyssey, on the way to Lake Tekapo. Much of the road in is gravel, and it is a long side trip there and back, so if you want it, ask us to build it into your route.
Further south, on Day 8 of the South Island journey, Day 15 of Ultimate NZ and Day 18 of the Aotearoa Odyssey, the route leaves Aoraki / Mount Cook, passes Twizel and runs on to Ōmarama and the Lindis Pass. The battle of the Pelennor Fields in The Return of the King was filmed on farmland near Twizel. It is private land, and newzealand.com notes tours from the town.
The Kawarau Gorge and Arrowtown
State Highway 6 runs through the Kawarau Gorge between Cromwell and Queenstown, and our routes ride it on Day 10 of the South Island journey, Days 15 and 17 of Ultimate NZ and Days 18 and 23 of the Aotearoa Odyssey. By the Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge, the gorge and the river stood in for the Anduin at the Argonath, the Pillars of the Kings, in The Fellowship of the Ring. The two stone kings were added digitally: what you see is the gorge itself.
Arrowtown, a gold-rush town (Day 8 of the South Island journey and Day 22 of the Aotearoa Odyssey), sits on the Arrow River, where scenes at the Ford of Bruinen were filmed; newzealand.com sends walkers along the river from the town. DOC gives Skippers Canyon for the ford’s flood, and the Skippers Canyon Road (narrow and gravel) is one of the side quests on the Queenstown days. So is The Remarkables Access Road (gravel near the top): from the ski area, a walk leads to Lake Alta, which DOC lists for Dimrill Dale.
Glenorchy and Paradise
The Paradise day is a light one, 127 km there and back (Day 9 of the South Island journey, Day 16 of Ultimate NZ and Day 19 of the Aotearoa Odyssey): out along Lake Wakatipu to Glenorchy and on to Paradise, then back to Queenstown. About 12 km out of Queenstown is Twelve Mile Delta, which DOC lists as the Ithilien camp in The Two Towers. Use the car park there: DOC advises against parking on the roadside, where the traffic is fast.
Beyond Glenorchy, the beech forest at Paradise stood in for Lothlórien in The Fellowship of the Ring, and DOC places Isengard at Dan’s Paddock, on the road to Paradise. The last stretch to Paradise is gravel, so turn back at Glenorchy if you’d rather stay on the seal.
Fiordland and the West Coast
On the Aotearoa Odyssey, Day 20 has Lake Manapōuri as a side trip from Te Anau. State Highway 95 between the two passes the Kepler Mire, the wetland filmed from the air for the Dead Marshes in The Two Towers. And the night at Franz Josef (Day 11 of the South Island journey, Day 18 of Ultimate NZ and Day 25 of the Aotearoa Odyssey) is near Mount Gunn, which DOC lists for the peaks where the beacons are lit in The Return of the King. DOC says it may be seen from the track up the Franz Josef Glacier valley, or on a scenic flight.
Fitting a visit in
Most of these places need nothing more than a stop. Hobbiton, the filming location at Mangaotaki Rocks and the farm near Twizel are seen only on a tour, and Wētā Workshop runs its own. Activities aren’t included in the journey price (FAQ), so tours like these are yours to book; the Wandrith Journey App points out what’s along the route, and you choose what to stop for.
Where the rest days fall. The Wellington rest day (Day 8 of Ultimate NZ and Day 11 of the Aotearoa Odyssey) is the day for Mount Victoria and Wētā Workshop, before the Cook Strait ferry. The Aotearoa Odyssey also rests in Rotorua (Day 6), the stop after Matamata. Every journey that rides the North Island rests in Taupō (Day 6 of the North Island journey and Ultimate NZ, and Day 9 of the Aotearoa Odyssey), north of Tongariro National Park.
Each route is our starting point: we shape it around what you’d like to see and where there’s room to stay. If you want more time at a location, or one that isn’t on a base route, such as Mount Sunday, raise it on your discovery call.
The journeys
- North Island: 7 days, from Auckland and back, about 1,637 km. Up to NZ$14,999 per bike, including GST.
- South Island: 14 days, from Christchurch and back, about 2,591 km. Up to NZ$26,999 per bike, including GST.
- Ultimate NZ: 21 days, Auckland to Christchurch, about 4,041 km. Up to NZ$35,999 per bike, including GST.
- Aotearoa Odyssey: 28 days, Auckland to Christchurch, about 5,377 km. Up to NZ$47,999 per bike, including GST.
The roads guide covers the roads these days ride, and Christchurch to Queenstown the way down to Twizel and the Kawarau Gorge.
