Rivendell - Kaitoke Regional Park, Upper Hutt

About an hour's drive from downtown Wellington, off State Highway 2, Kaitoke Regional Park marks the beginning of the Rimutaka mountain range, which separates Wellington harbour and the Hutt Valley from the coastal plain in the East, and the wine-growing region of the Wairarapa. Even though it is situated just out of Upper Hutt, one of Wellington's larger suburbs, the park allows one to forget the proximity of the city.
Exuberant native bush grows here, and the Rivendell site is just a small corner in what is really a large natural reserve, which invites exploration.

Signs point from the park entrance all the way to a parking space, from where it is only a few minute's walk to the film site. It is one of the few film sites that is actually signposted, and a board provides some information on what the site looked like during shooting.

Most of all, however, this place is a truly elvish spot - even though not much evidence of the filming activities remains, still one can feel a serene presence in the light that flutters on the leaves, the sound of the river murmuring nearby, and the utter peacefulness and tranquility of the spot.