The Real Deal

The Times ran a lengthy travel feature on “the real Middle Earth” to mark the opening of the LotR exhibition at London’s Science Museum. “Never mind whether Frodo manages to destroy that ring […] we’ve all become besotted with the real star of the The Lord of the Rings trilogy – the New Zealand landscape … As Elijah Wood said: ‘New Zealand is Middle-earth. It has every geological formation and geographical landscape you can imagine, and some you can’t.'” A record-breaking 250,000 British tourists visited NZ in the 12 months to July 2003.