Hobbit filmset spotted on the highway?

I thought I'd share this lovely series of photos that were taken by one of my passengers as I was driving towards Rivendell - they appear to be parts of... Rivendell?

We were driving on State Highway 2, heading towards Upper Hutt, and the Kaitoke Regional Park where the Rivendell set was based for LOTR, when in the distance, I couldn't help but notice an interesting cargo on the back of one of the trucks in front of us. I had my iPhone lying beside me on the seat, and handed it over to one of my passengers, who took these photos (all except the last one when we had stopped for a traffic light):

The pictures appear to show a piece of very nice "stone" masonry, with curved tiles on a fairly large wooden base. Also, underneath some camo plastic, there were what appeared to be pre-fabricated wooden fences of some sort. See for you self - all the pictures can be clicked on for a larger view.


We drove beside the truck for a little while, and my passenger took a few more pictures. Please excuse her reflection in the glass; it was a very sunny day here in Wellington today.

On the right you can clearly see the "stone" wall - on the left is the camo sheet with the fences underneath it. The odd shape at the bottom of the wall is actually my passenger's knees reflected.

In the photo you can see the wooden structure that is holding the wall up.

Another view of the wall from the back of our van.

And a better view of the wall, with more detail intricate patterns of the stone tiles. This stuff reminds me of the architecture of Rivendell.

And I took this picture myself, when we were positioned right behind the truck as we were waiting for a light to change. A different angle of the fences and the wall.


We followed the truck for a while, until it turned off just before Upper Hutt. So unfortunately it doesn't look like the Rivendell sets will be rebuilt at Kaitoke Regional Park - at least, not yet!

  - Jack M.