The Hobbit Looks SouthSir Peter Jackson led a convoy of five helicopters on a reconnaissance mission around Otago over the past fortnight scouting locations for the two-film shoot of The Hobbit. Where the filmmakers went is being kept under wraps, but keen-eyed locals reckon there were clues pointing to the Strath Taieri area in the latest video update Sir Peter has posted online. The Otago Daily Times quotes supervising location manager Jared Connon as saying shooting would be in the Mackenzie Country, below Mt Cook, south of Queenstown and around Dunedin, where there was “more beautiful stone, rock, wild country, and that's quite exciting because it's an area of Middle Earth we haven't visited before”. The ODT reports that Ian Brodie, former Wanaka resident and writer of a The Lord of the Rings location guidebook which has sold more than 500,000 copies, has previously said because The Hobbit was even more widely read than the LOTR trilogy, it had the potential to bring much more to Otago's economy and tourism than, for example, the Rugby World Cup. Shooting begins in early September and will take in about 30 South Island locations. Pounamu Apartments has taken special attention to welcoming Guests seeking to explore the various Hobbit sites.
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