LOTR Amon Hen

As mentioned in our earlier post, Queenstown is very rich in Lord of the Rings filming locations. Especially a drive up to Glenorchy can bring you to Amon Hen, Ithilien, Isengard and Lothlorien.

the path enters the peninsula forest

Driving to Glenorchy leads you along the shore of lake Wakatipu. Your first stop around 8 km from Queenstown is Closeburn. A little peninsula covered with dense forest. Our location guide said that the actual location is not accessible, however we found that the peninsula is covered with walking tracks. So I think you should be able to find it. But lacking a GPS (the location was only given in GPS coordinates), we left it in looking at Amon Hen from afar.

at the back you can see Closeburn (Amon Hen)

Standing in front of the peninsula forest we were surprised by a sudden whirlwind. Everybody on the beach had their mouths open and starred as the little whirlwind suddenly sucked up all dirt, sand and paper and then spit it out in all directions. We had dirt all over ourselves and it took us days to get our car clean. But it was an amazing spectacle of nature.

right here on the beach the whirlwind curprised us