Pilgrimage sites - Visit the famous

Places you can go to pay homage to the famous, infamous and the dead, around New Zealand and around the globe…

Hobbiton, Matamata, New Zealand

Lord of The Rings, New Zealand. There are a few places you can go to see where cult film Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand, but not much is left behind after filming. The Shire, where Bilbo Baggins lived, was filmed in the Waikato town of Matamata. They have erected a signpost to Hobbiton in the town’s main street to the film’s fond memory and local pride to be involved. (Intro Image, Matamata)

Abbey Road Studios, St Johns Wood, London, England

The Beatles’ studios in Abbey Road is a popular pilgrimage site for fans of the English band for years, and got even more intense after the deaths of George and John. Flowers, candles and graffiti covers the pavement curb of the white tree lined studio that is still in use today. You can visit the site on St Johns Wood tube, just follow the Japanese tourists to the studio around the corner to the right.

Stonehenge, England

The circle of stones in Salisbury, England is an interesting day trip out of London and a bus tour available that takes you on to Salisbury cathedral for a religious day out of very different types! The standing stones are a magnificent sight, and controversy still surrounds them today on who built them and why. The summer solstices are celebrated here by witches and druids in robes and always make the news headlines! There are other breathtaking standing stone circles in Scotland and smaller stone sites are throughout Britain.

Princess Diana’s Bridge, Paris

In Paris you can visit the motorway bridge where Princess Diana’s car crashed with Dodi Al Fayad five years ago. There is a memorial plaque at the site. For Diana fans there is of course, Althorp, her home in England where you can see the Island on which Diana is buried. Also in London is Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace, her former homes, and at Harrods, a plaque owner Al Fayad has erected to his son and Diana’s memory when the royals failed to do so, at huge public disgust. A Diana memorial fountain is under discussion, I heard, in London.

The Piano, Kare Kare, Auckland

Fans of the highly-acclaimed Jane Campion film, The Piano can visit the site it was filmed in Auckland, New Zealand at Kare Kare beach. The north Auckland beach on New Zealand’s wild west coast, provided the perfect location for the period drama of pioneers to New Zealand in the early days of European settlers. There isn’t really much at all to see out here to do with The Piano, no tea shop or tea towels to purchase, but you can breathe in the air and close your eyes and picture yourself landing in the boats in the surf there.

Xena and Hercules, Auckland, New Zealand

The comic-drama shows of Xena, Warrior Princess and Hercules are filmed in Auckland’s west coast bush and sets created of the Roman villages and Grecian temples required. Recently they had a film set auction, selling such macabre and unusual objects as severed heads and goddess costumes! An enterprising company is available to hire costumes and take fans on a beach chariot ride to re-enact your favourite Xena fantasies, now that the series has ended.