Editorial: Lord, what a wonderful quest

After our long and exciting journey, we Hobbitses of Middle Earth can take pride in our achievements. Photo / Supplied, File

EDITORIAL

With due acknowledgement to JRR Tolkien: "Deep in the land of Mordor, in the Fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged a master ring, and into this ring he poured his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate all life."

Since picking up on these opening words of the epic trilogy 20 years ago, New Zealand has been on a wondrous journey.

Our landscape has been changed in the eyes of the world. More than 150 real New Zealand locations were used, from the rolling green hills of Matamata in the North Island (now known as Hobbiton) to Queenstown's snowy jagged mountain peaks, the Remarkables, featured as The Dimrill Dale.

The movies pulled the kind of spell our marketing wizards could never have cast. New Zealand experienced a 40 per cent increase in tourists - from 1.7 to 2.4 million annual visitors - between 2000 and 2006 during Sir Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings reign of the box office.

Once the pilgrims came, they mostly spoke in glowing terms to anyone who was thinking of also making the voyage. Actor Sir Ian McKellen rhetorically asked: "How can New Zealand not bewitch anyone who visits?".

Ah, we wished it could have gone on forever but, alas, Amazon decided to move production of future seasons of the Lord of the Rings to the United Kingdom.

Be in no doubt, we got more than our fair share of the Tolkien pie. But someone was bound to come along and fork out a bit more for the next slice eventually.

We must be vigilant for the next opening. With the talent we have now nurtured and the wisdom of our experience, we are more prepared than before to grasp the next passing ring.