Te Anau Highlights & Lord of the Rings Tour

This small group, fully guided day trip combines Te Anau’s top highlights with a Lord of the Rings experience and the option to add on some of the areas amazing activities, making this the ultimate way to experience stunning Te Anau. Led by our famously passionate tour guides, notorious for bringing your journey to life by sharing their stories and rich background knowledge, and run in modern, comfortable minibuses packed with extras ensuring your comfort and safety.

Highlights:

• Mavora Lakes 
• Lord of the Rings sites including - Dead Marshes, Fangorn Forest & The River Anduin
• Te Anau Bird Sanctuary
• Fiordland National Park, Rainbow Reach, Kepler Track & Waiau River

Itinerary:

1.      Te Anau - Your tour starts as we pick you up from your hotel and head to one of our favourite spots for great photos of Lake Te Anau. During your journey and throughout the day our guides will share stories, history and interesting facts of the area with you, setting the scene for the day.

2.      Te Anau Bird Sanctuary - Once you have that perfect shot from the lake we will continue to the Te Anau Bird Sanctuary for a guided tour and to see some of the rarest birds in the country including the Takahe and Kaka. You will learn about these animals and the local environment while exploring this Te Anau asset.

3.      Dead Marshes - Our journey continues to our first famous Lord of the Rings attraction, a viewpoint looking over The Dead Marshes from an elevated position. From here you can see where Frodo and Sam waded their way through the mud trying to get to Mordor. We will tell you the stories and let your imagination do the rest.

4.      Rainbow Reach – Moving on we visit a sight loved by hikers, Lord of the Rings fans and locals alike, Rainbow Reach. A cable bridge over the stunning Waiau River (known as The River Anduin in LOTR) leads us to the start of the Kepler Track and one of the beautiful forests of Fiordland National Park. You will hear some of the LOTR's stories as well as learn about the amazing bio diversity we have in the park.

5.      Lake Manapouri – We follow the river from Rainbow Reach to one of New Zealand’s most famous lakes, Lake Manapouri. The gateway to Doubtful Sound, we will spend some time exploring the shores of this crystal-clear lake and hear about its history including the construction of the Manapouri hydro dam, the largest in the country. Once we have had a look around it is a good time for a quick break at one of the local coffee shops.

6.      Mavora Lakes - Departing Manapouri we make our way to one of the most famous LOTR's sights and hidden gem of the Mavora Lakes region. Here you will find amazing landscapes but also several famous LOTR's filming locations including: two locations of Orc battles, where Pippin & Mary enter Fangorn Forest to escape the Orcs and where Frodo and Sam leave the Fellowship and cross the lake. This spot is paradise for nature lovers and LOTR's fans alike so while here you will enjoy some free time to explore, eat lunch (additional extra or self-supplied) or maybe use some of our props and recreate some of the movie scenes.

7.      Te Anau - Sadly the highlights section of your tour is coming to an end as we make our way back to the Te Anau township but your adventure should not finish there. Why not add one of the amazing Te Anau activities as an additional optional extra to complete your day. 

Inclusions:

• Small Group
• Fully Guided Tour
• Bottled Water
• Snacks

Optional Extras:

• Faith in Fiordland - Treat yourself to a lifelong memory. Sail aboard a ship with real history, surrounded by New Zealand’s natural beauty.
• Fiordland Jet - Jet boat down the crystal-clear waters of the Waiau River – the river Anduin on ‘The Lord of the Rings’ to the awe-inspiring Lake Manapouri.
• Wings & Water floatplane - See the Fiordland National Park from the air aboard Fiordland’s only floatplane
• Te Anau Glowworms - Experience a mysterious underground world with a guided cave tour past the rushing water of an underground stream before drifting in silent darkness beneath the luminous shimmer of hundreds of glowworms.
• Scenic Helicopter Flight – View the Fiordland National Park from above. 

While the destinations you will be visiting are truly spectacular, we at Cheeky Kiwi Travel believe it’s our small groups, guides, the journey and the little details that set our tours well apart. Secret stops, wildlife viewings, specially designed vehicles, complementary refreshments and many other pleasant surprises ensure our tours are an experience to remember.

Still have questions? Please visit our FAQs page!