LOTR EXPERIENCE IN NEW ZEALAND

Dez does not want to be contacted through e-mail, so don't even ask

Pic One and Pic Two

I have been a big fan of Elijah Wood for about 9 years now and he was one of my fave actors and I thought I'd never get the chance of meeting my fave actor, how rare is that? I think it was everyones dream. After I saw him on the lord of the rings, I got into the movie and then I turned into a big fanatic and I heard about the premieres for the first movie and then theres going to be one in New Zealand and I thought that this is the only chance I have of seeing Elijah Wood in the flesh and I wanted to go more than anything so I planned my trip for December in march. I got all excited and I really wanted to get tickets to the actual premiere so I can see it with the stars for the first time and tickets to the after party. I thought that this is the only chance I have of meeting Elijah and I tried soo hard to get win tickets and had no luck. My friends in New Zealand know how much I love LOTR and Elijah and they tried winning tix but no luck. I did everything I could do to meet Elijah and I was holding this on my luck. I went all the way to another country to see Elijah and also seeing the other stars of the movie and attending a movie premiere of my fave movie cos I haven't been to one. Then I thought about ways to meet Elijah and I came up with the airport, I knew he was flying into New Zealand on the 18th of December, the day of the premiere and I knew that the day before was the Los Angeles premiere so this helped me looking at the flights from America to New Zealand and I worked out all the flights from work and found out all the flights. When I was in New Zealand me and my friends that I stayed with planned on going together. A few days before the premiere, we had a huge Elijah banner for the premiere as a back up if the airport didn't work out. It read "Elijah, I'm your biggest fan, No 1 lotr fan". That took ages to do, we had to paint it and all.

18 December

Me and my friends got up at 5am and we got ready to go to the airport. We got there around 8am and the first flight on my list was at 8:30am so we went to the gate and got ready. We didn't see them come by. Then the next one was at 9:00am and once again they didn't come through. These were the only ones that were on my sheet. Then we saw camera crew near us, thinking that they are there for LOTR. I was hungry and decided to get something to eat at a café and I saw one of the camera crew talking to someone else and over heard the conversation saying that they are waiting for lotr and she said that they have waited since the first flight and they didn't know when they would be arriving. I went and told my friends about that. Then the next flight was at 10am, 40 mins later and so we went to get something to eat and to sit down. Lotr posters were all over the airport, they had this really cool section and it had like all the posters, the flag and screen they showed the two towers preview over and over again. There were 3 different ones so of course we watched it for about 15 mins, and I saw frodo quite a few times. I had no idea that I was about to meet Elijah wood. Then we headed to gate 17 to wait for the flight and we said that if they don't arrive on this one to leave cos we had to get to our hotel and to have lunch and to get ready for the premiere and to head down early. The doors for gate 17 had opened and we had a really good feeling that this was it cos there were quite a few people around us and there were body guards. I was soooooooo nervous! Then we saw the people walk into the terminal and that's when I saw Elijah wood, dominic monaghan and billy boyd. I was really cool about it, they were still in the tarmack meeting the press first and so I got my position ready to meet them as they walked past. Dominic came out first and I said "hi dominic, how are you" and shook his hand and then Elijah was right behind him and I said "hi Elijah, can I please have a hug" and he said "sure" and we hugged!! * faints* and I asked him how his flight was and he said that it was great. I asked for an autograph and he said "sure" and he signed his name and then my friend asked for an autograph and then I asked to take a close pic of him and he said "sure" and then he said that he had to go because the body guard were around him and he said "sorry guys" and then we left and started walking down the corridor and so me and my friends walked down after him, we weren't that close cos we didn't wanna look like stalkers and my Elijah was walking fast, lol. Then we had to get our bags together and then decided to get a taxi to our hotel and then billy boyd was infront of me and I said "billy" and he turned around and I said "Wheres my 2nd breakfast"? LOL. (That's my fave line in the movie) and he said something but I couldn't remember and I asked for an autograph and he signed my autograph book and I asked him how the flight was and he said it was long and I said where he flew from and he said from los angeles and I asked my friend to take a pic of me and him and she did and then my friend asked him to take their pic. Billy was soooo cool. Then we got a taxi and we were on the way to the hotel. MY GOD I was in shock to think that I met Elijah wood and I was shaking. Before we knew it we were following elijahs car, LOL. He was in this green BMW and we were right behind it, thinking that elijahs in that car?? Geez..anyways we went to the hotel to check in and to our surprise we saw the stars again. I saw Elijah walking in and out of the front door and we didn't wanna look like stalkers or anything. Then Elijah went inside the lift and I don't know why but I just stood there in shock and my friends said to go over there to talk to them so I ran over and caught dominic and I asked for an autograph as I didn't have one from the airport and my friend too our pic. I asked him to write his fave quote from the movie and he wrote "Buckleberry ferry", LOL. I asked him how his flight was and he said it was great and I said "was it very long" and he said "about 12 hours" Elijah was already in the left and my friends told me to go in the lift and I said No cos I didn't wanna look obsessive. Then we went to the lift. Elijah and billy had already gone to their rooms. My friend saw which level they got off at, LOL. Level 9 and so we went to our room, we were on level 4. I was sooo hyped about this, I rang home straight away to tell mum that I just met Elijah , she knows how long I've loved him for. Mum told me to settle down, hahaha yeah right We only talked for like a minute. Then I told my friends that I never got a pic taken with Elijah and I was really stressing as I got one with billy and dom but not Elijah, umm I needed one with Elijah. I couldn't believe that they stayed at the same hotel, geez hows the luck?? Then 15 mins later we decided to go down to the mall to have lunch and we went to reception and saw Elijah again with some reporter so I ran over to him and asked for a pic of us and my friend took it. I didn't realize that the flash wasn't on, aaahhh!!! And so Elijah was infront of me and we chatted for ages and heres what happened. I asked him if hes going to the museum tomorrow (lotr museum in Wellington) and he said that he isn't sure. I told him that I'm a huge lord of the rings fan and that I'm the biggest in Australia and said that I'm a huge fan of himself and that I"ve seen all of his movies and he said "awesome" and I said that hes a great actor, very talented and said congratulations on getting the role of frodo and he said thankyou and the look on his face was happy and then he called dominic over by saying "monaghan" and dom came over and Elijah said "I will see you on time tonight" and then they were both behind me and asked for a pic of all of us and my friend took it. Elijah touched my shoulder and pushed me in between him and dom and he said That hes trying to create distance between dom and I was like "oh okay", LOL. My friend took the pic and the pic is the best pic. It turned out perfectly. I told dom and Elijah that I came from Australia and that I had done tours of hobbition and that I saw mount doom and that I was going to see them at the premiere and dom said "Its gonna be wild tonight" and Elijah said "its going to be great" and my friend said "its gonna be big" and Elijah said "its gonna be bigger than last year" and I said "whos gonna be there" and Elijah said "well all the stars decided to flag it and that they didn't care" and dom said "they don't think new zealands cool" and I said "what about sean astin and Orlando bloom" and Elijah said "they fucked off, they didn't give a shit" and I said that it's the world premiere and Elijah said "to us it is". I was shocked when he said that, its sad how the other stars couldn't make it. Then I gave Elijah my xmas card and he was like "oh no you should've have, can I open it now" and it had my xmas message. I wrote this back at home and couldn't remember what I wrote but I remember having my email address and postal address in there, OMG! Then Elijah said "I can't believe its xmas already" and he put my card in his pocket. He wore a light brown jacket with a white shirt underneath with a tie with blue jeans. I couldn't believe that he put it in his pocket. I asked him if he could write me a message in my diary and he said "a message, you want me to write you a message" with his lovely American accent and I told him that my name was desiree and I spelt out my name. My friend asked dom what time they are going to the two towers premiere and dom asked Elijah and Elijah said around 5pm then Elijah seemed confused about something, I thought he forgot how to spell my name so I said "its D-E-S.." and he goes "I know I know", LOL and I started laughing and said "no one can ever spell my name" and I asked my friend to take another pic of us. The pic was great but Elijah wasn't looking up. Then my friend asked if they are going to the museum tomorrow and they said that they are going to it tonight but I said it doesn't open till tomorrow and dom and Elijah said "it opens for us tonight" and the way they said it was funny, they nodded their heads and I said "oh that's where the after party is held at" and dom said "That's right, you should try and get a pass, that's your mission and you can hang out with us", OMG!! I said "oh cool". But I didn't asked how to get a pass, stupid me. I had no idea what to say. Then dom asked what part of Australia I'm from and I said the gold coast and asked if he had been there and he said no, and he asked me how long I'm here for and I said for 12 days and my friend asked how the los angeles premiere was and he said it was good and my friend asked if there was a lot of people and he said that theres not gonna be as many as today though. Then I went up to Elijah and asked if hes going to the Sydney premiere and he said that he wasn't. We had this camera in the background and Elijah went up to it and made all these funny faces, it was soooooooooo funny. Then the body guard came to us asked for a quite word and he said that the guys are tired and they just came from a 20 hour flight and that they need their privacy or something and we said that we wanted a pic taken with them and then we left. Dominic and Elijah had already left. We were soooooo happy that we had the chance to hang out in a group talking to Elijah and dominic, it was just the best ever!!!!! Then we went to the mall to have lunch and I was still in shock thinking that I just met Elijah wood and had hung out with him, it must have been a dream and I wasn't use to the idea. 30 mins later we were walking down this mall and my friends said "look theres Elijah wood" and I turned to my right and there he was again with dominic in the middle of the mall again, but he was with a group of fans signing autographs. I couldn't believe that I saw them again and I didn't go up to them again cos I had already met them a few times and didn't want to intrude as they are meeting other fans so we just continued on walking. Then later I thought about not taking my Elijah banner that I made cos its going to look stupid if he sees it and he sees me and the fact that I had already met him and so my friends said to take it so it can be on the news so we went back to the hotel and took it, after all that effort making it. Then we had lunch and it was around 2pm and we went to the place where the premiere was. I was quite disappointed as the premiere party was starting around 4:30 and I wanted to get there earlier but couldn't cos I had to wait for my friends. Anyways ages ago we worked out where we are going to stand. Theres like stage and on the other side theres a big screen so we decided to stay near the big screen on that side so we can see the stage and look up to the big screen. All those spots were taken there were people at the front and I had my video camera with me and wanted all this on tape and I was sooooo upset thinking theres no way I could get to the front so we went around the left corner and there was a big tape that people were standing behind. You couldn't get to the barrier as the tape was there and so I kinda pushed my way to the front but I was 2nd row and my friends were behind me. 15 mins later they took off the tape and I bolted to the barrier in 2 seconds and I was front row!!!! I was soooooo happy and my friends were next to me. My god we had the best spot ever. I was sooo excited. We waited 2 hours for the premiere party to start and people were pushing us, I hate it when they do that. On the embassy theatre they mad a sculpture but it was covered and we all wondered what that was and it was going to be revealed later on tonight. Then we saw Elijah arrive on the big screen. Where we stood was near the embassy theatre, that's the best spot cos the stars will stay on the stage so when they arrived they arrived on the top of the red carpet as we were at the bottom we just watched the big screen and it was awesome. Then billy boyd got out of the car and we all cheered. Then karl urban arrived (eomer) and dominic monaghan. We saw the screen and all these people had funny signs like "Orlando, why the hell aren't you here".. LOL That was definitely the funniest sign. You couldn't see our banner that way cos we were on the corner. Then we saw Elijah and the stars walk down the red carpet meeting the fans and then karl came to our side and said "hey home, how are we doing at home" and I said "I came from Australia" and he said "from Australia"??? and then he went to the other side. Before the stars arrived all the security gave us these cardboard things so we could get their autograph. I didn't get one as I didn't have room to hold it as I was holding my camera and plus I already have autographs. Then we saw Elijah on the other side of the red carpet and my friends yelled out to him and I don't know if he saw us, then we was interviewed and then we saw billy boyd and he came to our corner. He was like infront of me and I took a lot of pics and then dominic came to our side, he was to our right and made our way down to us, once again I didn't get autograph but took pics and dom was right infront of me and I said "hey dom, hows it going" and he said "hey its you again!!! You get everywhere!!!' and I said "Yep, I'm around". LOL, that was sooooooooooo funny!!! You should've seen the look on his face when he said that. He knows me sooo well now, so does Elijah. Don't know about billy. So I kinda met dominic again. That was the 4th time I had met him and then karl came to our side again and he was near me and did something with his hand and I said "oh darn I missed taking a pic of that" and he heard me and did it again, LOL. Then we came up to me and asked to hold my camera and then we took it away from me and I said "hey" and he came back with a big grin on his face and then we put our heads together and held my camera and took our pic!! Awwww that was sooooooooo sweet and then I said "thankyou, you rock". I can't believe I met him and he did that, aahhh my luck is getting better. Then all the stars were together near the stage, had a perfect view of this. Then I saw Peter Jackson whos the director and barry osbourne whos the producer and then I saw Richard Taylor and he came to our side and I took pics and I met him back in august as he came to Australia but I didn't want to say anything as I didn't know if he remembered me, oh well it doesn't matter. Then the big sculpture was revealed and it was gollum!! It was sooooooooo cool. Then the stars sat next to each other on the stage and we yelled "billy" and he saw us and waved. Elijah never came to our corner. Don't know why, but maybe he avoided us or maybe he didn't see us?? Who knows. Then Peter Jackson gave a speech and said that the Wellington premiere was the best one and the biggest one and blah blah blah…lol. Then there were fireworks on the top of the theatre and the stars headed into the theatre. Then it ended. The actual premiere went for an hour but it was the best ever. I'm sooo glad I flew all the way to New Zealand so I could attend this and this trip was really worth it. I can't believe I had the best spot and I had met karl (eomer) that was just a bonus. Then we left and went and had dinner and we knew the stars would come out of the theatre around 10:30pm so we went back to the hotel and rested a bit. Then at 10:10pm I said that I was going down to the embassy to see the stars leave but no one came with me, they couldn't be bothered so I went alone. I was trying to find my way to the theatre and I was walking down this street and there was something on the ground that said "lord of the rings" so I picked it up and to my surprise it was an after party pass!!!!! I couldn't believe it. It had the address where the party was held. I knew it was at the museum as I had already asked Elijah and Dominic but after the museum party the stars were gonna be another place and I saw the address but had no idea where it was and underneath it said "strictly by invitation only", so I think you need to show an invitation or something and I decided if I should go or not but I had no idea where it was and my friends weren't with me and it was late at night. I went to the embassy theatre but as I got there everyone walked out but I was too late cos I couldn't see anything as everyone was around it. There was one barrier and it was packed out. I saw buses and the people were going there. I didn't even see the stars and then I was really really tired and sleepy. I knew the stars were going to be at the museum so I made my way there and I got there and it was really loud and there were a lot of people outside and so I didn't think I could get in but I was too tired since I was up at 5am so I decided just to go back to the hotel and sleep as I've been up for 20 hours. Then I made my way back to the hotel and was walking up to the main door to get in and I saw Elijah with a body guard standing outside the doors. I had no idea what he was doing as I thought he would be at the museum. I was half asleep and since I had already met him twice and seen him 6 times now I didn't wanna go up to him again and say anything to intrude as he may think that I'm some crazy fan so I looked at him quickly and then just walked into the hotel and he saw me and yes he did know who I was. OMG the way he looked at me, I just can't believe it. I wish he had said something to me!!! I went back to my room and rested. I couldn't believe that I saw him again!! Geez this guy is everywhere!!!! I am upset as I should have said something like "goodbye Elijah" or "Elijah, did you have a good night"?? I'm upset now but I didn't think to say that back then as I wasn't expecting to see him there. Anyways I went to bed around 1am and my friends went for a walk and came to the room around 2am and woke us up and they said that I should go to the pool cos I may see Elijah there", LOL. I told them that I wanted to walk around the hotel and spot them but I was too tired and I needed sleep. Yes I did manage to sleep like a baby that night as I was tired and I knew Elijah was staying at the same hotel.

19 December

I got up at 7am and got ready. The lotr museum opens at 10am and this is the first day so I Planned on getting there around 9am. I got ready and went to the mall to grab something for breakfast, walked past reception hoping to see the stars again. Then I was walking in town and my friend Natalie saw me. Shes an aussie too and shes a LOTR freak (shes rose took at the RQ forums) and yeah how weird is it seeing her in middle earth, lol. We were planning on meeting each other at the museum but we decided to stick together and I had told her that I met the stars at the hotel and the airport and I said that I was making my way back to the hotel to check out and asked her to come with me so she could meet the stars. We went back to the reception and went into our rooms and got ready and my friends were still sleeping so we got our bags and checked out. We were at reception and Natalie said that they are doing a conference on the 1st floor as she saw security and we both looked up to level 1 and we saw Elijah and dominic walk past, and she looked at me in shock and I nodded my head to say that it was them, we were still at reception so we acted normal and mature. It was 9:30am and so we had to go to the museum so we left the hotel and I had told her that it was really Elijah and dominic but they were doing press so we couldn't hang around and we had to go to the museum and we got to the museum just after 10am and it was awesome!! They had all the characters costumes. They had legolas' costume as well as gandalfs, aragorns, sarumans and it was sooooo cool. They had all the props and the swords and the hobbit feet. We were there for an hour and then we decided to see the two towers as it opened up in new Zealand that day. We wanted to go back to the hotel to see them. I wanted Natalie to meet the stars but we had nothing to do at the hotel cos we had already checked out. Then we saw the two towers for the first time together and loved it. We were surprised that the tickets were not sold out. It was weird seeing frodo and the hobbits on the big screen as I had met them yesterday. After that we went back to the hotel so I could get my bags and see the stars. I got my bags and then we sat at the lobby lounge waiting to see the stars and we waited for about 20 mins and it was 5:30pm and there was no one there. So we left. I got a train back to my friends house and on the train I was thinking of going to the airport on the next day to see Elijah one last time and to say goodbye but I had no idea what flight he would be on. I got back to my friends place their mum taped the news for me and I watched it and they had heaps of bits from the premiere and to my surprise me and my friends were on TV!! LOL. They showed the audience and you could see us when karl came over to our side and later they showed us again when Richard taylor came over. It was sooooooooo cool. The news person said that the stars left Wellington today and went to the south island. I decided not to go to the airport as I wouldn't see them there. I was shocked cos they were there now and they were leaving new Zealand tomorrow from the south island and how freaky is this. I booked my flights to the south island the day after they left. I had no idea that they were going to the south island and I booked my flights ages ago. Talk about being close and then on Saturday I made my way to the airport and my flight left from gate 17, that's when I met Elijah for the first time and I was in shock as I was staring at the arrival doors, lol and I stood at the spot where I met Elijah. Then I went to Queenstown for 2 nights and did 2 LOTR Tours. It went to heaps of spots. Before I went to Wellington, I went on this cool tour of the set of hobbiton. It was just amazing and then got the bus to Wellington and we drove past mount doom. I saw the two towers in queenstown and there was an American family sitting next to me and we got into this conversation and they said that they flew from los angeles to new Zealand on the 18th of December and said that the stars were on the same plane. Hows this???? After all that has happened to me on that special day, I hear this…lol. She said that she didn't notice them until they got off at the airport. She asked them to take a pic of them and said that they were really nice and Elijah, dominic and billy were hanging around together all the time. What a coincidence??? Its good cos I asked what time the flight left los angeles and they told me like all the details so I checked my sheet and it was a different flight, hehe I found out everything!!! Then after spending 2 nights in queenstown I got a plane back to Wellington and the plane had arrived and we came out of gate 17, aaahhhh this is still haunting me!!! I went mad when I walked through the arrival gates. I left New Zealand to go home the day after and my god I had the best holiday of my life. It was definitely a LOTR holiday and I couldn't believe that all this had happened to me. I knew I was going to see the stars and the 18th of December would be a special date but I didn't think about meeting Elijah twice, dominic 4 times, billy once and karl twice would happen at all. It was just luck. Luck was following me. The 18th of December was the best day of my life. Apart from meeting the stars several times and then seeing them on the red carpet was just amazing. This trip was sooooooo worth it and it was well planned. It was a lotr holiday in middle earth and I had done lots of tours of the locations, went shopping and got heaps of cool lotr merchandise, saw the stars and met them and saw them on the red carpet. Went to the lotr museum and saw the two towers for the first time in new Zealand. It was great seeing the two towers for the very first time in new Zealand as it opened up in Australia the week later. I got elijahs autograph twice. The message he wrote in my big book was "Desiree, well done for touring round middle-earth, lots of love Elijah Wood'. And I got billys and dominics autograph as well. I thought about it and I didn't get tix to the premiere or to the after party (I kinda did) but I didn't really care now cos I had already met the stars and that was even better as a lot of people were not around. I had a great trip home and still was in shock of what happened and how awesome this holiday turned out. I just wanted to say that Elijah is a really nice person and being a huge Elijah lover for soo long I wasn't disappointed at all, he is really down to earth, hes really nice and funny and easy to talk to and really likes signing autographs and taking pics. Hes exactly as he seems in person. Hes no different. After experiencing all this with Elijah, I truly think that I'm the luckiest Elijah fan alive and now Elijah knows me soo well, he knows what I look like, knows where I live and what my name is and when I met him I wore my all time fave top and I'm really happy that I was dressed up. I just think its soooooo cool going to middle earth and meeting Elijah there as we are both from different countries. That is soo unbelievable and words can't describe it. Now I'm going to wait for the return of the king premiere in New Zealand and will be going back to middle earth so all this can happen to me again. This is the end of the long review, hope you enjoyed it!!