Trip through wardrobe to scenic world of Narnia

Melissa Heath of Canterbury Tours on "Witches Mound" at Flock Hill with a sword used in Narnia. Picture / Simon Baker

The vast fields ringed by rocky mountains in the south island high country are silent and empty now, save for a few sheep grazing.

A year ago they were teeming with armoured warriors, half-animal, half-human characters and a White Witch in a huge battle scene that would become the climax of the blockbuster film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

The only signs left of the mammoth filming operation at the Flock Hill station, about 80km inland from Christchurch, are tiny fragments of movie costumes and bottle tops buried in the undergrowth, a large water tank that kept the cast hydrated in extreme heat and a stunningly crafted artificial rock mound from which the infamous White Witch surveys the battlefield.

But from next month, the fields will be buzzing with activity as up to 30 fans of the movie descend daily on the station to see first-hand the sights from the silver screen and fossick for their own souvenirs.

Canterbury Sightseeing, an offshoot of Wanaka Sightseeing, is launching its exclusive Narnia tours to cash in on the release of the movie by New Zealand director Andrew Adamson.

It is the latest foray into movie tourism, launched by the huge success of the Lord of the Rings, which draws thousands of tourists to New Zealand.

Canterbury Sightseeing director Melissa Heath took about a dozen tour groups before the official launch because of the huge demand. She expects the interest in the Narnia tours to explode after the movie premieres and reignites the passion of people who read the books.

Tourists can don fur coats, like the children in the film who enter the wonder of Narnia through the wardrobe, and hold props from the movie.

"It is incredible how nostalgia affects people. People are prepared to pay an incredible amount of money to revisit their memories," Ms Heath says.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton says movie location tours have added a "whole new dimension" to tourism in New Zealand.

Visitors were going to areas of New Zealand previously seldom seen and this only added to the country's appeal.

Ms Heath's Wanaka Sightseeing struck early success with Lord of the Rings location tours. Of the thousands the company has taken on tours, one sticks in her mind.

An ailing 84-year-old man who loved the books by JRR Tolkien and was spellbound by director Peter Jackson's movies, travelled from Britain to see "Middle Earth".

"He came out with a minder because he could hardly walk. He said to us afterwards he could die happy because he had seen Middle Earth. That was just extraordinary."


Movie tours
* Narnia tours offered by Canterbury Sightseeing begin next month.
* Day-long 4WD tours cost $200 for children and $280 for adults, or half-day helicopter tours are available for $1100 per person.
* About 25 companies offer Lord of the Rings location tours.
* A tour of filming locations from The World's Fastest Indian begins in February.