No visit to New Zealand would be complete without exploring some of the locations featured in movies such as Lord of the Rings, The River Queen, and Whale Rider.

After all, who wouldn’t want to follow in the footsteps of Frodo, paddle along side the River Queen, and swim with the Whale Rider.

Many of the movies, however, were filmed in remote locations well of the tourist trail. Little, if anything, remains of the sets and props built for the movies.

But it’s well worth the effort to find them because the biggest star of these movies – the landscape – remains.

The Lord of the Rings

Director Peter Jackson covered the whole of New Zealand looking for ‘middle earth’ and ended up filming in 150 different locations.

Most of the villages and sets created for the Lord of the Rings trilogy were dismantled as soon as shooting stop.

But if you head a couple hours south from Auckland on State Highway 27, you’ll come across the remains of the original Hobbiton Village. Located on private farmland near the town of Matamata, access is only available by tour.

The River Queen and The Whale Rider

These two movies provided not only spectacular scenery but also introduced moviegoers to insights into Maori history and culture.

Visitors to New Zealand can get a glimpse of this by heading out to the Whanganui River and following the trail of the River Queen. This river that was used by Maori as a main transport route for centuries before Europeans arrived. Today, you can canoe, kayak, or jet boat down the river. Alternatively, you can hike along any of the numerous hiking trails that follow the river.

Those choosing the water route can arrange for an overnight stay at Tieke Marae, an old pa (fort) located on the river banks. This cultural experience features a traditional powhiri (welcome) and strives to provide a view of Maori life – past and present.

The small village atmosphere is also available at the beachside community of Whangara (population 30) where Whale Rider was set. Located near Gisborne on the east coast of the North Island, Whangara is the hometown of Witi Ihimaera, author of Whale Rider. This small Maori town (population 30) is the ancestral home of the Ngati Konohi tribe.

Base yourself at nearby Gisborne, known for it’s sunny weather and wineries, and take one of the tours to Whangara led by Hone Taumaunu, cultural consultant during the filming of Whale Rider. These tours depart from the Gisborne Visitors Information Center and offer a chance to visit the house where the filming was done and learn about the story that inspired the movie.

(image by lifacolor)

The strands which connect the music of England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada and the United States reach back across the centuries, and they are still being created and honored at the beginning of the twenty first century. That sort of connection and exploration is what’s going on the work of Boston based band Anna Livia, and what’s showcased in their album Barrier Falls.

The dozen tracks which comprise the album include Lovely Annie, a song of unrequited love which has its origins in the north of Ireland, John Riley, a story of lovers reuniting after long absence which has been passed along through the folk songs history of many English speaking countries in varied ways. There is a set of tunes from Scotland and from Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, which comprises music from those traditions as well as more recently composed pieces. It is called after one of those Nova Scotia tunes, Brenda Stubbert’s Wake Up to Cape Breton. That’s a set that will get your foot tapping, including as it it does march, strathspey, and reel. The Meeting is Over, which closes the disc and in a way draws its strands of music together, was learned from the music of a community of traditional singers in North Carolina.

Members of Anna Livia are taking things forward with original tunes and songs which stand well beside their choices from traditional sources. Among the newer works are Barrier Falls, the title tune of the collection, a jig written by Flynn Cohen, who plays guitar in the band. It leads off a set of original jigs with other tunes in the set composed by Emerald Rae and Brendan Carey Block, who each add their fiddle playing to Anna Livia’s sound. Stuart Kenney, who keeps the low notes going on bass and adds tenor notes on banjo, composed two tunes, Freak Funky Thang and Hill and Hollow, and Liz Simmons, the singer with the group, wrote The Time Is Up.

These are five musicians well qualified to interpret tradition and take it forward. As you might gather from the titles of their music, they bring quite a variety of backgrounds of living. learning, touring, and studying through Celtic and Americana cultures, as well as immersion in the ever changing Celtic and Americana music scenes in New England. Joining the band for this project ae cutting edge button accordion player John Whelan and creative percussionist Paddy League.

Should you be planning or dreaming of a trip to Appalachia, Cape Breton, or even Boston, Barrier Falls. will make a good soundtrack.

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Domaine de Mortiès made a big impression–literally–long before I met the winemakers and tasted their wines.

Located 20km north of Montpellier in a secluded corner of France’s mountainous Pic Saint Loup, Mortiès is run by a laid-back couple who abandoned careers in real estate and software development in 2008, moved to a charming late-eighteenth century farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, and became winemakers. In other words, their old friends all hate them now.

They now manage a 25-hectare organic vineyard comprised mainly of syrah grapes, and just three years into their new life are already producing some truly fantastic wines that I count as some of the best tasted during my whirlwind three-day tour around the region of Languedoc-Roussillon.

More on the wine in a minute.

In addition to picking up a dreamy farmhouse, part of which has been converted into Mortiès’ cave-like tasting room and barrel-aging cellar, and trading desk jobs for a chance to learn, study, and practice viticulture, somewhere along the way Richard Mousties and his wife also brought a huge, lumbering, slobbering, and, yes, adorable great dane into the family.

He’s big enough for children and short adults to ride him like a horse; his teeth are so strong that we caught him chewing (eating?) large rocks in the farmhouse courtyard. Naturally, once we got over the initial terror of an intimidating grey-haired beast trotting over as we climbed out of the van, conversation focused as much on the gargantuan dog as it did on the Mortiès wines.

That’s not to say the wines are a second-fiddle attraction.

Made from 75% syrah and 25% grenache, aged in oak barrels for 1 year and cement tanks for another, the 2008 Jamais Content, named because Mousties says he’s “never satisfied” with this wine, had our group oohing and aahing over its beautiful ruby-red color, long legs, and heavy tannins. It’s the kind of wine you buy six bottles of on an impulse and later wish you had bought more, but Mousties was simply teasing us as unfortunately the ’08 vintage is sold out (though it looks like magnums are still available).

We later tasted the soon-to-be-bottled Jamais Content 2009 straight out of its cement tank–I think it’ll be a worthy successor. Two more big, complex, drinkable reds, the 2006 L’opportuniste (made from 95% syrah) and 2008 Pic Saint Loup (appealing earthiness, black pepper on the nose, spicy finish) left similarly strong impressions… if ones not quite as big as that left by the grey beast that watched our tasting, from just outside the cellar, chewing rocks.

Domaine de Mortiès is located on Route de Cazevieille, 34 270 St. Jean-de-Cuculles, in the heart of Pic Saint Loup. Visit their website for more information, including hours and directions (you’ll definitely need them).

_{All photos copyright Brian Spencer}

As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with complimentary services for the purpose of review by Atout France and the Languedoc-Roussillon Regional Tourism Office. While it has not influenced this review, Perceptive Travel believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest.

An internationally renown operatic soprano, a troupe of puppets, a band from the Sahara of Africa and a choral group from Bulgaria, a political firebrand film maker, a thoughtful historian, a jazz orchestra, and a top Irish traditional band: these are just a few of the artists who will take part as the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s unfolds across the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland from the 14 through the 30th of October.

It began as a small festival of the arts some forty nine years ago, when people from Queen’s University wanted to celebrate the arts in the city, and over the years it has grown to be one of Eurtope’s and the world’s premiere arts festivals. It still showcases Belfast, too, as a city that respects arts and artists.

This year, classical music lovers will get to hear Dame Kiri Te Kanawa perform with the Ulster Orchestra, and take in a chamber music series featuring top mezzo-soprano Monica Groop and the Danish String Quartet celebrating the great Nordic composers. The Ulster Youth Choir bring a local touch to performances of Bach and Mendelsohn at St. Peter’s Cathedral. In another performance the Ulster Orchestra will be joined by conductor JoAnn Falletta and piano virtuoso Joanna MacGregor in a program of work by American composers including Bernstein, Gershwin and Aaron Copland. Opera Theatre Company will offer a rendition of the Anne Frank story and Michael McHale, David Quigley, and Cathal Breslin will present an evening of the music of Franz Liszt.

That range of classical performances would likely be enough for any one festival, but there will be quite a bit more going in in Belfast, in venues ranging from concert halls to river barges to cathedrals. Among the speakers who will continue the festival’s tradition of including talks and spoken word events are Bianca Jagger, who will bring her Human Rights Revolution program to the festival. Historian and broadcaster Sir Max Hastings will be on hand, as will comedian Tim McGarry, as well as
“the polemicist of a generation” as festival organizers describe him, American film maker Michael Moore.

Northern Ireland’s talent will be well represented across the arts genres, too through performances of the play the Boat Factory as well as musical and dance events. The Handspring Puppet Theatre will be on hand, too, as will the traditional band Dervish, from Sligo in the republic, who have had hits with jigs, reels, and songs from Bob Dylan.

Part of the audiences for these performances will be those who rarely have a chance to attend arts performances. That is part of Ulster Bank’s contribution to the festival. “Last year, over seventy community groups of all shapes and sizes received opportunities to experience Festival events free of charge through Ulster Bank’s Community Ticket Scheme, and we will continue this in 2011, “ said Ulster Bank’s Director of Business Services Ireland Ellvena Graham “This year’s program delivers exceptional shows from all over the world as well as promoting local talent, and we are proud to support its cultural contribution to Northern Ireland.”

A city whose name is often associated with political troubles and divisions, Belfast would like the world to know it is a welcoming home to the arts, as well. As it begins its forty ninth year, the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s is continuing to support that message.

Find out more at the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s website Even if you will not make it the festival, there’s a lot of good information about arts, artists, and Belfast at the site.

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It’s coming.

Not quite yet.

Now now now!

You just missed it.

I’ve just returned from the Adirondacks, which, I’m told, was close to peak foliage, but not quite there yet. (Photo here at the fabulous Adirondack Museum.)

The whole concept of “peak foliage” has always struck me as strange, in a wonderful way.

What we have is a natural process, that occurs at different rates at different elevations and for different tree species, so it is not possible for an entire area you might visit to be “peaking”, although a significant percentage of the trees in that area might be.  And does it really matter if the foliage is at its very best, if indeed such a thing is possible? Is it any less lovely if it’s not?

I’m asking, I don’t really know the answer. But the question should reveal my general skepticism about the value of ultimate superlatives.

The other common topic of conversation about the foliage, which I overheard while I warmed myself near one of the lobby fireplaces at the Mirror Lake Inn in Lake Placid, and which I participated in, over a breakfast blueberry pancakes and sausage at the Fern Lodge in Chestertown,  is how the weather of late affects leaf color.  No one can fathom all of the variables that produce the fuzzy concept of “peak” color with any sort of scientific accuracy, but apparently warmish days paired with warmish nights, which is a fair description of recent weather, tamps down the brilliance produced by the death of green chlorophyll, the unmasking of yellow carotenoids, and — the big crowd pleaser — the production of crimson anthocyanins.

Nevertheless, New York State’s I LOVE NEW YORK program, caps apparently obligatory, deploys foliage spotters in each county to report on how things are going as we progress towards peak and then rapidly away from it. These reports seem to be outside outside common language — they are informative, strange, marvelous.

I found this poem, hiding inside all the information, in the latest one:

Foliage

at the midpoint of change

some red leaves of average brilliance

near complete leaf transition.

Trees on some hills are still very green

while other hills have much more color.

Look for some pockets.

Muted hues of goldenrod, russet, and copper

amidst the ever diminishing green.

Muted shades of yellow and a little orange,

along with some beautiful rusts and pockets of red.

Muted shades of gold and bronze,

highlighted with apricot and orange.

some bittersweet oranges

and ruby reds.