The much-anticipated movie The Hobbit is being filmed in New Zealand, where director Peter Jackson has created Middle Earth straight from the treasured Hobbit books. These beautiful aerial shots show the detail and time invested in creating this one of a kind wonderland.

Such huge species of weta, giant wetas, can be found in New Zealand. They are examples of island gigantism.

Container ship Rena that carried 1,700 tons of fuel oil and over 2,000 containers on board ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef near New Zealand. Reportedly, up to 350 tons of oil has been spilled from the ship.

Located in Dunedin New Zealand, this ridiculously steep street is only 1140 feet long but will definitely cause your thighs to burn if you try to walk up it. You better have really good brakes on your car too.

Looking at these photos of New Zealand after Saturday’s earthquake, I get chills down my spine. It must be horrible to live in Christchurch where people got approximately 300 temblors in just 5 days. Almost 100,000 houses were damaged. It’s a miracle that no one has been reported dead as the earthquake magnitude was 7.1. Local authorities announced a state of civil emergency for the next week.

New Zealand is located in the area where 2 tectonic plates collide. Every year the country faces more than 10,000 earthquakes, but only less than 10 leave such damage.

For those of you who would have forgotten, Hobbiton is a village in The Lord of the Rings. This is the home of Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee…

Hobbiton is situated in Matamata, a small town in the North Island of New Zealand.

Apparently, the place suits to the sheep!

This frigate known as HMNZS Wellington was commissioned for the Royal New Zealand Navy in 1969. Thirty years later it was decommissioned. And it was utilized in 2005. The whole process was effective. But why couldn’t they just cut it?

These beautiful rocks are known as the Moeraki boulders and are unusually large. They lie along Koekohe Beach on the coast of New Zealand. There are local legends that say that these rocks are unusual enough that they look as if they are not of this world.