Where Was Bridge to Terabithia Filmed? Best Time To Visit, Wildlife, and More!

When Jesse Aarons loses the footrace he’s trained all summer for to the new girl in town, it seems to be a recipe for a terrible school year. However, the new girl Leslie is Jesse’s next-door neighbor and before long, the two become friends. After finding a treehouse across the dry creek behind their homes, Jesse and Leslie spend much of their free time together in it, creating a fantastical, imaginative world called Terabithia. 

The movie performed arguably well at the box office, providing a magical spin on the beloved children’s book by the same name. The movie’s setting is in the fictional rural town of Lark Creek in America but the filming of the movie actually took place in New Zealand.

Keep reading to learn more about Bridge to Terabitihia’s filming locations, including where pivotal scenes were filmed, when to visit, and what wildlife lives in the area.

Where Was Bridge to Terabithia Filmed?

The movie Bridge to Terabitihia was filmed at several locations in Auckland, New Zealand. 

The Lark Creek school where Jesse and Leslie first met was actually Riverhead School in West Auckland. While post-production created the monsters, denizens, and magic of Terabithia, real-life Woodhill Forest was the setting where actors shot the majority of the Terabithia scenes. Woodhill lent itself to the magic of Terabithia, but it didn’t have the best location for the dry creek bed and the old rope swing. For that, production crews traveled to Wainui. Finally, in the scene where Jesse forgoes visiting Terabithia with Leslie to attend a one-on-one art exhibition at the Smithsonian with his art teacher, the actors really visited the Auckland City Art Gallery.

Wildlife in Auckland, New Zealand

All of New Zealand creates a picturesque backdrop for hundreds of movies — including blockbusters like Avatar, The Hobbit, and Mortal Engines. It’s also home to some pretty interesting native flora and fauna.

Flora

Auckland has unique flora across its native rainforests, parks, and beaches. The variety of natural beauty and plants spans the gamut. Some plants are only native to Auckland and the surrounding areas, like Veronica jovellanoides, or the Riverhead speedwell. It’s a beautiful small white flower with indigo markings near the center. Since 2017, it’s held nationally critical threatened conservation status. The flower only grows in damp places where sparse other vegetation like ferns and mosses bloom along streams.

Other native trees and plants to the area include karaka, an evergreen tree also known as the New Zealand Laurel that forms a major part of coastal forests; Pōhutukawa, a flowering tree whose blooms erupt in a spiky array of red, orange, yellow, or white stamens; and the Nikau Palm, which remains the only palm native to New Zealand. 

Fauna

Did you know that the only native mammals to New Zealand as a country are bats and marine mammals? 

As New Zealand’s only native land mammal, bats remain an important cultural and environmental player.  In Māori folklore, bats became harbingers of death. Referred to as pekapeka, bats were often seen with hōkioi, a mythical night bird, in lore. Today, the two native species of bats in New Zealand are in danger of extinction. The long-tailed bat has a nationally-critical status while short-tailed subspecies are less threatened. 

Marine Mammals

The marine mammals native to New Zealand, and particularly Auckland, include the New Zealand fur seal (are kekeno) and several species of dolphins. Most commonly, the dolphins swimming around Auckland include the common dolphin, the bottlenose dolphin, and the orca (which, despite its name “killer whale” is, in fact, a species of dolphin). 

The New Zealand fur seal used to be close to extinction when Europeans hunted the seal after arriving in Australia and New Zealand in the nineteenth century. However, they’ve come under legislative protection and have rebuilt numbers to classify as Least Concern conservation status on the  International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

Dolphins swim up and down the coasts of New Zealand, but the common dolphin, the bottlenose dolphin, and the orca are the main species seen near Auckland. The short-beaked common dolphin is the most populous cetacean on the globe, with numbers in the millions. The bottlenose dolphin, a similar species with high intelligence, also swims in the Tasman Sea and South Pacific Ocean. Finally, orcas in Auckland pass through the Hauraki Gulf throughout the year, providing beachgoers with an incredible view.

Outside of mammals, Auckland plays host to a range of birds and invertebrates. Some of the most interesting creatures include the carnivorous land snail, an air-breathing gastropod that eats invertebrates; the Kōkako bird, with mournful-sounding cries and a proclivity to hop instead of fly; and the ruru, one of the last surviving native owls in Auckland.

The Best Time to Visit Auckland, New Zealand

Depending on your itinerary, the best time to visit Auckland changes. The summer is perfect for beachgoers, nature enthusiasts, and adventurers while spring and fall off-seasons provide the best prices and low crowds for tourist attractions.

Americans often consider December, January, and February as traditional winter months, but these months make up the best time to hit Auckland’s black-sand beaches like Piha and Karekare. Summer’s mild weather creates warm breezed, cloudless days for meandering through hiking trails, seeing pop culture sites (like day trips from Auckland to the Hobbiton movie set), and learning to surf.  This peak season also offers a handful of great festivals in the city, including the Boxing Day Races, Auckland’s Pride Festival, the Auckland Lantern Festival, and Coca-Cola’s sponsored event, Christmas in the Park.

June, July, and August are the wettest and coldest months of the year, but that doesn’t mean you won’t find things to do. If you’re on the prowl for deals and low crowds, consider coming to Auckland in its off-season months to visit wineries, boutiques, restaurants, and wellness centers. As long as you’ve packed a few cold-weather items, you can delve underground into one of the many caves in and around Auckland.

If the weather is nice enough (and even if you have to brave some rain or cold), major events in June, July, and August still make Auckland a destination worth flying to! New Zealand Fashion Week happens at the end of the off-season, while the Auckland Food Show kicks off festivities in July. Don’t forget to attend the New Zealand International Film Festival and Restaurant Month, too!

What to Bring When Visiting Auckland, New Zealand

When packing for Auckland in summer or winter, you’ll want to remember several key items:

• Apparel that suits your activities.
• Waterproof outer layers (whether for rain or the rainforest).
• Shoes to suit your activities (think hiking boots, sandals, and/or running shoes).
• A recyclable water bottle.
• A buff or bandana.
• Sunglasses.
• Portable phone charger/battery pack.

You’ll also want to bring the “regulars” you’d take on any trip, like medications, money, your passport (for international travelers), sunscreen, and toiletries.

One consideration for traveling to Auckland: prohibited items on flights. While the requirements might seem common sense to some, Auckland and New Zealand have strict laws on what you can and cannot bring into the country. For example, you’re unable to bring honey, in any size, if it’s not produced in New Zealand as it’s a biosecurity risk. You’ll also need documentation if you’re bringing your pet and their medicine.

Auckland’s Austere Beauty

The movie Bridge to Terabithia had such stunning scenes thanks to Auckland’s natural beauty. While movie set tours don’t exist anymore, take a page out of Jesse and Leslie’s book and imagine your own Terabithia when you walk through Woodhill Forest yourself.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Stargrass/Shutterstock.com