Ida Valley, Otago: Inside the Power of the Dog Filming Locations
Long before Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog swept the 2022 awards season, Central Otago was already New Zealand’s best kept cinematic secret. Golden tussock hills, wide dry valleys and huge open skies have stood in for worlds from Middle-earth to the American West. Few films have used that landscape as powerfully as this one. This guide to the film locations Power of the Dog used covers a quiet farming valley two hours from Queenstown: the Ida Valley.
This article breaks down the film locations Power of the Dog used across Otago, and answers the question travellers ask most: where was Power of the Dog filmed? We look closely at Ida Valley itself. We cover how the production turned a working sheep and cattle station into 1920s Montana, and how you can build a trip around it.
Film Locations Power of the Dog: A Quick Refresher
Adapted from Thomas’ 1967 novel, The Power of the Dog stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Phil Burbank. He is a domineering rancher. His brother’s new marriage upends life on the family ranch. The story is set in Montana in 1925. Director Jane Campion chose to shoot the entire film in her home country of New Zealand instead. She wanted landscapes that felt untouched, expansive and slightly hostile. Central Otago has all three qualities in abundance.
The gamble paid off. The film earned twelve Oscar nominations. Campion won Best Director, becoming only the third woman in history to do so.
Why Central Otago Doubled for Montana
Central Otago’s high country shares a surprising amount with the American Northern Plains. Think dry grasslands, dramatic mountain backdrops, and light that changes constantly through the day. Production designer Grant Major worked on the film. His credits include The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. He worked with the Film Commission to scout dozens of sites. The team eventually settled on a working farm in the Ida Valley as the production’s anchor location.
A few quick facts about the shoot:
- Filming took place over 50 days in 2020.
- The crew was largely local, based out of Central Otago and Dunedin.
- Around 290 extras were drawn from Dunedin, Oamaru and the Ida Valley itself.
Have you explored our guide to the Lord of the Rings filming locations at Paradise, Glenorchy? Then you already know how often this corner of the South Island stands in for other worlds on screen. The Power of the Dog proves the trick works just as well for a period Western as it does for fantasy.
Ida Valley: The Heart of the Film Locations Power of the Dog Used
Ida Valley sits in the Maniototo, a wide, arid basin in Central Otago. It stretches roughly 40 kilometres between the Ida and Hawkdun mountain ranges. This is genuine farming country, home to merino sheep and stud cattle rather than tour buses. That authenticity is exactly why it looked so convincing on screen.
The production built its central set on Braeside Farm. This is a working sheep and beef station near the small settlement of Oturehua. It became the Burbank family’s ranch. Here is what the crew actually did to the site:
- Dismantled the existing sheep yards
- Constructed a Western-style homestead, barn, cattle corral, bunkhouse and saloon front from scratch
- Dressed the surrounding paddocks with period fencing and props
- Used local cattle, horses and dogs from the valley as background animals
- Filled dozens of extra roles with Ida Valley locals, alongside cast from Dunedin and Oamaru
Braeside Farm is privately owned and not generally open for casual visits. Travellers can still get a genuine feel for the setting. Drive the Ida Valley-Omakau Road, which runs the length of the valley past Oturehua and on to the wider Manuherikia basin. The scenery along this stretch, think tussock-covered hills, shelter belts, and the meandering Idaburn, is essentially unchanged from what appears in the film.
More Film Locations Power of the Dog Used Around Otago
While Ida Valley provided the film’s core setting, the production ranged much further across the region to fill out its version of Montana.
Bannockburn Sluicings, near Cromwell. This location provided the eerie, sculpted badlands where Peter discovers a diseased cattle carcass. Gold miners carved out this surreal landscape more than a century ago. They used high-pressure water cannons to blast away hillsides in search of gold. The result is a maze of clay pinnacles and gullies. It looks more like the American Southwest than New Zealand, and it remains freely accessible for walking.
Dunedin. The city lent the production its Victorian streetscapes and grand railway station. These stand in for the town scenes where the Burbank brothers do business and where Rose’s story develops. Dunedin’s heritage architecture is well preserved. It regularly doubles for early twentieth century North America on screen, and the city rewards a wander in its own right. Our guide to the Dunedin and Otago region covers the best of it.
Oamaru. Famous for its Victorian Precinct of limestone warehouses, Oamaru was used for further town scenes. It contributed around 55 extras of its own to the production.
The Manuherikia River. This river, running through Central Otago, appears in several outdoor riding and river scenes. The wider Lindis Valley area was also used for its open, mountain-ringed scenery.
Puhoi. A small village north of Auckland, Puhoi was the outlier. Its historic Centennial Hall stood in for the film’s funeral scene. This is a reminder that while the heart of the production was in Otago, a few interior and community scenes were shot elsewhere in the North Island. All of the film’s interior sets were built in an Auckland studio.
Planning Your Own Film Locations Power of the Dog Road Trip
Almost every outdoor Power of the Dog location sits within an easy drive of Queenstown or Wanaka. That makes this a natural add-on to any Central Otago itinerary.
A logical route looks like this:
- Start in Queenstown or Wanaka. Both are well covered in our guides to Queenstown activities and Lake Wanaka activities.
- Head into the Maniototo via Cromwell. Stop at the Bannockburn Sluicings along the way for an easy roadside photo of the film’s badlands scene.
- Continue through Alexandra and Omakau into the Ida Valley. The Ida Valley-Omakau Road offers sweeping views of the farmland that stood in for the Burbank ranch.
- Push on to Oturehua, the valley’s small central village and a good spot for a coffee stop.
- Loop east toward Ranfurly, Naseby and the wider Maniototo. These gold rush towns fed and housed much of the film’s cast and crew during production.
Many of these towns, including Naseby, Ophir and St Bathans, sit directly on or near the Otago Central Rail Trail. This is New Zealand’s original and most famous cycle trail. Cyclists exploring the region on two wheels are effectively riding through the same countryside where the film was shot. A multi-day cycling leg fits well here. Our Bike Tours page has options for building one into a wider South Island trip.
Finish the loop with a detour to Dunedin for the railway station and Victorian streets. Or head to Oamaru for its limestone precinct and famous colony of little blue penguins. From there, return to Queenstown or continue on toward Christchurch.
Best Time to Visit
Central Otago’s climate is one of extremes: hot, dry summers and genuinely cold, often snowy winters. That contrast is part of why the region reads so convincingly as the American Northern Plains on screen. Late spring through early autumn (November to April) offers the most reliable driving conditions. This period also brings the long golden light that made the film’s cinematography so distinctive. Autumn in particular brings dramatic colour to the region’s poplars and willows.
Winter travel is possible and beautiful. It pairs well with skiing near Queenstown or Wanaka. Some back roads can be affected by snow and ice, so plan your self-drive itinerary carefully at that time of year. Our full best time to visit New Zealand guide breaks this down season by season.
Pairing Ida Valley With New Zealand’s Other Famous Film Sets
Central Otago is only one chapter in New Zealand’s long relationship with the film industry. Has Power of the Dog whetted your appetite? The South Island alone offers a remarkable spread of other locations. Consider adding these to your itinerary:
- Glenorchy and Paradise, near Queenstown. This area supplied some of the most memorable backdrops in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
- Lake Moke, also near Queenstown. It appeared in the acclaimed series Top of the Lake.
- Matamata, in the North Island. It is home to the ever-popular Hobbiton Movie Set.
- The West Coast’s Hokitika Gorge, which features in productions like The Luminaries. Read more in our Hokitika Gorge guide.
Our roundup of the Best New Zealand Filming Locations covers the country’s full screen history. It is the best place to start.
Should You Book a Tour or Self-Drive?
The Power of the Dog locations are spread across a rural, sparsely populated part of Central Otago. This is genuinely self-drive country. A South Island self-drive tour gives you the flexibility you need. Linger at the Bannockburn Sluicings. Take the slower back roads through the Maniototo. Stop wherever the light looks right. That flexibility matters in a region where the scenery changes by the hour.
Prefer to leave the logistics to someone else? Build the Ida Valley and wider Central Otago into a custom private tour instead. Pair it with wine tastings in nearby Cromwell and Bannockburn, or a scenic flight over the Southern Alps.
Final Thoughts
Ida Valley is easy to overlook on a first-time New Zealand itinerary. There are no ticketed movie sets here, no gift shops. It is just a genuine farming valley that happened to catch a filmmaker’s eye. That is precisely its appeal. Visiting the real Power of the Dog film locations means driving through the same tussock country. You pass the same shelter belts, under the same huge Central Otago sky that convinced audiences worldwide they were watching 1920s Montana.
Combine it with Dunedin’s Victorian streets, Oamaru’s limestone precinct and the badlands at Bannockburn. Together, they trace one of the most awarded films of the decade. Best of all, the route runs through some of the South Island’s least crowded, most striking scenery.
Ready to build Ida Valley and Central Otago into your own New Zealand trip? Explore our South Island tours. Or get in touch to create a tailor-made itinerary around the region’s film locations, back-country roads and heritage towns.
