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Published: December 1st 2005
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Road to Edoras
Unsealed, of course. When we visited New Zealand in April of 2004, Rich and I had taken a flightseeing tour on the South Island, visiting some of the locations where the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed. One place we visited was Mount Sunday, the place where the Golden Hall of Edoras (the Rohan capital on a hill) was filmed. On that trip we flew past it and viewed it from a few kilometres away; when I discovered a brochure for a company that takes you out there in a 4WD vehicle to stand atop the mountain, I vowed that I would do that someday. Today my day finally came.
We drove ourselves to Methven this morning to meet our tour vehicle. A side benefit of this trip is that it gave us one last chance to plunge into the Southern Alps before we leave New Zealand in a few days. The morning was somewhat cloudy but the foothills near us were still majestic. In Methven we made a potty stop (no Exeloos, but it had a cloth hand towel instead of a hand dryer or paper towels…) and then a huge vehicle appeared. Out stepped our guide Rex, who introduced us to
Getting close
Mt. Sunday is just to the right of our gargantuan vehicle. our fellow travellers Lea, Graham and Maureen. We piled in to our 6WD(!) vehicle and were off.
We departed from the Canterbury Plains under grey skies and cool temperatures, but it didn’t take long for the scenery to get dramatic and the skies to clear up a bit. After half an hour’s drive during which Rex told stories about New Zealand, his life and Lord of the Rings arcana, we stopped along a beautiful remote lake. Along this lake many “baches”, or vacation cabins, had been built. Kiwis are known for their interest in getting away to remote locations for weekends, holidays and summers and this was just one of those places. These baches overlooked a lake in which powered craft aren’t permitted, so they enjoy a quiet lake surrounded by birds, rolling hills and towering snow-clad mountains. And today they and we enjoyed bright sunshine too.
Continuing on, soon we passed Mount Potts ski area and entered the valley of Erehwon, where our destination lay. As soon as we came round the bend into the valley, Rex pulled over and let us take a look over what was to come. In the distance we could see Mount Sunday, in
Riders of Rohan
Mt. Sunday is just behind our heads (Rex is a self-proclaimed photographer.) the midst of a gargantuan valley flanked by jutting white pinnacles. The valley floor was laced with a vast network of crisscrossing streams. We jumped back in and made our way down to the valley floor, then up a hillside directly across from Mt. Sunday. What had looked so tiny from afar now seemed quite large - a great mound of rock and grass, long enough to have held a full village plus a series of terraces in the back. We were headed for these terraces as Rex took us through a gate and onto private property. We crossed three of the streams, foot-deep water rippling around us as the vehicle tilted up and down the streambanks. Then it was up the backside of Mt. Sunday until we stopped in a small meadow. We hiked the remaining couple hundred feet up the hill, and then we were there - on top of Mount Sunday at last! It was every bit as breathtaking as I’d hoped. 360 degrees of fields, rivers, hillsides and mountains with no visible human impact except the narrow unsealed road. Rex pointed out where the Golden Hall had stood, and just how large it was. He also
pointed out the crack in one mountainside into which the Lord of the Rings CGI wizards had placed the Helm’s Deep fortress.
We got to spend a good hour on top of the mountain; wandering around taking pictures, contemplating the views, enjoying being able to hear the trickle of small streams 600 metres below us. When the wind kicked up, we headed down to the small meadow again to sit down for a champagne lunch. Rex produced several fun things for us to play with: collapsible seats with LOTR characters’ names on them (Rich, Ben, Gary and I were Samwise, Saruman, Aragorn and Boromir respectively); replicas of Aragorn’s sword, Gimli’s axe and Eowyn’s sword; and one of the banners of Rohan. We enjoyed a delicious lunch and chatted with our fellow travellers. After a mock swordfight on a small grassy rise, we packed up and headed back. A delightful and unforgettable time.
We made it to Christchurch in time to enjoy dinner at the Tap Room, where Gary and Ben reported that the “organs of force-fed chickens” tasted very good. Tomorrow we have all day to explore Christchurch - unfortunately it’s our last full day at large in New Zealand!
Bye bye, behemoth
Almost at the top...
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Sandy
non-member comment
No fair!
Rich! You got to hold the flag of Rohan!! I'm so jealous!