NZ Day 12 part 1 – Edoras: An Oscar winning landscape

We woke up to the most clear blue skies we’ve seen this holiday which was perfect for our Edoras tour. I didn’t really know what to expect on the tour guessing some LOTR stuff would dominate the day. Our Kiwi guide, who bizarrely lived in Lewes last year, turned up in a 6-wheeled off-roader with full-on radio mast at the front and a party of 15 people. After a coffee break we stopped off for a number of photo opps at Lake Camp and Lake Clearwater. There’s a mini-town just for holiday houses/sheds by the lake where no-one is allowed to build or live permanently. The views are perfect today with distant snowy mountains surrounded by light blue sky.

The off-roader really came useful as we approached the site where Rohan scenes were filmed driving through rivers and over rough rocky roads. Our final parking place meant a 5 minute hike up the hill to where the Golden Hall was built (in Two Towers). You didn’t have to like LOTR to enjoy this as the scenery made you feel glad to be alive. Mount Sunday was it’s proper name.

Back down the hill and we had lunch at an old sheep ranch. No one saw the sense in eating outside so we enjoyed the hot sunshine, panoramic views and complimentary sandwiches. The journey back was entertaining with a LOTR DVD extra of Dominic Monaghan interviewing Elijah Wood pretending to be a German reporter. I tracked it down on YouTube. “When will you wear wigs?” Hilarious! Shame we had to endure James Blunt soundtrack for the rest of the journey.