On to Edoras
Our tour guide from Tussock and Beech tours (highly recommended, info at www.nature.net.nz) arrived at 9AM, so after a quick breakfast of toast and preserves (Kelly fell in love with the marmalade), we were off. The scenery was fantastic, and Warren, our guide, a former teacher with a background in botany and geography, really knew his stuff.
After a few scenic views, we stopped for tea at a little “batch”, or shanty-style cabin at a summer resort before continuing on to Mount Sunday, the former film site for the city of Edoras in Lord of the Rings. The mountain looked like a little bump on a flood plain when we saw it from a distance. It turned out to be a bit of a hike—or tramp, as they call it in New Zealand—that included our first real river crossing.
Warren got us all set up, and we crossed without incident—until our return, when Crystal’s sandal came off in the current, and after a brief moment of indecision, Jeff made the potentially unwise choice to abandon Crystal in the current and go running downstream after the shoe. I wasn’t sure whether Crystal was grateful for getting her shoe back, or upset at being left to her own devices in the middle of a raging river. Remarkably, everyone managed to get across safe and sound, with shoes intact. And Crystal appeared to be still speaking to Jeff.
We climbed to the top of Mount Sunday, a surprisingly easy walk, and marveled at the 360 degree view from the peak. Besides our LOTR fix, we also helped Warren rebuild a little cairn that had been placed over the grave of the station-owner’s favourite sheep dog, which someone had dismantled to build their own cairn on the rocks. It felt good to be able to put it right.
While we were on the hill, the wind started to pick up. Warren explained that the southerly wind had just switched to a Nor’wester—both involve up to 100km winds; but the Nor’wester is warmer and wetter than the southerly. We could see a dust storm heading down the river valley, so we headed back, and after the shoe mishap, got out of our wet clothes/footwear and moved on to a more sheltered location for lunch.
Lunch was an event—and almost made me wish we hadn’t decided to cook for ourselves while at the cottage. Warren’s wife Marita was a great cook and baker. Lunch was a picnic of sparkling wine, tea sandwich rolls filled with canned asparagus (simple but delicious) and puff pastry ‘pizza’ with pesto, tomatoes and feta. We followed that with some light and crunchy cornflake (I think) cookies and “cinnamon oysters”—mini spice cakes split in half and filled with sweet cream. After some fruit and tea, we were ready to continue our journey with full bellies and satisfied grins.
We made a few more view stops for Kelly to take photos before ending up back at our cottage around 5:00.
After a few scenic views, we stopped for tea at a little “batch”, or shanty-style cabin at a summer resort before continuing on to Mount Sunday, the former film site for the city of Edoras in Lord of the Rings. The mountain looked like a little bump on a flood plain when we saw it from a distance. It turned out to be a bit of a hike—or tramp, as they call it in New Zealand—that included our first real river crossing.
Warren got us all set up, and we crossed without incident—until our return, when Crystal’s sandal came off in the current, and after a brief moment of indecision, Jeff made the potentially unwise choice to abandon Crystal in the current and go running downstream after the shoe. I wasn’t sure whether Crystal was grateful for getting her shoe back, or upset at being left to her own devices in the middle of a raging river. Remarkably, everyone managed to get across safe and sound, with shoes intact. And Crystal appeared to be still speaking to Jeff.
We climbed to the top of Mount Sunday, a surprisingly easy walk, and marveled at the 360 degree view from the peak. Besides our LOTR fix, we also helped Warren rebuild a little cairn that had been placed over the grave of the station-owner’s favourite sheep dog, which someone had dismantled to build their own cairn on the rocks. It felt good to be able to put it right.
While we were on the hill, the wind started to pick up. Warren explained that the southerly wind had just switched to a Nor’wester—both involve up to 100km winds; but the Nor’wester is warmer and wetter than the southerly. We could see a dust storm heading down the river valley, so we headed back, and after the shoe mishap, got out of our wet clothes/footwear and moved on to a more sheltered location for lunch.
Lunch was an event—and almost made me wish we hadn’t decided to cook for ourselves while at the cottage. Warren’s wife Marita was a great cook and baker. Lunch was a picnic of sparkling wine, tea sandwich rolls filled with canned asparagus (simple but delicious) and puff pastry ‘pizza’ with pesto, tomatoes and feta. We followed that with some light and crunchy cornflake (I think) cookies and “cinnamon oysters”—mini spice cakes split in half and filled with sweet cream. After some fruit and tea, we were ready to continue our journey with full bellies and satisfied grins.
We made a few more view stops for Kelly to take photos before ending up back at our cottage around 5:00.
posted by Noelle | 5:02 PM
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