Today was one of those long awaited days; a day that was planned and a must do in New Zealand from long before this trip was actually planned. It's another Lord of the Rings day; the day when I visited a place called Mount Sunday .... the place they built Edoras.
Away from the hotel at 06:45 for what Google Maps told me was a 3 hour 8 minute journey to the Mount Sunday car park. A quick diversion off the route to find fuel, and then back onto the roads. There was a real novelty here; the straightest roads I've driven since arriving in New Zealand (no, Sheryl Crow didn't appear on the playlist!). At 08:40 the sealed roads ended, and I had 30km of gravel roads to get me to the car park.
I think this is why there was such a long drive according to Google Maps; I've figured that the slower you go over the corrugations the more you get shaken, and found today that between 40 and 50kph seems to be the best speed for these roads. A stop for a viewpoint of the valley then a bit shaken, I arrived at the fairly empty car park at 09:15. It was overcast, but the forecast had suggested that the skies would clear over the course of the morning, so I started on the 45 minute walk to the top of the hill.
The path followed a series of markers, and crossed a few streams before I came to a swing bridge after which the climb began.
It was a steep climb, and I was a little out of breath as I came to the summit, but that didn't prevent an 'Oh wow' from escaping my lips; there was only one other couple up there, so I had the chance to explore with no interruptions. When I arrived at the summit it was still overcast, but with one gap in the clouds hinting at fantastic scenery.
Let me paint a picture of the site. There stands a lone mountain in a wide valley with a rocky craggy summit, surrounded by mountains on all sides. It's pretty much as Tolkien had described in The Lord of the Rings, and it's little wonder that they used this as a location. They built the top half of the city here, but had to return the site to it's original state once they had finished. One thing is for sure; the actors didn't need to imagine fantastic scenery .... it was all there, laid out before them.
This site is renowned for the winds it attracts, and this caused some issues during filming. Today there wasn't a breath of wind to fight against.
As the morning progressed, so the clouds slowly dissipated, and what I thought were good views on my arrival at the summit just became more and more spectacular. I spent an hour and a half up there, and by the time I left there was a clear blue sky with barely a hint of any clouds; I couldn't have timed my visit any better.
I was the last person left on the summit when I decided the time was right to descend once more; the sun was hot and the flies were annoying so I'd reached the end of my welcome. Slowly down the steep descent with a few stops for more photos before I arrived back at the car, and started the return journey along the corrugated gravel road. After a half hour of this, the fully sealed road was a blessed relief when I reached it.
A stop for coffee en route back where I joined SH1, then I arrived back in Christchurch at 15:00 and the immediate job was to put a load of laundry into the washing machine in my room. That's whirring away happily while I do the blog for the day. I'll need to figure out something for dinner, so a check of Google Maps and a venture out are in order a bit later.
Today has been a fantastic day that I doubt I'll forget. Finally I've been amongst the Southern Alps and a site I've been dreaming of visiting ever since I saw it in the movies. The views apparently only get more spectacular as I head further south into the Southern Alps. A break from the mountains tomorrow to visit and stay in a volcano caldera before heading for Mount Cook on Saturday.
Comments
Post a Comment