29/01/2018 - Beautiful Edoras

Two days ago, we said goodbye to the beautiful peninsula called 'Banks Peninsula' and drove to 'Mount Somers'. The drive there once again showed how much agriculture is practiced here in New Zealand. Huge herds of cows were seen on both sides of the road, and the fields were watered with the help of large, movable sprinklers. We are not ecologists, but so much livestock farming cannot be healthy for the environment. Especially since the number of cattle has increased by a staggering 75% compared to 1989. It will be interesting to see where this development leads.

Mount Somers is located at the namesake mountain. When making the reservation over the phone, the owner warned us that it might get a bit noisy in the evening. The reason for this was the summer camp of a rugby team. They used the front cabins of the campsite as their accommodation. For dinner, we had hotdogs with original Frankfurt sausages from 'Café Berlin' in Christchurch. Afterwards, we played some frisbee. In the evening and at night, we could hardly hear anything from the big guys.

The next day greeted us with a thick layer of clouds and drizzling rain. We had planned a hike in the 'Rakaia Gorge' for today. After the rain subsided, we set off. The gorge was reached within 20 minutes by car. A walking trail starts from the parking lot, leading to various highlights. Right from the start, it was quite steep uphill. We were rewarded with beautiful views of the gorge. We also saw the old bridge that we had to cross to get to the parking lot. After about 30 minutes, we reached the first lookout. The view was magnificent, and we even saw two motorboats cruising up the river. Since we were not particularly challenged up to this point, we continued to the next highlight of the circuit. The trail became increasingly muddy. We were very grateful to have put on our hiking shoes. We followed the signs to the coal mines. These were reached after another 45 minutes and unfortunately a bit disappointing. We only saw two caves that were closed off with iron gates. The next decision had to be made. It would take another 45 minutes to reach the next and final lookout. After a short consideration, we decided to take the path. It was not particularly warm, which made the constant ups and downs bearable. But the last ascent to the 'Upper Gorge Lookout' was tough. Not only because the path became very steep, but also because there was hardly a trail left. The bushes blocked almost the entire path, making it difficult for us to push through. Thorn hedges made it even more unpleasant. But the journey is the destination, and when we finally arrived at the lookout, we were rewarded with a great view. To get back to the car park, we decided to take an alternative route that goes through a sheep pasture. It was equally steep, but not as overgrown as the other path. When we reached the mines, we walked the same way back. The sun pushed through the clouds more and more and increasingly shone through the densely overgrown bush. We gradually became really warm. After hiking more than nine kilometers, which took us almost four hours, we arrived back at the car. Now it was time to go to the riverbank and cool off our feet. After a delicious apple slice and a cereal bar, we felt refreshed again. Back in Mount Somers, we took an evening walk through the small and sleepy village.

After two quiet nights despite an lively rugby team, we headed back to the coast today. But before we aimed for the coastal town Timaru, we went to another 'Lord of the Rings' filming location. This was admittedly the main reason why we drove to Mount Somers in the first place. We set off right after breakfast. After a few kilometers, the paved road ended, and the gravel road began. Since it hadn't rained heavily in the past few days, the road was very dusty. Approaching vehicles could be recognized in time by their dust cloud. After about 20 minutes, we reached a small green oasis - 'Lake Clearwater'. Otherwise, the landscape around us was rather barren - but it somehow matched the scenery. After another 20-minute drive, our destination came into view. We would have almost given up because of the road conditions. Our car is not really designed for gravel roads, so there were moments when we had to hold our breath. Passing through a 'Ford' with a car that has a very, very low snout is not that much fun. (The New Zealanders refer to a 'Ford' as a riverbed that intersects the road and depending on the weather, carries more or less water.) We were getting closer to Mount Sunday. This isolated hill is the perfect filming location for a city like Edoras.

Edoras is the capital of Rohan. The film crew spent a whole eleven months building the location for the second part of the film trilogy. The 'Golden Hall' and smaller parts of the city were built on the mountain. Today, however, nothing of that is visible anymore. But when you watch the scenes from the film again, you can clearly recognize the mountain.

After parking our very dusty car, we put on our hiking shoes and applied a thick layer of sunscreen. Once again, we were very lucky with the weather - blue sky and pure sunshine made the surroundings look fantastic. We started the hike, and right at the beginning, we crossed a small river. This was followed by a suspension bridge until we finally reached the foot of the mountain. We continued along the beaten path, and soon a phenomenal view opened up. Because Mount Sunday is located in the middle of the valley and is surrounded by high mountains. We enjoyed the 360-degree view for quite a while. Besides us, there was only one other German couple on the summit. You could hear the cows over and over again, as the entire area is in the middle of a cow pasture. After about an hour, we made our way back to the car. However, we didn't want to take the same route, but instead descend on the other side of the mountain. So we followed a small beaten path and quickly descended from the mountain. We kept discovering cows in front of us. The first ones were startled and ran away. As our beaten path became smaller and less distinct, we gradually felt a strange feeling. We reached a spot from where we had a good overview of the field. Several cows looked at us. Suddenly, one of them let out a loud 'Moo'. This caused a lot of commotion, and the situation became uncontrollable. We heard loud stomping from all around us. Cows from all the hedges around us ran towards the lead cow. We tried to keep an overview, so as not to stand in the way of any cows. In the end, we saved ourselves by climbing over a fence and watched as the rest of the herd followed the lead cow. At least 25 agitated cows ran towards her. We had to take a deep breath and discuss the next steps. After we no longer heard any cows, we climbed back over the fence, back into the cow pasture, and walked the same way back. We climbed the summit again. The shock still lingered. As if the ascent in 30 degree Celsius heat wasn't sweaty enough, now there was also a lot of sweat caused by fear. We followed the well-proven path and arrived back at the car unharmed. - The cows have since calmed down. :)
Now we faced another 24 kilometers of gravel road. But at Lake Clearwater, we took a break and had our lunch there. While I stood in the water up to my knees, Tobi enjoyed the heat and went for a swim. - The name of the lake kept its promise. After this refreshing break, we continued our journey. We still had quite a distance ahead of us.
After another two hours of driving, we reached Timaru, where we will spend the next two nights.