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Rachel's Travels...
Thursday 25 November - Today I went on a trip to Edoras, which for you heathens is from Lord of the Rings.
Was picked up at 9am and we set of into the Canterbury High Country which is where the Edoras location is. The exact location is Mount Sunday which is in the Mt Potts High Country Station which is in the Erewhon region in the Canterbury High Country. It was about a two hour drive from Christchurch. About 30 minutes from Christchurch was the Rakai Gorge, which is really pretty (and would have been better if the weather was nicer). Then we went up via Methven (which is a ski resort is winter) and past Mt Hutt and then past Mt Somers. We were then in the Canterbury High Country, which is very remote and isolated. Hardly anybody lives up here, and those that do have big farms or 'stations'. The scenery is also stunning up here - really lovely - lots of mountains, hills and lakes. Drove past Lake Emma (great name! but I couldn't get a photo of it) and Lake Camp and then had a short photo stop at Lake Clearwater. It was so windy and really cold by the lake. There is a small holiday village here - there is no mains electricity. Drove past Mesopotamia!!! And I thought Mesopotamia was an ancient country where modern Iraq is now. Turns out its a big farming station.
Then we rounded a corner and I got my first glimpse of Edoras!! Recognised it straight away. Got out and took some photos. Then we drove to a nearby lodge where we got into the 4 wheel drive. It was a really rough and bumpy ride up to Edoras and we crossed several streams. Got onto Mt Sunday (Edoras) and had a short walk upto the top. It was so windy! The guide showed us where all the sets were. We would have been standing in the great hall. He also showed us a photo of Helm's Deep and we could see the location used from where we were - it was digitally added (Helm's Deep was filmed in a quarry in Wellington which you should know if you've been reading my postcards properly!). He also showed us the front cover of the LOTR location guide. The picture on the front was of Legolas, Argorn and Gandalf arriving at Edoras - the same scenery in the background of the picture was right in front of me. It was really brilliant. Spent about 40 minutes up on Edoras, walking around, taking in all the scenery and taking loads of photos. It was so nice there - no signs of habitation anywhere within view. It was so quite and peaceful and ACE!!! The weather had really improved whilst we were on Mt Sunday - blue skies started to appear and there was no more rain.
But had to eventually leave. We went back to the lodge for lunch, which was ok but I wish they hadn't tried to make it so fancy and given us more food!. Took in the lovely scenery on the way back to Christchurch, although I did fall asleep once we left Erewhon.
Didn't do much in the evening - stayed in the hostel, read and watched Bridgit Jones Diary, which is still really funny (despite having Hugh idiot Grant in it).
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