One Does Simply Walk Into Mordor

BUT WE DID!!! 

Let me back track. We have just begun our 11 day long tour of the North Island. We (Hannah, Dejan, Pier and I) decided to rent a car so that we had the flexibility to get to all the spots we wanted to see. Our first day (Friday the 8th), we went on a Lord of the Rings tour around New Zealand. A tour guide took us to different scenes and then we went to the Weta Caves. Not only did the Weta Caves work on LOTRs, but it's also home to special effects for movies like Avatar, District 9, King Kong and many more. 

The first scene we went to was right after Frodo and Sam left the Shire. Being that they are Hobbits, they probably decided to stop for Second Breakfast or Elevenses. Like usual, Sam is doing the cooking and Frodo is contemplating life.

The second scene we went to was soon after Frodo and Sam ran into Merry and Pippin in Farmer Maggot's crops. They were all running away when a cliff came up and Sam accidentally pushed them all over. They came tumbling down the hill and landed in a big Hobbit pile. (I couldn't find a picture from the scene in the movie).

As Sam, Merry, and Pippin are picking mushrooms, Frodo feels evil approaching. 

The fourth scene, although it runs into the previous one, is when Frodo yells "Get off the road!". All the Hobbits run under a giant tree. Fun fact: The bugs that crawl over the Hobbits while hiding, were indeed real bugs! 

Unfortunately, there actually wasn't a tree there, so we had to improvise...

The last scene we went to was right as the Hobbits were running to Huckleberry Ferry to get away from the Ringwraiths.  

After the scenes tour, we headed to Weta Caves. The Weta Caves is responsible for all of the special effects in LOTR, including creating the miniatures of Rohan and Gondor and building armor for the Orcs. 

We saw this sign on the tour. Wellington is known for being a very windy city. 

Hannah found herself a new boyfriend at the Weta Cave.

Selfie with Gollum #besties 

An example of a goblin that Weta Caves created for LOTR

Hobbit feet! They were very fragile, so Peter Jackson would hire people to carry the hobbits to different places in the scenes so they wouldn't tear their feet. 

Big ol' troll from the Hobbit

On Friday night, we took a 4 hour drive north to a little town called Turangi, home of the Tongariro Crossing. This hike is a 19.4 km hike, and if you want to climb Mt. Doom, you can add an extra 3 hours. That's right people, MT. DOOOM!!! Peter Jackson (director of Lord of the Rings) decided that this place would make for the perfect Mordor. The hike started out pretty easy, along a flat, alpine ecosystem, with a lovely stream going through it. 

It was a pretty cloudy day, so we couldn't get a full view of the mountain we were about to climb 

This entire area is on a volcano that could erupt at anytime... very similar to Mt. Doom... as we climbed higher and higher, we could start to imagine what Frodo and Sam had to go through... 

The picture was taken right after we climbed "The Devil's Staircase"... I didn't know my quads could burn like that...

As we climbed higher and higher (hoping that the next hill would be the last), it got more foggy and windy. It was now mountain against Hobbits... I...I mean humans 

This is the Maori name of Mt. Doom. We ended up not climbing it because it was so windy. There is no track up there, so it would have been very dangerous. 

To the left of this picture was the hardest part of the whole hike. The wind was so terrible that people were pulling each other up and falling over onto their hands and knees! Some took refuge behind a big boulder while others pushed on, quoting The Lord of the Rings, "He's trying to bring down the mountain, Gandalf, we must turn back!" 

But the view at the top was worth it! This picture does not even come close to how beautiful the scenery was! 

Along the hike down, there were beautiful, bright ponds

One of the mountains we climbed over 

 The next few pictures are ones I took on our descend from the mountains. At this point we still probably had another 8 km left to hike, which doesn't seem like a lot, but when you're going down hill the whole time, your toes start to scream!  

 I couldn't ask for better travel buddies! (in case you're wondering, the guy on the right is Pier. We met him in Wellington and ever since then, he hasn't been able to get rid of us).

I can't describe how beautiful this hike was! Every turn there was something different to look at. We went from walking through native New Zealand bush, to climbing over volcanic debris, and then through Alpine forests. It was probably one of the toughest hikes I've done, but well worth the experience!

Tomorrow morning (Sunday the 10th) we are headed a little ways north to Taupo. We will stay there one night and then head east to Gisborne the next day. Update soon to follow!