Day 6
so i know i've been told i suck multiple times for just going to New Zealand, but this was definitely right across the street from the YHA that we stayed at...
the bulk of the day was consumed by our trip to Skippers Canyon though, which was really fun and cool, but one of my dorky favorite little things was the fact that the license plate of our 4x4 was totally EOMERS
before we went into the canyon we stopped at the top of the cliff and got a lot of stuff in the valley pointed out to us (both geographic and LotR related)
(if you check this photo and shift it over to the right you will see how these mountains featured into LotR)
this place is also in LotR, but the other side of it. the part of the film where they are fighting the Wargs in Two Towers is shot just on the other side of this hill in a place known as Deer Park
after checking out the view for a bit we headed over the last bit of the ridge and this was the view that greeted us...
and then i tried to get a photo in front of it...but i suck so i blinked for it ;)
the next things we saw when we went into the Canyon were the Tower and the Castle
(from farther away on the way back at the end of the day)
after leaving the castle and tower we drove along the cliff some more and then came to what was left of the pub that marked the end of the first half of the journey into the canyon for the gold miners
after this we came into the canyon proper which was quite impressive...
(this is actually where the township used to be for the miners, and after they all left people used water to bore away at the mountainside to get at the gold that was formerly under the town splitting the flat area into two)
of course, my personal favorite part of the trip was when we went to where they shot the scene for the Ford of Bruinen
and then, at the end of the trip we all got to go stand on a piece of rock jutting out into the middle of nothing for a picture
(i believe the thought going through my head was "what the hell am i doing!!!" and i also had a death grip on the person next to me)