Mordor...The One Place In Middle Earth We Don’t Want To See Any Closer

       In Rotorua I met up with Anne and Magdalena. Two girls, one from Germany and the other from Austria who are renting a car. They were heading down to Taupo and planning on doing the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. Coincidently that was my plan. So I am traveling with them till at least Wellington. I’m not sure of my plan after that but for now I’m with them.

      On Thursday we left for Taupo. It’s about a one hour drive from Rotorua. When we got to Taupo the girls decided they wanted to go sky diving. Due to my health I wan’t able to jump out of a plane. I was allowed to chill in the landing areas and take photos. That was pretty cool. The weather was perfect. After the jump we heard rumors of a hot and cold pool. We asked around and found out that near Lake Taupo there is a hot stream/waterfall that goes into a large cold stream. We were also told that anyone is allowed in the hot or cold stream for free.

       When we got there, there were a few people sitting in the hot stream under the waterfalls. We brought a few brews and joined them. Funny enough it was all locals and apparently this place is not very popular or heard of by tourists. So it was nice to talk and swim with the locals. Again it was a perfect night. No clouds in the sky and the stars were shining bright. Sitting in a natural hot stream, under a waterfall, with the stars shining bright and no other lights around or light polluting the surrounding sky. So romantic lol.

     We had to get back to the hostel earlier then we wanted to because we had to be up at 5 and in the car for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing for 5:30. At the Tongariro National Park there are three mountains. Two of the mountains are where Peter Jackson filmed the shots for MORDOR!!!! The Tongariro Alpine Crossing actually goes up and through Mt. Ngauruhoe, which is the primary filming mountain for Mordor. The crossing is 19.4km and changes scenery likes nobodies business. You start in grassland with beautiful streams flowing through them. Around this area is where Peter Jackson filmed Weathertop. So I was in awe looking at the hills because I felt like I was walking the same path as the fellowship. After the grassland was the volcano. Just picture when Sam and Frodo are walking through Mordor in the final film. The final descent was a long walk through a very thick forest. The vertical on this walk is 736m and for some reason all 736m are in one section,“The Devils Staircase”. It was awful. I believe this is the first mountain I have ever climbed. OH BOY was it exhausting, tiring, and difficult.  After that it is mostly down hill but the first half of the walk/climb is killer. We started at 7:30am and finished the crossing at 3:15pm. It was a long exhausting day but I’m glad I did it, I climbed up Mt. Doom. Mt. Ngauruhoe is an active volcano with lava flowing out of it steadily. When we got to the top the scenery was amazing (like all of NZ). The weather was perfect. In the crater of Mt. Ngauruhoe which is half way to the summit I grabbed a few volcanic rocks. Technically rocks from Mt. Doom. Yeah I’m a nerd, deal with it. I now have a piece of the set from Hobbiton and a few rocks from Mordor. I’m pretty happy about it.      

      On Saturday we headed to Huka Falls in Taupo region. It was a pretty cool water fall. It looked very powerful. I don’t really know much about it or why it is famous, but we saw it and it was cool. After the falls we drove to Wangarei (sometimes spelled Whangarei). Our hostel here is really nice. They have hammocks under a big palm tree and a trampoline in the backyard. It isn’t the busy season either so we had the hammocks and trampoline to ourselves all night. We sat outside under the stars and watched “Boy”. Another excellent night. Im really happy about the weather NZ has given us. I thought it would be a lot worse than it is. I’ll keep praying that we continue to have good weather. Already in a week I have a sun tan/burn, and my hair is a lighter colour blonde from the amount of sunlight I’ve been giving it. Hopefully when I get back I’ll be able to blind people with the colour of my hair and intimidate them with my taller more muscular body haha.

        As you can probably tell I have been a busy guy. Having done a new activity or walk everyday, I decided that Sunday would be my day to relax. I stayed in and slept till 10:30. After lunch the girls and I went to the beach. It was a black sand beach. There are plenty of them on the west coast of the north island. When we got there we immediately went in the water (this beach was on the Tasman Sea). The water was warm and clear. So clear in fact that as I was walking on the sand bars I saw and felt TWO crabs (the size of both my fists together) walk over my feet. I was so freaked out and scared. I ran so fast back to the beach. Two crabs just crawled on me and I had no clue what there intentions were. Their claws were massive. And now I know how scary the sea can be. The second time I went out to go swimming I tried not to be such a sissy but I was still really nervous. What made it worse was that the waves stirred up the sand and made it harder to see the bottom. I finally got out far enough and swam for a bit. It would have been a much better swim if I didn’t see those crabs. 

        Our next stop is Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. I plan on doing another Lord Of The Rings tour there. Both in the studio and the shooting locations in the surrounding area.