Recognize the following site from a pretty dang famous movie trilogy? You might if you’re a big "LOTR fan!"
On the way to Rohan’s capital, Edoras! (What's Edoras you ask?)...
What, where?
I grew up as a young, inquisitive girl who had an imagination that could travel much farther than others could ever dream of. That is why when I was only about 7 or 8 years old, my favorite cousin gifted me four books that I would go on to cherish for my whole life.
In those books were a completely new reality, far away from the one I was currently living. With intricacies that gave my stories a run for their money. The man behind these words and this beautiful escape between the pages, was none only than J.R. Tolkien.
When I was little I would fantasize about my own world where mystical creatures were commonplace and I had my own language to speak but Tolkien went further than dreaming it, he created it so that Sir Peter Jackson could take his writing and make it into one of the most successful franchises of all time.
Are you with me yet? I’m talking about LORD OF THE RINGS!
See, New Zealand was Peter Jackson’s playground when filming the trilogy as well as the Hobbit series following so along the roads there are many opportunities to see the real life action shots where the magic was made.
I decided to take off on a mission to see as many of these sites as I could and when I was here the first time, I crossed many off of the list. So this time I wanted to make sure I followed suite, starting with a small trek up a mountain in the distance, instantly recognizable with an incredible view.
Are you all ready to see Edoras?
On the way from the car park, there's gravel roads which are incredibly un-LOTR like bringing you into the privately owned property but beyond the gate that marks the property line begins the incredible journey ahead.
I am a water-lover, I love water features as I am sure you can guess so I went straight for the crystal clear blue waters (to cool off in... I mean bathe) ;)
I snapped a shot of this sign: Kings of Middle Earth
Getting to the top was what it originally was all about but oh my goodness just everything about it was breathtaking! The scenery was incredible with a vibrant blue lake and flowers decorating the landscape far and wide! I could have stayed there forever... I wish I could move into Edoras yesterday!
At one point I was running up the hill away from the orcs because I am that cool and as I was screaming “the orcs are coming!” the cows in the distance began to moo, startling me for a moment as the familiar noise echoed in the distance and ended up being quite eerie bouncing off the rocks. I wonder if they even needed sound effects on set when they had such natural accommodation around!
When you get there your jaw falls onto the ground.
The signs say this trek will take you 45 mins, that might be true if you don’t have a Go Pro, drone and obsession with natural beauty like I do... I mean what are people doing? First of all you’ve got to drive pretty far out of the way to get there, then you have to hike a pretty steep hill, so what are they doing then? Just saying ”OK, that was fun, bye-bye now”? I don’t know where they come up with these numbers but I was up there for a good hour and a half and that isn’t including up and down. ;)
I also have some epic shots of it all though so I would say it was worth every minute and absolutely worth the turn off, fan or not!
Hope you guys liked this journey! I have had such a wild ride the last couple of months while I have been away and there is sooooo much to share! (I took over 5,000 photos so you better stick around!) ;)
Happy New Year Steemians! 2018 is going to rock! (Get it rock, because this was a rock location?) <3
As always, sending you love! I'm really happy to be back!
XO,