Hutt River North Island

Waking up today it looked as though it was going to be a miserable day with all the rain - so much so that we considered missing out on our Wellington Rover Tour. Turned out to be a good move going because the day panned out quite well and the miserable weather actually contributed to the atmosphere of our first stop for the day - Mount Victoria. …

An einem sonnigen Dienstagnachmittag machte ich mich mit Amelie auf den Weg zum Flughafen. Mein "Ticket" hatte ich per SMS auf mein Handy bekommen. Das war schon sehr fragwürdig für mich! Aber als sie die SMS dann einscannten und mir eine „kassenbonähnliche" Bestätigung in die Hand streckten, wünschte ich mir die guten alten Zeiten zurück, …

... .  The whole shack shimmied while real audio and video footage stimulated the senses.  It really hit home that all of New Zealand's spectacular scenery squeezed into such a small area comes at a price.  The forces of nature truly rule the ...

... , and at 1:15 I went out for a run in Lower Hutt! I started running half-way down the hill and then all along the Hutt River toward the estuary bridge. It was a nice flat track, not many people on it though, maybe because the weather was cloudy and windy ...

You can't really come to New Zealand and not do something to do with Lord of the Rings. Well, maybe you can but where's the fun in that? Can you say spoilsport? Anyway, the trilogy has taken over, in a global sense, and (whether the kiwi's want it ...

... Moment auch noch recht schlechtes Wetter, starker Wind mit orkanartigen Boehen und Regen (http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/4098921/Hutt-River-flooding-fears-lead-to-road-closure). Neuseeland macht seinem Ruf als wildes Land mal wieder wahr:-) Und ein ...

... had to apply to Gandalf. I thought that was pretty interesting.     The last filming location we saw was the Upper Hutt River filmed as the River Anduin. There were apparently 5 rivers used for the Anduin...I've seen 2 now. And that was ...

... desert, pine forest, native forest, beach forest, gorges, volcanic area, and plateaus - and all of this was just on the North Island. It's no wonder that Peter Jackson was able to find everything he needed to provide the backdrop to the film. At ...

... trilogy: Dry Creek Quarry which was used both for Helm's Deep in The Two Towers and Minas Tirith in The Return of the King; Hutt River which was one of several rivers used as the River Anduin or Great River (this part was used for where the Fellowship ...

... many Monterey pines hugging the hillside, which provide great effect for filming, however, as our guide pointed out, they are not native new zealand trees.  The area where the "get off the road" scene was filmed is not very big and it really is ...

Another gorgeous New Zealand day brought sunshine through my bedroom window much too early.  After a second long day in a row, I desperately desired to sleep in, but as I am completely incapable of staying in bed past 7 am, the morning sun likely ...

... Boxing, a National Holiday, so once again we had the day off from volunteering.  I spent the sunny morning hiking the Hutt River Trail, a flat walk along the levees.  Around noon the weather turned sour again, to the point of even bringing a ...