Mulubinba Moments

Dunedin to Middlemarch by the Taieri Railway

To recap, I will post the map of where we travelled last year in NZ. (Click to enlarge). We are actually heading back there in November, and I therefore thought I had better get my act together and post out photos from .... last year!! 

The Taieri Gorge Railway runs from Dunedin through to Middlemarch in Central Otago. From Middlemarch, we took a shuttle over to Queenstown. 

Work on the railway began in 1879 but was not completed until 1921. It was closed for commercial use in 1990 and is now purely a tourist railway. The scenery is spectacular. You can find the full album of photos in the sidebar here.

Again, I will let the photos do the talking. The Hobbit began filming at Middlemarch 6 days after we were there.

Dunedin Railway Station

 

Travelling from Christchurch to Dunedin - bus.

Continuing on our journey through New Zealand ........ (totally oblivious to the fact that Peter Jackson's The Hobbit cast and crew were travelling only a few days behind us).  

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Once leaving Christchurch bus station (whose office was a container with a portaloo), we hit the road in an Intercity bus headed for Dunedin. As I write this, Christchurch has been experiencing more tremors, so our thoughts are with the residents over there. 

The trip to Dunedin took about four or five hours, but as we left early in the morning, we arrived in Dunedin with enough time to walk around and also take a tour out to the Albatross nesting sites on the Otago Peninsula. 

While the Maori people were the first to establish settlements in the area, Dunedin city was founded by free settlers from Scotland and England. The cool wet weather reminded them of home. Driving out to the Otago Peninsula I was actually reminded of northern Scotland .... there were even dry stone walls dividing some of the paddocks.

I've picked out a few photos of the trip down to Dunedin. It was extremely cold, with snow falling south of Dunedin and across to Queenstown. As you can see from the photos, we are rather partial to snow capped mountains as we don't see them very often here. 

Looking towards Aoraki/Mt Cook national park area

First Presbyterian Church of Otago.

Octagon city centre

Otago Peninsula and Royal Albatross Centre.

 

Picton to Christchurch by Train

Onwards to Christchurch....

As mentioned in the previous post, our InterIsland ferry trip ended at Picton on South Island. although the map below marks Nelson and Pelorus Bridge, you can make out Picton just to the right (East) of Pelorus Bridge.

We were not able to see much of Picton as our train left 30 minutes after disembarking from the ferry. The train was the Coastal Pacific and you can read about it here or here. The trip did not disappoint as the scenery was amazing. (How many times have I used "amazing" now when describing the New Zealand landscape?   ... Well, it is amazing). We followed the east coast of South Island, passed through the famous Marlborough wine growing area (missed the Marlborough Wine Festival though), and at times the rail travelled between beach and mountain ranges. There was even a seal colony on the way! One of the highlights for me was that we were joined by a lovely couple who lived in Marlborough Sounds and who gave us our own personal tour commentary pointing out landmarks and telling us about the places we passed through. Loved it!! 

As before I'll let the pictures do the talking .... I have made up a photo album which hopefully will appear in the sidebar as I had trouble choosing which photos to post here and I ended up with over 21!! Here is the link to the album if it isn't in the side bar.

Marlborough Vineyards - home of a very nice Sauvignon Blanc. Wine festival info here.

Seals camouflaged on rocks (above)

There was snow on the mountains in the background.

As you can see the train followed the coastline so we had sea on our left as we headed south, and fields and mountains on our right.

My next post will be dedicated to Christchurch. We didn't have the heart to take any pictures as so much has been destroyed. We could only stay in an airport hotel as accommodation was not available closer to the city. The CBD was still closed and the night we arrived, the newspapers ran the story that the Cathedral would have to be demolished. There was an outcry when the decision was made public and I need to check to see what has happened over the past three weeks.

 

Interislander Ferry from Wellington to Picton

A spectacular journey from Wellington to Picton on South Island across Cook Strait through Marlborough Sounds. The Interislander has a great website with short video footage of parts of the journey.

I will let our photos do the talking in this post .........

Head of Wellington Harbour looking across at Miramar Peninsula (I think)

Marlborough Sounds, South Island from Cook Strait

Marlborough Sounds

Dolphin following ferry

Picton

Pelorus Bridge where they were filming scenes from The Hobbit last December before bad weather forced them to leave is not far from Picton. 

Next part of trip will be by train to Christchurch. 

Christchurch Earthquake Appeal website here.

 

From Rotorua to Wellington

On with my report about going "there and back again" ..... our fleeting trip to NZ (with Hobbit additions).

Our journey took us from Rotorua down to the southern tip of North Island to Wellington. I thought we would have time to see the Weta Cave in Miramar, which was on my "must visit" list, but completely underestimated the time it would take to travel from Rotorua by Intercity Coach. (9 hours in fact). The advantage of bus travel however is that we got to sit and watch the scenery pass by.

                                                  Lake Okareka near Rotorua

1. Rotorua to Lake Taupo

We missed the Waimangu Volcanic Valley which will have to be seen on a return journey. Located to the south of Rotorua, the valley was created on 10th June 1886 as a result of the Tarawera Eruption. Loads of geothermal features apparently, but unfortunately there was no time to stop. We did however stop for a quick break at Lake Taupo which was created by a volcanic eruption  in AD186. Below is a photo of Lake Taupo with a glimpse of Mt. Ruapehu (9176ft), left; Mt Ngauruhoe (7513ft), centre, and Mt Tongariro (6457ft) right (peeping through cloud). Better glimpses as we drove south.

2. Lake Taupo and volcanic areas.

                     

Mt. Ruapehu - there are numerous ski fields located here including the Whakapapa Ski area despite the fact that this is still an active volcano (last eruption in 1995-1996). An article in theWanganui Chronicle dated November 10th stated that the Hobbit was filming over at the Mt Ruapehu Turoa ski area lower car parks where there is a stream lined with volcanic rocks .... base of Erebor perhaps? 

Mt Ngauruhoe - I originally thought that this was Tongariro, but it is actually Tongariro's vent. LOTR fans will recognise this as Mt Doom, Mordor.

At 5.30 pm we were in Wellington...  

3. Wellington

Sadly, we only had a few hours of daylight in Wellington, but we made the most of those hours by walking around the CBD. (Too late for Miramar and Weta unfortunately). I have to go back to this city. There is something about it .... I can't quite describe. Despite a howling gale blowing, there is almost a romantic quality to this place ... it has a nice "feel" about it. Wellington is affectionately known as "Windy Wellie" and it sure was windy. I was very glad of thermals and wind jacket.  

Some photos FYI:

1. View from our room: As there were a few large tour groups booked into our hotel and we were travelling by ourselves, we were upgraded to a Suite. 

2. Harbour

3. Te Papa Tongarewa - Museum of New Zealand 

4. NZ Govt. Buildings

 

5. Old St Pauls - had a feeling that this building has been the venue of many weddings.

6. View from top cable car station (Botanic Gardens and Observatory)

7. Botanic Gardens 

Light was fading ..... can you tell?

We were way too tired and footsore to think about taking a photo of the Embassy Theatre which was only two blocks from the hotel we were staying at and will of course play host to the premiere of The Hobbit. Below is a pic from Wikipedia.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia  

We had a 7.00am start the next day to catch the Inter island Ferry to Picton, so unfortunately that's all we were able to see of Wellington. Another time, perhaps.

 

Rotorua

Day 2 & 3. After visiting Waitomo caves and straining to try to catch a glimpse of where Matamata might be in the countryside (I saw the sign to it), we arrived in Rotorua. Rotorua is famous for its steamy thermal activity (loads of hot pools and fissures including sulphurous smells) but is also a heartland of Maori culture. 

We discovered a number of mud pools and hot fissures on an afternoon walk near our hotel .... fascinating! If I return, I will definitely explore more of the hot pools and spots. (The sign below indicates the danger to casual walkers if they stray off the path as there are fissures of bubbling water along the lake shore. (Note the misty quality of the air). 

Some of the water from these hot pools is piped into man made spas and has good therapeutic qualities (I felt I wanted one of these for work in contrast to the heated chlorinated pool we use for hydrotherapy .... except the sulphur smell is a bit harder to take compared with the chlorine).

 You need to be careful about standing downwind from this pool as the vapours it gives off have a similar effect to laughing gas .... we found that we were quite light headed after standing close to it for a few minutes. (No need for the glass of wine/pre-dinner drink).

The Rotorua Museum of Art and History (above) has a fabulous exhibition dedicated to Maori settlement and culture. The building was opened in 1908 as the "Great Spa of the South Pacific" where people came for cures by soaking in the therapeutic hot water and mud.

On our first evening in Rotorua, we were lucky enough to go to a Powhiri (Traditional Maori Welcoming Ceremony) at the Tamaki Village. 

 Protocol.

The powhiri exists to establish the good intentions of the visiting group and it is a display of strength and hospitality on the part of the hosts.

1. The visitors (manuhiri) gather at the front gate of the marae. 

2. Wero - challenge. A warrior comes forward issuing a challenge which is intended to discover if the group's intentions are peaceful. He wll lay a small branch on the ground for the appointed leader of the group to pick up as a gesture of peace (teka).

3. Karanga - call of welcome is issued and visitor group moves forward together with appointed leader at the front.

4. Hongi - pressing of noses 

5. Speeches and dances

6. Hokari/Hangi - feast

Hangi oven with hot stones used to cook meats.

Geothermal Valley:

Next morning we took a bus to Rotorua's Te Puia to look at more geothermal activity. It was pouring with rain, but still absolutely amazing ... and if I'm honest, a little bit intimidating. I was just slightly concerned about eruptions, but apparently the region is well monitored by scientists who detect any signs of concern.

Geyser

Mud pool 

Steam rising from hot pools and springs in amongst trees.

A return to Rotorua and environs for me is a must as I want to look at more of the thermal activity. I also feel that a visit to the volcanos further south (Tongariro and Ruapehu) will be a "must".

Next: Heading south to Wellington although we only spent an evening in Windy Wellie which wasn't quite enough time!

 

There and Back Again - NZ and filming locations - Part 1

Above is a map of our journey "there and back again" in New Zealand. (I hope it is readable - click to enlarge). I have added a few extra locations, some of which have been mentioned in the recent Hobbit filming updates - some are Lord of the Rings filming sites. The temptation is to post too many photos - I will probably place a lot in an album in the sidebar.

I will try to tie in the places we visited with the filming locations of The Hobbit. Most of the time we were ahead of the filming by a few days to a week. Only once did we actually see a set, but there is so much wonderful scenery that I imagined The Shire, Mirkwood, Laketown and The Lonely Mountain (Erebor) in practically every place we visited. It is going to be fascinating to see how Sir Peter Jackson and team manage to weave their magic to make the locations into Middle Earth. I was reminded of the fight the production had to keep the filming in New Zealand last year. Having visited there, I can envisage no other place in the world that has the abundance of visual beauty, variety of landscape and sparse population allowing panoramic shots without seeing buildings etc. Having seen one set and been staying close to that location, the employment the film industry has created is a positive. Not only are there local people being employed as extras, crew, set builders, but drivers have been employed to transport sets,costumes,freight ... and the actors; accommodation has been booked out and local services therefore benefit. 

31st October 2011 (Sir Peter Jackson's birthday)

Arrived Auckland in the late afternoon as NZ is 2 hours ahead of us. Cloudy and showery as can be seen from this photo. We had an early start for Rotorua the next morning but managed a two hour walk around the city. The whole of the country was still full of euphoria given the All Blacks' victorious win in the Rugby World Cup.

 

There are some lovely buildings in Auckland (above is the University clock tower) - we didn't have time to see that much (as can be seen from the fading light in these photos). Early start next morning.

1st November: Auckland to Rotorua via Waitomo. (I like to call this my road to The Shire).

Filming was happening at Matamata and at Mangaotaki/Piopio/Te Kuiti. You can see that visiting Waitomo, we were incredibly close but as we were on a bus, we did not spend time hobbit searching. As mentioned in a previous post, our driver knew quite a bit about the filming at Matamata and two UK tourists we bumped into at Rotorua had difficulty finding accommodation at Waitomo because the production had booked it all. (They did meet some of the stuntmen in the bar of one of the hotels however). Many of the cast/crew I believe were staying at Hamilton. I had a suspicion there may have been one or two staying in Rotorua as it isn't that far from Matamata. I expect the dwarves would have been working closer to Te Kuiti/Waitomo/Mangaotaki. Eric Vespe from "AintItCoolNews" blog, and official Hobbit blogger, was over at Matamata with Martin Freeman and Ian McKellen. (See "An Unexpected Journey: Quint on the set of The Hobbit Part 1 and Part 2.). Thorin may have been there briefly if PJ has decided to keep in the scene where he meets Gandalf at the Prancing Pony outlined in "Unfinished Tales".

We were unable to take pictures inside the Glow worm caves because of the problems with flash photography - I did however think that the cave system would make a great venue for "Halls of the Elven King" in Mirkwood where Bilbo finds Thorin and the other dwarves locked in the cellars and they start their escape in the barrels on the river (which starts underground). Maybe even one or two tunnels/caves at Erebor itself?

A couple of photos follow however to give you a taste of the countryside. These were taken while travelling on the bus towards Matamata and Rotorua.

 

view from our room in Queenstown, NZ

Sent from my iPad

Auckland Day 1

Arrived in Auckland on 31st October. Photo of the harbour/mariner area with Skytower in background.

Sent from my iPad

Pictures from my favourite walk - Tuesday.

I haven't walked on the breakwater for a long time, so it was a joy to revisit.