The rocks are moving...

They weren’t kidding when they said that Harcourt Holiday Park was next to Harcourt Park. On my run this morning I literally stumbled onto the place. Running through the park I crossed some earthquake fault lines on my way down to the Hutt River. I ran along the riverside, taking in the view of the rocky river to my left surrounded by native forest dotted with tree ferns. It would be incredibly easy to picture LotR’s Aragorn lying on the creek bed after being in the heat of battle. After all, they did film that clip in the Hutt River!

Harcourt's autumn trees

Harcourt Park was quite tiny, much smaller than I had imagined but beautiful. It was much greener than I had originally thought, and was covered in lush grass. Part of the park was designated for frisbee golf- it made for some interesting running paths. 

Ever-planning (I don’t stop), I poured over maps and guidebooks at breakfast. Given our time constraints I opted to cut the Putangirua Pinnacles which would have been another 3-4 hour’s drive out of our “way”. Instead we will be seeing more of the east coast than originally planned. Or that’s what I had thought.

After Annie and I had breakfast we headed back over to Harcourt Park where I made a spectacle of myself tramping around in circles, talking to myself, trying to find the exact location of the Isenguard gardens as well as two clips of trees being felled in the film. I was indeed successful.

Where Gandalf talked to Saurman

On our way out of the gardens, we were distracted by the giant sized swing set which came equipped with a “Flying Fox”. What is a flying fox you might ask? It is the BEST SWINGSET ADDITION IN THE WORLD. We wasted plenty of time zipping back and forth, time well spent.

Annie feeling the G forces!

The next little bit of our tour was spent finding various scene locations around the area including some river bank scenes, and the one where Aragorn was actually washed ashore. We drove up to Kaitoke park where we found the real Rivendell, as it still keeps the name. Taking some time to explore a bit, we crept across a swinging bridge into a rainforest as well as climbed around some gigantic rocks into the creek bed.

Rivendell

Swinging bridges are everywhere!

Desperately low on gas, we set off praying for a convenient gas station to be nearby. Lucky for us, the rest of this segment of the road was MOUNTAINS. Not only mountains, but mountains under construction, and such high winds that the van rattled as it hugged the precariously situated roads carved into the mountainside. The entire drive consisted of me biting my lip going between checking the speed, the mirrors, and the fuel status and Annie holding her breath or squealing in terror. Featherston wasn’t too far off the base of the hill which was a relief as we cruised into the Mobil with no gas to spare. The man at the station was extremely helpful and asked if I had been to the southern coast. This is the very same area that I told him I had cut off the schedule today. He insisted that today would be a glorious day to see the coast and that I had no excuse not to pay it a visit. It didn’t take much convincing: Putangirua Pinnacles, a lighthouse, and a fur seal colony. When I asked if the seals would be out at this time of year, he simply replied that I would have to try very hard not to step on the creatures as they were so plentiful.  

So, with new instructions in mind, we re-evaluated the plans and headed south. It wasn’t a long drive, but once we got to the coast it was windy and full of one-way bridges. Veering off the coastal road, we headed for the pinnacles. We stopped to have a picnic lunch, sitting on the floorboard of the van, before hiking out into the riverbed. The pinnacles themselves were a little farther back into the ravine, but were absolutely incredible to see. It is probably the most stunning geological formation that I’ve ever seen. And I mean... ever. That’s saying something. The components of the peaks were mixes of rock which was very unstable to the touch. I’m shocked that we didn’t witness an all-too-common rockslide while in the area. Here the LotR crew filmed the segments for the Dimholt road, or for you non-nerdy types, the place where Aragorn and company go to recruit the green people. For you real non-nerdy types, you probably shouldn’t be reading this.

Path to the Paths of the Dead

See that tiny little dot?

Continuing our trek south, we went over a lot of gravel roads with interspersed patches of normal cement. In one of the towns there was a large line of bulldozers, each attached to its own personal towing apparatus for large boats. In this same town we also found a cow on the side of the road, gone rogue, chewing on the grass next to the sea.

Since we had already come so far, and made it across so many roads that we probably shouldn’t have driven on, we reached the end of the road before we headed back. Cape Palliser is a beautiful, rugged, place where the mountains meet the sea. The coast is rocky, treacherous and is constantly accompanied by the sounds of crashing waves meeting the shore. From the seaside, it was possible to spot the south island (more specifically Marlborough Sounds) as well as a mountain of which remains nameless. We stopped to get a photo of the lighthouse before heading back to the rocky outcropping. In said outcropping I suspected the seals would be there but I had no notion of just how many there were. Venturing into this “seal-paradise” I stumbled upon the seal nursery where one big, giant, momma seal watched over at least a dozen smaller juveniles.

A bit of a hike to the top

The seal nursery: best playground ever!

 Wanting to explore the greener areas of the cape, I started to walk in among the rocks. Peering out into the environs to spot some seals, I no more than looked to my left when I was met face to face with a lounging seal, staring me straight in the eye. I let out a scream and clambered up the nearest rock where a moment of hesitation allowed me to see just how many there actually were. The rocks seemed to move- just like ground seems when observing an anthill.

Minimal zoom. I think I interrupted his nap with my screams...

Not wanting to leave, but fully aware that we didn’t want to drive the coast at night (hello… one way bridges), we departed Cape Palliser. Of course, we snagged some excellent sunset photos before we left!

That's the other side of the North Island

Don't want to be driving this at night! This is the safer segment of the road.

So, not knowing where we were staying for the night, I being the pilot pointed north with Annie at navigation. She luckily came across a place in Pahiatua (adorable little town) which provided us a place to park for $8 a person. Not too bad for bathrooms, showers, a kitchen AND a tv!