Putangirua Pinnacles & Rivendell (LOTR)

Today would be a Lord of the Rings day. From our campsite we could walk straight to the Pinnacles, the mountains where Aragorn and his companions met the Army of the Dead.

We walked a loop, first getting a high ground perspective of the formation. Gravel and limestone get washed out, creating canyons. But a few harder headstones protect small patches from eroding. Underneath these headstones, large pillars called pinnacles are formed. In several spots along the hike, you could see down into the valley where several of these bunches had been carved out.

We then made the steep descent into the valley to walk among the pinnacles, just like Aragorn did. This really gave an impression of their size. It was fun to scramble up the rocks to explore the maze of pillars. In some places, trees had fallen into the canyon and got stuck between the narrow walls. We walked down the streambed to make it back to our campsite.

On the drive to Wellington we noticed a sign for Rivendell! We had to go check that out. The area is a natural park with many hiking trails. A small area was marked as the area where the set was built. The beech trees and colourful flowers are the only recognizable objects remaining. But several signs indicated the camera angles to compare the scenery to the movie. And the archway into Rivendell had been put back in place.

In both cases, we weren't such diehard fans that we could recognize exactly what was filmed where. But you could definitely imagine the story taking place there. And regardless the nature was beautiful to see in its own right.Read more