Okay all you Lord of the Rings fans... here's where you can get a little jealous. It was a clear morning, yesterday, so we headed over to Mountain Air and took a flight on a little 4-seater plane. The goal was to tour around Mt. Doom! 
Problem was, that by the time we got up to 5000 feet, the clouds had rolled in so our pilot suggested a tour to the north to see Lake Taupo and environs. We said yes and off the plane went. On our way back toward the Mountain Air runway, the sky around Mt. Doom (or Mt. Ngauruhoe as it's known outside Middle Earth) cleared and despite the fact our flight time was up, our pilot directed his plane upward and we got an up close and personal look at the volcano! It was a bit different than in the movies because it was covered with snow, but you certainly can tell it's Mt. Doom.
Problem was, that by the time we got up to 5000 feet, the clouds had rolled in so our pilot suggested a tour to the north to see Lake Taupo and environs. We said yes and off the plane went. On our way back toward the Mountain Air runway, the sky around Mt. Doom (or Mt. Ngauruhoe as it's known outside Middle Earth) cleared and despite the fact our flight time was up, our pilot directed his plane upward and we got an up close and personal look at the volcano! It was a bit different than in the movies because it was covered with snow, but you certainly can tell it's Mt. Doom.We then headed South for an hour and a half to Wanganui for a quick lunch at a great little Chinese place (I like showing off my Mandarin ability to the Chinese servers!). The road to Wanganui was narrow with lots of twists and turns. It was a two lane highway with a speed limit of 100 KMH! These Kiwis are lunatics!
After lunch it was another 3 hour drive to our hotel in Wellington. It might have been faster if I hadn't gotten lost in the downtown area. I really don't like driving on the left side of road in a busy downtown area. It's so confusing!
Today we got up early and were picked up by the Rover Tours company. 
Our guide, Randall, took us and a gal from Ireland on an all day Lord of the Rings tour of the city. We saw all kinds of locations for the film, including the spot were the Hobbits found mushrooms, where the Fellowship rowed down the Anduin in Elvish boats, the quary where Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith were located and finally, Rivendell. Randall gave us all sorts of ideas for photos, and we were able to get some shots that match those in the movies. The tour also included a brief stop at the Weta Workshop! We weren't allowed to see in the workshop, but they have a small museum/gift shop you can go into. I wish I had more room in my luggage for one of the little miniatures!
Our guide, Randall, took us and a gal from Ireland on an all day Lord of the Rings tour of the city. We saw all kinds of locations for the film, including the spot were the Hobbits found mushrooms, where the Fellowship rowed down the Anduin in Elvish boats, the quary where Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith were located and finally, Rivendell. Randall gave us all sorts of ideas for photos, and we were able to get some shots that match those in the movies. The tour also included a brief stop at the Weta Workshop! We weren't allowed to see in the workshop, but they have a small museum/gift shop you can go into. I wish I had more room in my luggage for one of the little miniatures!Tonight is our last night in New Zealand. It has been a great trip so far. Tomorrow morning we'll probably visit the New Zealand museum before heading to the airport around 2 PM for our flight to Sydney. Michael is really looking forward to Australia. Something about boomerangs, I think. :-)
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