The North Island, pt. III

To Auckland

After a stormy night in Wellington, we prepared for yet another long day - we were driving all the way back to Auckland, a good 8-9 hour drive winding through the North Island.  But before that long drive began, we had a number of filming locations to visit.  First we drove up to Mt. Victoria to see the Hobbit's Hideaway - where Frodo, Merry, Sam, and Pippin hid beside the road to avoid being seen by the Black Rider in the first film.

a signpost!

the hollow by the side of the road is just to the left edge of the frame... I forgot to check the picture before we left.

We found it pretty quickly (there were signs posted), and then hopped back in the car to find Dunharrow, the fields were the armies of Rohan camped before going to war in Gondor in the third film.  Unfortunately we had a lot of difficulty finding it, so we moved on to the Weta Cave.  Basically, it's a mini-museum attached the to the workshop so people can get an idea of what Weta does.  They've got a little film set up as a tour through the workshop talking about history, past projects, and the different specialties, as well as several costume pieces and miniatures from films around the place.  We had a great time seeing Sauron's armor, the prosthetic work for the Uruk-hai and the goblins, the actual swords and doubles' swords (for the hobbits), as well as talking to an employee who was lucky enough to get a spot as an extra in Lord of the Rings.  We also picked up a copy of the LOTR guide to New Zealand - complete with pictures, GPS locations, and descriptions of how to get to certain locations.  Sweet stuff!

one of the best places we visited on the North Island

a life-size replica of the guy who played Lurtz.  No joke.  He was that big. 

Gollum!

Sauron's armor

After that, we began the long journey north, stopping for lunch at McDonald's to update our directions (so thankful for McDonald's Wifi!).  We drove along the coast for a while, which was beautiful.  Most of the drive was uneventful - the weather was clear for the most part, and we finally got a glimpse of Mt Tongariro.

driving along the coast

Mt. Tongariro

But as evening fell, the weather took a turn for the worse, and soon we were driving down back country roads through a torrential downpour.  It was pitch black, and at one point, we lost signal on Jeff's phone, so we had no way of knowing where we were or what way to go.  But thankfully, we got signal back and found that our hopeful turns were actually keeping us on the correct path.  We got into Auckland around 8 pm, and arrived soon after at Derryck and Barbara's home.  They are the parents of a very good family friend, and were so kind as to let us stay with them for a few days.

At Barbara and Derryck's

While we were there, we got to meet one of their daughters, Sheridan, who recommended a restaurant to try the next day.  We started off our free day by taking the train into Auckland, grabbing some breakfast, and then took the ferry out to Rangitoto Island.  It's basically an egg-shaped island that is home to an old volcano and lots of beautiful plants.  It was a crisp and clear day, great for hiking!

on the ferry, with Auckland behind us

coming in to the dock at Rangitoto Island

We walked up the side of the volcano until we reached the top and had a beautiful view of the surrounding bay and Auckland.  A storm blew in pretty quickly as we walked around the top of the crater, so we were hiking in the rain for a while.  We also stopped to walk through some lava caves, which were dark and dank and full of bumps.  We didn't have a flashlight, but another hiker let us borrow one while we were in there - a good thing because a number of times I almost split my head open on a few low-hanging chunks of rock.  After we returned the torch, we headed back to the dock, and ended up catching an early ferry back.  It was actually part of the harbor tour (which we didn't pay for) but they took pity on us, being wet and windswept and ready to head back to shore.  So we hopped on, and learned a lot about Auckland Harbor.  We saw pretty much the entire New Zealand Navy, old guns built into the sides of small islands during WWII, went under the Auckland bridge, and got to see people bungy jumping from it.  It was well worth it!

the lave cave

part of the NZ navy

getting ready to jump!

Then we walked around downtown Auckland a bit, and found a bus that would take us to Ponsonby Road Bistro, the restaurant Sheridan told us about.  We were unfortunately too early to get their popular steak and potatoes dish, but we ended up getting this AMAZING pizza.  It had spicy sausage, roasted pumpkin, fresh mozzarella, and caramelized red onions - delicious.  Some of the best pizza I've had!

After that scrumptious meal, we took the bus back to Barbara and Derryck's, and then met up with one of their sons, Nigel, and his family for dinner.  It was a wonderful time getting to know them!  We headed home early since we had to pack our things and get ready to leave super early the next morning.  Our time on the North Island was over, and we would be flying to Queenstown for a week on the South Island.