Approaching Edoras

This afternoon myself and TJ, my brother-in-law, headed inland to see what we could photograph up the gorge.

At the head of the Rangitata on our side of the river lies Mesopotamia, a vast high country station surrounded by mountains. We decided to go on a little while past the Te Araroa trail head up the rugged track that leads to the Growler Hut in the Havelock river valley.

We weren't really set to go all the way to the Growler as the day was getting on (and we had to be home for tea, like any intrepid daytime explorers) so after a while we parked up, facing the impressive scenery of the Cloudy Peak and Mt Potts ranges, seen here in the left of centre and right of the picture respectively.

On the other side of the river lies the station of Erewhon, the end of the road and just past Mt Sunday, where the kingdom of Edoras was created for The Lord of the Rings movies. I understand that Cloudy Peak also featured in the composite for Helms Deep. And on a day like today, you certainly expect the Riders of Edoras to go thundering past you on horseback...