Upperhutt (Anduin river and Isengard)

The Upperhutt River (River Anduin!)

Location of the scene where Aragorn's horse Brego wakes him up after he floats unconcious down the river in The Two Towers

The location where Gandalf and Saruman walk in the gardens of Isengard!!!! (Harcourt Park)

"Your love of the halfling's leaf, has clearly slowed your mind."

The location where the ripping down of the trees of Isengard was filmed! (Harcourt Park)

 We traveled up to Upperhutt one Saturday on a cheap, 45 min train ride. We spent the day traversing miles of the beautiful Upperhutt river which runs just to the west of town. Parts of this river were used in different shots of the Anduin river in LOTR, including boat launches and other scenes. (See captions) The river was beautiful but much too cold this time of year to swim in - we will come back in the spring with a vengeance. We also walked through Harcourt park, where various scenes in Isengard were filmed in LOTR. Much stokedness took place between Jeff and Jordan.

Wellington

Here are many shots of downtown Wellington and Wellington harbor from a mountain behind Kelburn, where we live. The mountain is about a 30 min hike from streets at its base, and provides a spectacular view of the bay, the ocean, the city, the surrounding hills, and even the mountains at the north end of the south island. We have done this hike a couple times, as it only takes a short time after class ends any day we choose! As you may notice, Wellington is a lot like San Franciso. What you cannot see is the degree of steepness of streets in the city, but you can imagine it from the houses set upon hill faces and the unevenness of the whole area. The buildings are laid out with staircases running in every direction and streets turning and curving every-which-way in a pattern that seems quite orderless but very interesting compared to suburbia. The night live in downtown is very rich, with pubs, clubs, and cafes dotting the streets. There is a beautiful botanical garden just west of campus -which is right outside of downtown- and as said before, numerous fun hikes in walking distance. The weather stays around 50 degrees, and sun and rain interchange with one another very quickly, with a lot of wind in between.

Baus

Ya Boi Spence caught Homies candidly doing Baus like things

Woods

Here is just a look at the different woods that we have encountered early on our trip. The same goes for landscape, very unique wherever you go, and in close proximity to one another.

Spelunking in the Waitomo Caves

Another day in Rotorua was set aside for traveling to the Waitomo caves for spelunking. This experience was one of the most ridiculous and possibly most exciting things any of us has ever done. We chose the "most physically stressing" option, of course, and it paid huge dividends. As you can see, we were equipped in wetsuits, helmets and climbing harnesses. We began this amazing subterranean journey by absailing (repelling) down a small hole 65 feet into darkness. Throughout the cave, we did this numerous times down waterfalls and through tight holes and open spaces. Many times we had to crawl on hands and knees through water and under rock to move on. We free-climbed 20 foot surfaces, went up ladders and traversed endless tunnels in the pitch dark where time could not be guessed. We were able to observe many glow worms, as pictured above, which looked like tiny stars on the ceilings and walls with head lamps off. With head lamps on, you can see their mucous-like threads that they use to catch prey in this remote environment. All in all, this experience was probably the coolest thing we young men could possibly do on the first week of our journey, and a fitting way to kick off the next five months.