Marching on Mordor
We started heading South again from Rotorua in order to go and see Cecilia's friend Sharon, from winter seasons in Serre Chevalier, who lives in Whakapapa at the base of Mt Ruapehu. On the way, we stopped in Taupo for a bit of look around and went to see the Huka Falls.
When we arrived in Whakapapa, we went for a 2 hour walk to the 20m high Taranaki Falls. This area was used in Lord of the Rings for the set of Mordor and Mt Doom. When we got back from our walk we met up Sharon. She works for the DOC (Department of Conservation) and had been up all night because they had had a forest fire in the area. After quite a few jugs of beer in the pub we went back to Sharon's house and her husband Paul arrived home shortly after, covered with soot from head to toe. The fire was finally under control. We all then played a good few drunken games on the Playstation, just like the good old days!
