I want to see mountains, Gandalf, mountains!

And so we did--lots of 'em! Apologies to non-Lord of the Rings (LOTR) fans (the above is a quote from The Fellowship of the Ring).

Friday Jan 7, day one of the journey south for this fellowship of two. Up early, pack the car, and away down the M1, NZ's main motorway. Quickly the landscape changed to one of rolling emerald hills, terraced by sheep tracks. Hobbiton on all sides, and, in fact, near here is where that part of the movie was filmed (we will visit the exact site in Matamata when we are back in this area in March).

Then, further south, ranges of mountains appeared on the horizon, featuring Mount Ruapehu (2797 m) and Mount Ngauruhoe (2291 m), both active volcanoes, but today wreathed in white clouds, not steam. These peaks are in Tongariro National Park, a World Heritage site, and deservedly so--very spectacular. Just over these crests is Whakapapa skifield, where Frodo and Sam met Gollum for the first time ("We're not alone..."). Thrilling to see these sites for real!




Finally (after about 10 hours of driving), down the rolling slopes surrounding Wellington. We lined up, hoping to catch an earlier ferry, but no luck, so into town for dinner at a nice British-style pub (I even had steak and kidney pie with mushy peas!) while watching NZ edge Sri Lanka out of a cricket victory on the big screen TV (I don't get this game, but then I don't understand baseball much either--cute players, though!).

Back to the ferry dock for the midnight check-in. But the ferry is late, expected to arrive by about 3 a.m. Groan--until I realize that means we'll be sailing through the Queen Charlotte Islands in dawn light instead of darkness--yes! Fitful sleep in the car--finally loaded onto the ferry--stumble upstairs and collapse into a lounge chair--more (kinda) sleep. Awake near dawn and try to retrieve camera from car--but no, no access to cars allowed until we dock! Aakkk! Totally annoyed at self for not realizing this, but try to get over it in order to enjoy incredible views of dawn over Queen Charlottes, vowing to get photos when we return (luckily also a dawn departure).

Off the ferry into day two of our southward trek. New terrain, tall hills (not exactly mountains) of golden tussock grass, with extremely windy roads up, up, up, then down, down, down. Challenging driving after so few hours of sleep, but spectacular scenery. After a few hours, higher mountains with snow on top march across the horizon (the Kaikoura Range). At Kekerengu we stopped at a gorgeous roadside restaurant for breakfast. At almost $40 for the two of us, it was a real luxury, but featured "tomatoes, sausages, nice crispy bacon" (ok, another LOTR quote) along with poached eggs and toast. Eaten outside with an ocean view, it seemed worth every penny and restored us greatly.

Down through Kaikoura (very nice town, must try to get back here for a closer look), hugging the coastline all the way. Stopped for a roadside (ok, gas-station-side) picnic lunch in Christchurch, then on, to arrive in Dunedin about 5:30 p.m. Stopping only to fill up with gas (fuel, petrol here), we followed the signs to the Otago Penninsula.

Leaving the city abruptly behind, we encountered a coastal road so narrow that I wasn't sure whether to risk falling off into the ocean (no guardrails, no fence) or smacking side mirrors with oncoming traffic (funny how sensitive I am to that notion!), that wound back and forth around back-to-back hairpin turns. After about 20 minutes of this rather hair-raising experience, we reached the village of Portobello, and found our wonderful new home for the next week, Silverlea Cottage. I read later that this penninsula is home to lots of artists and scientists studying the local flora and fauna (see tomorrow's entry for more on these), and hardly any people who commute into Dunedin--I think that road is pretty much the reason for that!

Our cottage is absolutely charming, with a quaint little turreted roof that contains an old-fashioned school bell, right above the bed--are we supposed to ring it when, well, you know? The cottage has every amenity--DVD player, CD player, great shower, kitchen, our own private deck overlooking the beautiful Otago Harbour--AND, a real working outdoor bathtub, surrounded by fragrant plants and overlooking the view! Can't wait to try that out!

Portobello reminds us a great deal of our cottage at Lochcarron in Scotland several years ago. Watching the weather move over the peaks opposite (cloud, sun, rain, more sun...) is just like being back there. Gorgeous.

Fell into bed for a 12 hour sleep. Tough two days, but here we are, safe and sound and lovin' it.