Monday, February 23, 2009

Kaitoke


After dropping my Dad and Judy off to get the ferry to the south island, Emma and I spent a while shopping in Wellington and then drove out to Kaitoke regional park at the head of the Hutt valley. Kaitoke is one of these places that doesn't seem to be on the tourist trail, but that are still pretty amazing. It's a pretty large chunk (several tens of thousands of hectares I think) of native forest around the Hutt river and some tributaries.


It also has a campsite. That costs $5 a night.


It's also where the exterior shots for Rivendell where shot for the Lord of the Rings films.

The next morning, we walked along the "ridge track" that connects the two entrances of the park, but as our car wasn't going to move itself, we walked about half way along and then turned and came back.

The walk was almost entirely in the forest, so it was a bit hard to take photos that conveyed what it was like, but it was pretty cool.


Then we had a quick swim in the Hutt river and drove back along the spectacular and spectacularly twisty Akatawara road and the good old SH1.

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