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Deep Stream - Mt Sunday in the background.
© Warren Jowett
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In the Footsteps of the Hobbits
Duration 2 nights and one day
Walking time The return walk to the top of Mt Sunday takes approximately 60 minutes.
Walking distance 3 km
Tracks No tracks, un-marked routes over tussock and river beds.
Highlights For Lord of the Rings fans walking is the only way to visit Mt Sunday, the site of Edoras. After all, how did the Hobbits get around? Certainly not in a 4WD vehicle. As you ford the clear pure water of Deep Stream and climb the tussock-covered slopes of Mt Sunday you can imagine yourself approaching the Golden Hall and King Theoden. We pass by the area where the entrance gate to Edoras and the burial mounds were and climb to the summit of Mt Sunday. From here you have a great vista of the surrounding mountains and braided rivers of Mt Potts Station, a historic high country farm. The view up the Clyde River to New Zealand's Southern Alps and the Gardens of Eden and Allah icefields is breathtaking. To the south you can see the gorge of Alma Stream, the virtual location of Helm's Deep.
We travel from Staveley to Mt Potts Station through the Canterbury High Country and via Lake Clearwater in a comfortable mini-coach. Morning and afternoon teas and lunch are included, stopping by a stream or lake.
Accommodation is in historic Ross Cottage with two night's dinner bed and breakfast - candle-lit dinners in Mountain Beech Lodge completes this all-inclusive package.
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Why a LOTR tour?
It may appear a little strange that a nature tour company runs LOTR tours. The fact is that we were the first company to run LOTR tours to Mt Sunday for the simple reason that it is located in the middle of a large alpine basin which is one of our favourite nature tour locations. Over the past eight years we have guided many people here including international film crews and journalists. We have collected authentic LOTR artefacts and DVDs on the making of the films.
Our tours are not just “gone-there-done-that” exercises. Because we offer meals and accommodation there is the opportunity to relax after dinner, talk about the day and relate what we saw to that which Peter Jackson created in the films. People who have more than a passing interest in J.R.R.Tolkien love it.
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