Edoras, the capital of Rohan

On our very first night in Auckland meeting the tour group, the question was asked at our table: “Which site are you most eager to see?” My answer was Edoras. Of all the landscapes in the movies, the setting of the King’s Golden Hall on top of the hill in a wide, wild valley and surrounded on all sides by snowy peaks….ahhh, it simply makes my heart soar. In the story, the people of Rohan are horse people, so the movie has multiple shots of horses and their riders and the stables which are nicer than all the homes. Every bit of this staging is magnificent for me and I was aching to stand there and be in that setting.

Morning was grey, cloudy, and raining steadily. As we drove toward the location, it rained and rained, the windshield wipers on the bus swiped in vain. I had to fight my growing dismay. My one and only day in probably my whole life to go to Edoras, and it was so stormy we could barely see the landscape. Tour guide Josh tried to make us feel better by repeatedly announcing that the weather is often better at Mt. Sunday than whatever it was in Christchurch in the morning.

Pedro and I were in the back of the bus when Josh announced that we could now see Edoras. I jumped up and took this shot through the windows.

Josh was right, and the weather improved, but I never did get to see the mountains that I wanted to see. “I want to see mountains again, Gandalf, mountains!” said Bilbo. And I could relate to the sentiment.

The good news is that the weather did improve considerably. The clouds did lift enough to the see the valley. We did feel a ray of sunshine here and there, and the setting was incredible. Edoras is absolutely excellent.

Mt. Sunday got its name because that was the day the ranchers and farmers of the region gathered. They had a weekly meeting here to share news.

Josh told us stories about what things were like in the early days of Red Carpet Tours, how his wife’s grandfather would take groups here. On foot they would stand together with arms linked, and literally hold each other up as they forded the stream.

As we climbed the mountain (and yes, there is a dirt track that goes right up the side of Mt. Sunday), Josh stopped us and pointed to different points on the horizon, then showed photos from the movies so that we could recognize the different spots from the movies.

The higher we climbed, the more we could see of the awe-inspiring landscape.

From the top of Edoras, you have a 360 degree view of the most magnificent valley. It truly is stupendous. Oh, how I wish, I wish that we could have seen the mountains. Even Josh was frustrated. He kept his enthusiasm very high for us, but he also kept muttering and clenching his fists in mock anger – If the clouds would just lift a LITTLE, he cried. It was so close. We lingered hours, just hoping against hope. But no, we never saw the tops of the mountains.

In the scene above, Josh pointed out where Helm’s Deep was shown in the movies. It’s at the base of the mountains to the left. Look for a small stand of tall trees, and Helm’s Deep is just to the right of it.

Of course, then it was time for reenactments!! The members of the group played several different scenes from the movies. Then we got out all the props and began posing. I didn’t like mine, but I loved Pedro’s poses.

Finally Josh had to make the call to ask us to return to the bus. Two more tour busses had arrived, and a bunch of people were getting ready to take the trail up the hill. We reached the bottom, and the one-at-a-time bridge right about the time that they did, so it took a half an hour to ford the stream. But then we went over to the bus and eagerly devoured our takeaway lunches that we had all brought with us.

Then it was time to leave Edoras. It was hard to say goodbye. If I make it to New Zealand again, I would like to come here and try once more to see the mountains.