Twizel

For you Lord of the Rings fans, Twizel is where they filmed the Plains of Rohan and the Pelenor Fields. Something that is amazing to me is how they can make an entire micro-industry out of taking tour buses of people out to see the places where they shot the movie. All of the props were removed after filming, and the land was restored to its original condition. What, I wonder, do they show you? “Now here on your left, imagine in your mind’s eye, out across the plains is Osgiliath. Then over on your right try to picture Minas Tirith…”.

Twizel has an interesting history. It was originally built by the power company to support a huge twenty year hydro-electric project started in the mid 60's. When the project was finished in the mid 80's, the gov’ment commenced to bulldozing it down. The existing residents pitched a fit, and took the gov’ment to court. After years of bureaucratic non-sense the town was saved. We really loved the place. It's tiny (good thing) and the people are friendly. The countryside looks kind of like Wyoming. A guide that we talked to in Christchurch circled the area on our map; primarily for the Tekapo River. 

We checked into another holiday park on Lake Ruataniwha, and I started right off asking the host questions about fishing the area. He started giving me directions to a number of places. My eyes must have gone glassy because he asked me to hop in his truck and go for a ride. He took us up the road to a high spot where we could overlook the entire valley. 

After we got back, Cynthia and I decided that we needed to go exploring. I gained a great deal of respect for our little Toyota that day. There are a lot of jeep trails all over the territory, and none of them are smooth. Here’s another tip regarding NZ road maps. I have already mentioned that the way that they are depicted on the map is no accurate indicator of the nature of the road. Many roads on the map in this area are shown crossing rivers. This would naturally lead one to believe that there would be a bridge when one gets there. Not always the case. 

In order to get to the Tekapo River, you have to cross the Twizel River. I asked about this. The host gave us directions to the ford. We got all turned around, and went the hard way, but we found it in the end. It looked pretty ominous for a little Rav 4, so I started wading out. When I was over my knees at about a third of the way across, I figured there was no way.

The next day I told him there was no way that we could cross there and asked a few questions about taking an alternate route up and over a canal and down about 15 miles of bad trail. He couldn’t quite figure out the description of how we managed to get to the ford, and wondered if we had even gotten to the right place. Again he offers to help.

This is one of the great things about Kiwis outside the city. He offered to lead us down there (about 10 miles) and drag us out if we got stuck. He figured we could make it. I’m thinking, “what the hell, it’s a rental”. So down we go. Long story short, that little Rav 4 pushed water up to the hood and plowed right through.

Total trip cost to date: $17,380.99 USD

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