Remarkable New Zealand - Day 3!

We woke up bright and early this morning to a sensational sunrise over Lake Rotorua. Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time to enjoy it as today was a day FULL of driving...so off we headed on a 6 hour drive to Wellington - the southern most city on the North Island. But this drive wasn't just a straight shot - we had several planned (and many more UNplanned) stops to make along the way. The first stop was at the Huka Falls. We had been there the day before, but it was such a dreary day that we wanted to try and see the falls again. Since we woke up to much more clear, prettier weather, we decided to give it another shot. The hour drive there was filled with bright blue skies and sunshine, so we knew it was the perfect day to see the falls. Only, when we got there, there was a HUGE cloud of fog hanging over them. No fog anywhere else, but straight on top of the falls! So unfortunately, our pictures don't even come close to showing off how beautiful they are! Moving on from the falls, we stopped off at Lake Taupo again...which was looking insanely pretty on such a nice day! After Lake Taupo, our roadtrip took us on a slight detour to walk the path to Mordor. (That's for you, Erik!) If you're unfamiliar with Mordor, you must not have seen The Lord of the Rings! Since all 3 of these movies were filmed in New Zealand, we of course HAD to try and find some of the famous landscapes during our trip. We drove through the Tongariro National Park to see the three volcanoes (Rupheau, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe) that were used as "Mt. Doom" in Mordor in the LOTR movies. Not only were we excited to see them because they were in the movies, but hello?! We couldn't wait to see real volcanoes! We were, however, unaware that they were expecting a snowstorm in the area. Needless to say, we drove from beautiful blue skies through rain (and saw an awesome rainbow!) and then into lots of snow, which definitely prevented the tops of the peaks from being seen. Darn! No real volcanoes this time. So, on we went to Wellington. We stopped several times along the way to take roadside pics...it's just plain unavoidable in this country. (Yes, Dad - I believe that even YOU might just be tempted to stop while driving through New Zealand!) We finally made it to Wellington and continued our quest to see more LOTR movie sites....when in Rome! (that's for my friend, Meg!) We found a river that the "fellowship" floated down, and also saw the park where Rivendell was filmed -- all of this knowledge I owe to my movie-loving honey! Whew - that was one FULL day! A little side note...we drove through nearly 4 seasons in this one day - beautiful sunshine, rain, falling leaves, snow and hail! That's definitely a first! Enjoy the pics!