TAWHAI / GOLLUM'S WATERFALL (THE FORBIDDEN POOL), LORD OF THE RINGS
TONGARARIO NATIONAL PARK - NEW ZEALAND

Because at the time we didn't get to do Tongarario Ccrossing as the weather was too severe we decided to trek to another place nea...r the famous Mount Doom. The scenery surrounding was amazing mountains covered in snow, lakes, waterfalls and forest. Standard New Zealand.

This hike was a nice easy little hike but gave a small taster into the scenery you'd expect to see climbing mount doom itself. Well worth a look if you have the time.

Just down the road from this hike is Tawhai Falls. This is where the Gollum went fishing in The Lord of The Rings. As a Lord of the Rings fan this was very cool. What made it much more exciting though was the fact you could jump off this 8 to 10 metre waterfall!!!

It wasn't the warmest of days so I was expecting it to be warm but jeebs it was freezing!! We stripped down to our swimming shorts and launched ourselves off the top into the water, getting back up to the top as quickly as possible gasping for breath. It was cold, in some sort of doggy paddle everyone got to the side and climbed out.

Another thing ticked off the list haven't jumped off a waterfall before. Great fun if you can handle the freezing cold water.