We took scenic route 72 across the Canterbury planes to get to Methven, travelling over the Hawkins River... which was more likea steam, Chris wasn't impressed haha. For lunch we found a beautiful pebble beach, on Rakaia River close to the gorge - it had the bluest turquoise water. The scenery just doesn't stop in NZ; from one place to the next it's just beautiful. Once we had eaten, Chris managed to get the camper stuck in the pebbles, but quickly recovered and got us back to the main road across the gorge. Further along we found a nice little café - New Zealand's coffee is so good! We took a small detour to Methven, a small ski town that comes alive in winter... and sat and had a drink in the iconic "Big Blue Pub" to soak up the rural atmosphere. After filling the tank up we were heading for mount Somers, 30km down the road - out towards Lake Clearwater, our off the beaten track destination. Our reason for visiting here was to visit Mount Sunday, at Mount Potts High Country station. This peaceful mountain was transformed into 'Edoras', the capital city of the Rohan people in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and the back drop to Helms Deep and some of the Misty Mountains in the film. We camped up for the night at Lake Camp, adjacent to Lake Clearwater- a sparkling clear blue lake, such a great place to camp for the night. Early next morning we continued to Mount Sunday and it really was exactly like that of the film - where Gandolf comes galloping across the flat planes to Edoras. It was so cool and awesome to imagine all the famous actors were once here filming one of the best movies of our time. Our next destination was Geraldine, where we had to backtrack back through Mount Somers, stopping off for an amazing ice cream - Hokey Pokey and Cookies and Cream. We arrived at Geraldine to find it a small place with a country village atmosphere, where we had some lovely fish and chips. We also visited the 'Tin Shed'... a wool souvenier and gift shop selling the usual NZ products E.g. Ugg Boots, Woolies and Merino/Possum Knitwear. Nice to have a gander but far too pricey for us (although it was worth going just for the free complimentary coffee!!) After we drove to peel forest just outside Geraldine, it was a lovely area with a number of walks. We did the 'Big Tree' walk, which was not long at all... but the trail led you to a cool huge tree (over 1000 years old!), quite astounding! Later, we abused the local camp facilities and then found a nice picnic area to have dinner at - a lovely way to end the day, and great to be fresh and clean!!