Bright, sunny, morning, with a few white clouds in the sky. Successfully negotiated the morning's chores, & were leaving the holiday park just after 10am. Immediately stopped in the Park car park, as D wanted to take a few more photos (orcs pulling down trees, Isengards gardens, & a different view of the entrance path to Isengard). Then a short drive to find Topaz Rd & Gemstone Dr & the location where Aragorn drifted to the river bank, after the Warg attack.

Next, a scenic photo of Kaitoke Regional Park at Te Marua lookout - native bush surrounding water management systems & reservoirs. Then to Pakurataki Falls, to find the location of Rivendell & to walk the 15 min loop walk, through native forest, learning about the different types of plants that live there.

We left the Hutt River, following SH2, through Featherstone (& the inaccessible gardens that were a LotR location), to Greytown - where we saw an intriguing sign to "Puzzle Wood". This turned out to be a slightly run down, child orientated, version of Puzzling World (sans maze & café) - $30 family entrance. We spent ~2 hours there, playing with the puzzles & games, trying not to fall over in the optical illusion room, tip-toeing through the haunted house, & eating our lunch, outside, in blazing sunshine!

A few km further on, in Carterton, we saw another intriguing sing, to "Stonehenge Aotearoa", & ended up driving ~15km to find a "modern" version of the classic stone circle. This henge has been built by members of the NZ astronomical society, & demonstrates a number of relationships between a fixed point on earth (an obelisk) & the movements of the stars throughout the year, & as the years go by. A fascinating amalgamation of modern science, ancient observation & mythology. We were lucky that the chap on duty that day is also the author of a very interesting book detailing the history of the mythology behind the zodiac, & ancient "star watching". We bought a copy ($70) & got it signed!!

By now it was time to find somewhere to stay, & we popped into the Empire BP's in Masterton, only to be met (& turned away by) a very odd woman, who claimed that they had no room! We ended up at Mawley Holiday Park, in a cheap ($50) spacious cabin, with recently fully refurbished facilities - a great place!