Mount Sunday: Day 10
On Thanksgiving Day 2016, we visited one of my favorite Lord of the Rings film sites where I nearly cried with joy. The location? Mount Sunday, the film site for Edoras, the capital of Rohan.
Mount Sunday’s name may come from the old days when the Anglican residents of this rural area, lacking a church building, would mount up on their horses and ride to gather atop this hill on Sundays. An appropriate place to become the headquarters of the Horse Lords from LotR! At first, director Peter Jackson didn’t believe such a place could be found: a great hill by a river in front of a mountain range, but Mount Sunday fit the bill perfectly! This craggy hill even featured multiple natural swells near the base that were used as the burial grounds in the film.
Creating the Capital of Rohan
The New Zealand tuft grass native to this area provided the inspiration for Edoras’ thatched roofs. However, straw was actually used rather than the grass. Per orders to return to the site to its exact pre-film state, any vegetation occupying the area for new buildings was temporarily relocated to a greenhouse, then returned to its precise GPS coordinates after filming. Plus, the roofs were only thatched on one side since all the shots were taken from the same angle! Construction was also limited on barbican, which was built up around the gate, but the remainder of the city wall was computer generated.
Mount Sunday stands above a valley with native grass tussocks 
The rocky crag where Edoras’ Great Hall stood
At the top of Mount Sunday, the Great Hall of Meduseld stood atop a rocky outcrop over which the veranda and stairs were built. We stood right where Eowyn did in the iconic shot where the flag tears loose during the heroes’ arrival. The flag’s takeoff was actually an accident, retained for its beautiful symbolism, since Mount Sunday stands in the middle of a wind tunnel with gusts up to 170 knots (195 mph)! Fortunately, we experienced merely a pleasant if persistent cool breeze on our visit and kept hold of the flag!
Adare Elyse standing where Eowyn looked out to Aragorn’s arrival 
My sister and I hold the Rohan banner in the place of the Great Hall
Helm’s Deep
The other side of Mount Sunday held the rise where Aragorn spots the Uruk-Hai army on the way to Helm’s Deep. In fact, the cleft in the mountains surrounding Helm’s Deep is visible from the Edoras film site.
Journey to Rohan
To reach this remote area, we had toured with the Lord of the Rings Alpine Safari in a huge 6-wheel off-roading van with an antenna that generates its own radio signal: the perfect adventure vehicle for our journey! This company’s exclusive access to the private land containing Mount Sunday had us climbing up a four-wheel-drive track and fording the river at the hill’s base. The river is one of several “braided” rivers that separate and rejoin over a broad area like the valley floor.
Our transport served us well through all these hazards and took us most of the way back to Christchurch before literally grinding to a halt, at which point we experienced a surprise adventure: quick rescue by a New Zealand school bus! This bus wasn’t the yellow type seen in the United States, but more resembled a touring bus and came with another delightful driver.
After this fun end to an exciting day, we would embark the next morning on a long bus trip along one of the Hobbit film sites! Join us next time as we travel the length of the south island and visit Laketown!
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Journey to Middle Earth Series:
Day 1: Living Like Hobbits (Auckland)
Day 2: To Middle Earth and Beyond! (Port Waikato & Hot Water Beach)
Day 3-4: Hobbiton (Matamata)
Day 5: Geothermal Wonderland (Rotorua)
Day 6: The Forests and Rivers of Middle Earth (North Island)
Day 7: Weta Workshop & the Forests of Middle Earth (Wellington)
Day 8: Paths of the Dead (Putangirua Pinnacles)
Day 9: Flight of Fantasy (Wellington & Christchurch)
Day 10: Edoras, Capital of Rohan (Mount Sunday)
Day 11: Lake Pukaki (Laketown)
Days 12-14 part 1: Queenstown (Isengard, Lothlorien, Ithilien, and more!)
Days 12-14 part 2: Queenstown (Argonath, Dimrill Dale, Rohan, and more!)
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