About an hour north of Wellington are a couple of towns that were used as locations in the Lord of the Rings films. We drove out there after having to swap rooms in the hostel, and we missed breakfast too. I dropped some films off to be developed, we had a big sandwich for brunch, and then went in search of some scenery.

Following directions in the guidebook, we couldn't actually see the bits we wanted to see, but we decided to go for a bit of a walk through fields and forests and up mountains. After about an hour we both realised that the place we were looking for wasn't round here, and Mikey made us turn back once we'd got to the top of the hill. I kept wanting to go just a few yards more, cos I thought that there might be something really great just round the corner, but Mikey explained that if we never knew and no-one ever told us, we wouldn't be missing out. So, reluctantly, we headed back down again in the drizzle.

Once back at the car we noticed a map of the area, and Rivendell, the place we wanted to find was clearly marked, about 4 miles up the road. So off we went, and there it was. A car park, a river, a signpost and a single poster board saying that the films used this area. It was a bit disappointing, there was nothing recognisable and Rivendell was my favourite bit. Even the poster didn't say much. It was really just a well-tended field, and there wasn't even access to the river. But we've seen it, so now we know. On the other side of the car park was a very rickety-looking rope bridge, so we ran and jumped along it for a bit, and then went off to find Isengard, in a town park.

I don't remeber that part of the film, I thought it was all fiery and flooded, but apparently there was a pretty garden there in the olden days. Which we found, and it was really just a park. There was a slightly visible pathway down the middle of one of the lawns where the film-makers had laid a gravel track and cleared it again after filming - the turf they used was a different variety, shorter and lighter green. In this part of the park was an area where orcs cut down trees - the film makers made a couple of hinged trees that they could cut down and reinstate over and over again. They weren't there either, but the backgrounds were.

The thing I thought was really cool about the park was the 8ft ridge at one end that had been caused by an earthquake - the place is on an active fault and one day the ground just raised itself by several feet. It resulted in the river being redirected.

Before we went back to the car, just as it was getting dark, I played on a mini death-slide in a children's playground. Although I had to share it with a five year-old girl, I had a couple of goes, but I learned that children's playgrounds are probably not built for grown-ups. I sustained a rather painful bruise, similar to the one I got a couple of years ago when Mikey convinced me I could jump up a curb on my bike. I'll be sitting down quite carefully for a while!

On the way back to Wellington we stopped at a shopping mall. I have wanted to get another pair of trousers for cold weather for ages, but because I hate clothes shopping so much, even though a couple of my best friends tried to teach me the art in America last year, I've sort of avoided it. But it was only about 45 minutes until they closed, which meant that I couldn't be there for ages, and there was no-one around. I found some trousers in the second shop I went into. Yay!

After a trip to the supermarket, and a quick supper back at the hostel, we walked into Wellington to watch 'Thirteen', a horrible film written by one of the actresses when she was 13. It was very good, but I don't think it'll be added to our collection.