Timaru and Edoras

There wasn't much we really wanted to see in Timaru except for a famous rose garden.  So we spent just a little time there exploring.

The little balls of energy don't mind getting out of the car to run around.

And the roses were beautiful if you cared to stop and look.

And since we were all together, Taylor's mom decided we needed another family picture.  Faces too shaded.

Faces to sunny.  Oh well.

We cooperated for a while and then just called it good.

And the kids were excited to find a little "fitness park" on the way to the car.

Plus Mack is about the best entertainment on the planet.  Here's his superman flying ride.  Lift the kid up.

Lift higher and start to run.

And finally throw him on your should and take off at break neck speed.

Isaac and Miles could do this all day if Mack had the strength.

And then we were back in the car for another drive.  We were technically just trying to drive to Christchurch but since Taylor hadn't gotten his fill of Lord of the Rings sights yet (and had been singing all the songs to himself not so quietly on our car rides) he took the lead and headed off to Edoras.

Had to include one picture of these.  We have these in Utah too but I've never seen such amazingly vivid colors and so many blooms.

Lamb sound good to anyone?

We drove about a half hour out of our way and had to stop and ask for directions before we finally came around a bend and Taylor announced we were there.  Huh?  I admit I'm not quite the fan that Taylor is, but I sort of remembered Edoras.  There's the scene where the village gets attacked and the kids ride off on a horse to Edoras and it's on a hill.  And it's all very dark and dreary there.  But Taylor was right, this is Edoras.

Very remote and in fact this is part of a National Park (there are a boatload of National Parks in their very conservation friendly country).  We crossed several one way bridges to get there.

And that apparently used to have a set built on top of it.

And that's the hill in the background there.

And here's a shot from the movie.  We had lunch in a tiny little backpackers cafe and then headed on to Christchurch.

Have you ever seen a white river?  I hadn't.  Not sure what causes it but the river was literally white.

Unfortunately we got to Christchurch and were all too tired to really want to go see anything.  Plus we realized to we'd forgotten our stroller at the rose garden that morning and there was no way we were going to make it through all 3 flights home and all 15 hours of layovers without having a stroller to put Isla in.  So we made a run to the local mall and were pleasantly surprised to find a Kmart with regular US prices.  One umbrella stroller later we were ready to roll.