Any Lord of the Rings fan knows that Rohan, Kingdom of Men is an essential place to see on an epic quest through Middle Earth.  Why not visit the capitol of Rohan by visiting Mount Sunday?  Mount Sunday stood in as the filming location for the fictional Edoras.  At this point, calling New Zealand locations by their Middle-Earth names has to just be annoying. To any Kiwis reading this- I'm sorry.This was one of the first locations we visited after Christchurch Airport. The scenic hike was very indicative of what we would experience over the next six weeks in New Zealand.  Stunning landscapes and hikes are everywhere for visitors willing to put in drive time to get there.

Mount Sunday Location

Mount Sunday is only 2.5 hours West of Christchurch and well worth the drive.  Directions can be found here. This beautiful location was one of our favorite LOTR AND hiking destinations, and it is well worth the drive off the main road! Quick note: you don't need to book a tour, just google Mount Sunday for driving directions. Since this is on a very VERY long gravel road so just take caution if you're in a massive campervan.Finally, there was no cost associated with the hike.  The only payment as it were, was spending over 30 minutes on a gravel backroad to get to the site of the trailhead.  Even better, the hike to the summit of Mt Sunday from the car lot is more of a glorified walk.  It can be easily done in 45 minutes each way but the incredible view the summit offers will have you posted up for a while. Still, we recommend you  bring proper hiking shoes as well as a jacket- things got windy atop the mountain.

New Zealand Campervan Roadtrip

One last thing! If you're interested in checking out our vlog that details the six week journey through New Zealand you can start here.