Rivendell, Car Museum, and Manawatu Gorge

By Jen.

After refreshing ourselves in the rural cape, we decided to head back into town. On the way, though, I spotted a sign that said “Rivendell.” So, after verifying that it was the actual Rivendell site from the LOTR movies, I had Jonathan turn the van around and we went for quick stop. Of course, it looks really nothing like the movie, with all the props and sets removed. Plus, the waterfalls and such were filmed elsewhere and added via CG.

Our next stop of interest was at the Southward Car Museum. Jonathan and I both like cars, just very differently, so we thought this might be a fun diversion that wasn’t our typical outing.

We were of course greeted by a racecar filmed in Top Gear.

Let’s not forget Back to the Future’s DeLorean.

Standard old car? Think again. Steam-driven.

The original back-seat driver.

3-wheeled rollover hazards.

Think electric cars are a thing of the future? They are also a relic of the past.

Custom-made copper car!

A Philippino.

Second-generation Toyota Corolla. This model has been selling for over 40 years, with an average of one very 40 seconds!

A very early motorcycle.

After that, we made our way to Palmerston North to pick up some mail. They have one of the few rivers in the world that runs across a mountain range (instead of down/perpendicular to it). So, we thought we give it a look.

This is the Manawatu River flowing through the Manawatu Gorge. The gorge road is currently closed while they stabilize the walls to prevent landslides.

Nikau palms; the most-southerly growing palms. These are probably hundreds of years old. The ones that just barely have a visible trunk can be older than I am.

Apparently standard tree rings don’t apply to the pepper tree that they have here.

It has a mountain range on both sides of the river.

A native passionfruit vine. I tried them; they are not as good as commercially-available passionfruit.

Fun Fact: The vehicle registration system is a public database here. So, when you call in to a towing service or go into an auto parts store, etc., they ask for your vehicle's registration #. They plug it in and it fills in all the stuff they normally ask you (VIN, Year, Make, Model, etc.). Very helpful!