Mount Sunday

Mount Sunday is a small isolated knoll of hard rock left standing when glaciers scoured the Rangitata Valley around it - a roche moutonnee sitting alone in a wide flat valley of braided river channels and tussock with the Southern Alps rising on all sides. The walk up from the road end is short, and the view from the top is the reason to come: the valley running away in both directions with nothing built in it. It is widely known as the location for Edoras in the Lord of the Rings films, and this is the thing worth saying plainly - the set was entirely dismantled and there is nothing whatsoever left of it, so anyone arriving to see film remains will be disappointed. What remains is the landscape that made it the choice. The road in is long, unsealed, has fords that flood, and rental agreements sometimes exclude it.

The landscape

• The lone knoll - a glacier-carved hill in an empty valley.
• The braided Rangitata - channels spread across the flats.
• The Alps around it - the valley walls in every direction.
• Nothing of the film set - it was fully removed.

When to go

November to April. Avoid after heavy rain - the fords on the access road flood. Allow two hours of driving each way from Methven.

Good to know

Nothing of the film set survives. The access road is long, unsealed and has fords; check your rental agreement. There are no facilities of any kind. The valley is windy and exposed.

Nearby

Lake Clearwater and the Hakatere Conservation Park are on the same road; Methven is east.

Key facts