I’m on a New Zealand road trip, and the scenery ahead is spellbinding—an idyllic journey through the Middle-earth landscapes where The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies were fi lmed. At points along the way I’ll see it from the deck of a boat, and the cockpit of a helicopter. But the highlight of my trip will be creatures more wonderful than anything I see in the movies.


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42 EnCompass May/June 2012


Community dinner: I drive a Kia Campers van to Cape Foulwind on New Zealand’s Coast Road SH6. Well-provisioned with groceries, I join other travelers in the community kitchen at Greymouth Top 10 Holiday Park to prepare my pasta dinner. My day ends back with a glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, a good book, and the sound of waves breaking on the beach just beyond the sand dunes.


Middle-earth adventures


By Eric Lindberg 2 www.AAA.com


Glacier fl ight: From a tiny airstrip near Franz Josef Glacier, a 10-minute walk from my next campground, I board a glacier helicopter. It shudders to life and climbs quickly out of the valley. Within minutes, we’re soaring over jagged snow ridges. Then the pilot lands, cuts the engine, and we step out into a silent, snowy world.


Cleddau Valley at Milford Sound, New Zealand.


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