The way is Shut. It was made by those who are Dead, and the Dead keep it...

As we prepared to journey out of Mordor we could not get a last glimpse of the volcanoes because the entire area was covered in a thick layer of fog. A power outage also delayed our leaving which made us a little grumpy as we had quite a full day of adventures we needed to be getting to.

First, we drove for ages up a lonely mountainside looking for a place called Mangawhero Falls. We had almost decided to stop and turn around when we finally saw a sign for it. The path led down to the mountain stream where Gollum chased after a fish while leading Frodo and Sam to the Black Gates. 

We actually saw the exact spot where Gollum sat. The waterfall and pool below was used as the Forbidden Pool in Ithilien for the Two Towers film:

We found it!! (They added a new background digitally for the film)

Then we got a bit lost and wasted half an hour trying to find a River Anduin location.

We decided since it was Halloween, we really wanted to see the Paths of the Dead filming location which was in the Putangirua Pinnacles Scenic Reserve. This was the spot where Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli rode through after departing the Rohirrim to recruit the cursed army. Speaking of paths of the dead though, we're now fairly certain the GPS is going out of its way to put us in harm's way, if not outright kill us. Apparently the quickest route between where we were and where we had to get was over a mountain on a one-lane
road. Up we went, dodging fallen trees, road wash-outs and steep cliffs, and then down the other side. There was fortunately no traffic up there, but then again, that was because nobody should ever have had ANY reason to go up there at all. There wasn't even anything at the top. It was the sketchiest, most random road ever.

Dimholt Road from above

We made it to the location, and though it was windy and rainy we threw on our raincoats and decided to trudge to the site. It was worth the long walk through a muddy river bed and the uphill on loose rocks as Dimholt Road turned out to be quite spectacular. We went both through them and then backtracked and went up to the lookout (which was the most arduous task ever). We made it out before dark and thought we should carry on and try to camp nearer to Wellington. Bad idea.

It started to pour as soon as we left the site, the sun went down, and we forgot we were nearly out of gas. By the time we realized that the gas light had come on, we were in the middle of nowhere. The upcoming town however did have a gas station... it was closed. Rather than go back to the next nearest gas station, we decided to make for the town of Upper Hutt, only 30km away and where we planned on camping. All that lay between us and our destination was a mountain.

Going up a mountain is hard enough. There are steep turns and sharp inclines, and nowhere to pull off in an emergency. Going up a mountain while it's raining is another thing. It's slippery, and earlier in the day when crossing in the opposite direction we saw small landslides blocking sections of the road. Going up a mountain while it's raining in the dark is nerve-wracking, as there are no lights that far up and only small reflectors and paint lines showing lanes. Going up a mountain while it's raining in the dark with the gas gauge on E and the warning light shining is just plain stupid. We wouldn't recommend it.

Essentially what it amounts to is the co-pilot asking at every speed decrease for turns "Did we just run out of gas?"

Stress levels through the roof, our chests tight with near panic, we finally made it over the crest of the mountain (which has gale-force wind warnings, as a cherry on top of the whole dark, raining mountain without gas situation). From there, we rolled almost the whole fifteen kilometres to our saving grace, a gas station. Once topped off, and as the stress-fueled adrenalin shakes wore off, we rolled into a campsite and got some sleep... it was still raining.

'The Paths of the Dead'