Day 9 - Queenstown to Franz Josef Glacier

Today we leave Queenstown to go to Franz Josef Glazier. In hind-site it would have been nice to stay in Queenstown for Christmas but Mazz wanted to be somewhere different and special for Christmas.

We had a little sleep-in (8am!) and then packed the car and headed North towards Wanaka. The GPS took us a short cut through the area where the winter ski fields are. The roads were a bit windy and of course it rained and rained and rained, so the views were not spectacular at all, but it did create waterfalls along the side of the ride. We stopped in Wanaka for a last food shop, just in case there wasn't a supermarket in Fanz Josef Glacier. The shops (there not that big) were crazy.....last minute Christmas shopping! Wanaka is like a miniature Queenstown but because of the continuous rain, we couldn't enjoy the views.

Driving in these areas when it rains can cause some major problems for the roads, with land slides and rock falls. We weren't sure if the road through the Haast Pass would even be open. We came to some road works and had to stop. We wound down the window to see what the lady had to say and she told us we could go but to not stop and go as fast as we could. We guessed that the road wasn't too safe and saw lots of rocks and water over the road. Also along this road, there are a lot of bridges buy they are only one way. You have to see if the sign gives you right of way or the cars on the other side have right of way. You would think if they make the bridges they would make them a doubled lane bridge, but not here! There were again a lot of waterfalls cascading down the sides of the mountains, some of them even flowing onto the road. The whole way the rain was just continuous heavy rain. If it rained like that in Adelaide, the roads would be flooded.

It took us 5 hours to drive 350kms. We arrived at our accommodation for the next 2 days- Glacier Cottages. There are only 3 cottages and they are on the owners property. They breed American Miniature Horses/ponies. They use them for showing, Pony Club and pleasure riding. One of he ponies is a very playful foal. Just the size for a Hobbit!

We don’t have a lot planned for the rest of the day (Christmas Eve), just chilling and watching TV. Depending on the weather tomorrow, we may go for a walk to the base of the Franz Josef Glacier. It really doesn't feel like Christmas here at all.

We wish everybody a safe and Merry Christmas and we hope you all have a great Year in 2014. To Marilyn's Family- who ever gets the grandpas jocks- sucked-in cause we know we wont be getting them.

Day 8 - Queenstown, Lothlorien and Isenguard

We woke up early this morning as we had an early start.  We had arranged for our tour guide to collect us from reception at 8:00am as we were off on another scenic Lord of the Rings location tour.  The area around Queenstown is spectacular and is one of the major areas used for filming LOTR. - Many different scenes from the movie were filmed in the area, and we had the opportunity to view them up close.

The day was clear, although it was a little cool in the shade.  First stop was 12 Mile delta.  This is where Sam sees the "Oliphants", and also where he catches a brace of "coneys".  The area was also used for the area where Faramir and the rangers are patrolling.  After this we followed the lake around further past the old historic town of Glenorchy and into a national park.  The national park includes a swamp area which was used for scenes from the "Dead Marshes" and also a forest area which was used for the entrance of Lothlorien, and also for Amon Hen - The orc chase scenes where Boromir get shot by an arrow from the Uruk-hai.  

Apparently the leaves were not "Golden" enough for Peter Jackson (The movie director), so he had a whole heap of leaves collected and sent to the local primary school, who paintd them gold!.  The forest was definitely spectacular, with moss covered trees and branches, and the sunlight filtering through the leaves.  The only thing missing was a couple of Elves casually wandering through! After Lothlorien, we headed onto some private farm land in an area called 'Paradise Valley".  This is the location where Isenguard was filmed.  With mountains surrounding the area and the forrest to the side, it was easy to picture where the tower of Isenguard would have been located.  

The area used for Isenguard has also been used for the scenes from Narnia, and also for the X-men origins- Wolverine movie.  Most recently is was also used in the second movie as the location for Beorn House.  This bought us to the end of the tour, so we headed back to Queestown with a couple of more stops to take photos of the spectacular scenery.

The finding of the Ring

Gollum claims the ring

We headed back to the apartment and consulted the LOTR guide book.  Across the other side of Queenstown, in an area called "Arrowtown", there were a couple of other locations where scenes from LOTR were filmed.  These were "Bruinen Ford", where Arwen and the injured Frodo escape from the black riders, and "Gladden Fields", where Deagol finds the ring, and is killed by Smeagol/Gollum.  So, with guide book in hand, Josh, Paul and Daniel headed off to see what we could find.  (Mazz stayed at home as she had seen enough LOTR for the day)

Gollum dissapears

Although Peter Jackson did a fair job with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, we thought we could have done it better, so being inspired by all the film locations we had seen earlier in the day, we took it upon ourselves to "recreate" a few scenes from the film.  I'm sure you'll agree they are an improvement on the original.

After our film making efforts, we returned back to the appartment, picked up Mazz and headed into town.  There was one more thing that we still needed to do before we left Queenstown, and that was to ride the Gondola up to the top of Ben Lomond, and then have a turn (or three!) on the luge, a "go kart" that runs down the hill in a special track.  Daniel was especially happy, as this was the one thing that he was looking forward to doing in Queenstown.  After another Gondola ride back to the base of the mountain we grabbed some dinner in Queenstown and then headed back to our apartment.