Exploring Australia&NZ Day 18

Day 18 - Tuesday, May 3, 2011 – Queenstown Day at Leisure; Nomad Safari - Lord of the Rings Four-Wheel Drive Tour; Shotover River Jet Boat Ride

With a myriad of brochures in hand it was hard to decide just what we would do with our free day in Queenstown. Bungee jumping, river rafting, ATVs, bicycling, parasailing, wine tasting, or dirt bikes were some of our options.

We settled on a four-wheel drive tour of the Lord of the Rings sites in the morning and the jet boat ride on the Shotover River for our afternoon adventure. Melanie had helped us plan a busy day – we can sleep when we get home…

At 8:15 we met our Lord of the Rings expert and Nomad Safari guide Julie. Mitch and Kathy and Gennie and I hopped into the Land Rover.

We started west and then north following the banks of the Wakatipu Lake. Julie reminded us that New Zealand has only two directions, up and down. Roads along this bluff are steep and winding, but Julie kept us on the road.

Our first stop was Bennett’s Bluff overlooking the Dart River and the Humboldt Range and Mt. Earnshaw; an important site for Peter Jackson, the director of the Lord of the Rings film series.

As we saw various places, Julie brought out her film guide showing us where we were in relation to the scenes in the films. Jackson was notorious for his film magic; splicing film from here and there and even using the base of one mountain range, editing in the peaks from another.

In the eight years from scouting locations to the final production of the movies Jackson and his crew blended in to New Zealand and the community in which the film crews were working. Julie told us he always used local people for extras and in almost all cases used locals for catering, casting, costumes, and set building as they shot the three films simultaneously.

Julie pointed out local birds and wildlife along the journey. We even stopped to see a stone dry wall fence made of schist used in early construction by laying stones on top of one another without any mortar.

In the little town of Glenorchy we stopped to see the tiny library and then went on to the Glenorchy Wetlands Bird Sanctuary. The day was supposed to be cloudy but we had rain; it was 53º and 82% humidity.

Julie took us to Mt. Aspiring National Park, a natural birch forest used extensively for the forest scenes in the movies. She told us that everything that was brought in for the movie had to be removed and any alterations to the forest had to be reversed.

It was raining so we drove back to Glenorchy for our morning tea. Julie made us either hot chocolate, coffee, or tea and served us fruit cake and cookies. Our last stop was the Twelve Mile Delta to see the location of the battle scenes with the elephants, computer generated, of course!

Julie dropped us off in Queenstown at 12:30 and we went directly to The Station to check in for the jet boat ride. We had about 90 minutes so we explored the town and had a sandwich.

We met Kathy and Mitch at 1:50, paid for the excursion, and boarded the bus to the Shotover River where we would ride the jet boat. As we drove over the bridge, our driver pointed out the narrow canyons and the slim ribbon of river we would ride.

There were no cameras allowed on the boat ride; both hands were needed to hang on! We were given long heavy rain coats and life jackets for our journey on the river.

Glenn, our driver gave us the safety instructions after we got into the boat. Kathy, Mitch, Gennie and I were in the last seat in the back, sitting on top of the two supercharged Buick engines producing 520 horsepower.

For 25 minutes we roared through the canyons and over the low river bed. These unbelievably maneuverable boats ride on top of the water at speeds up to 50 miles an hour and can do a 360º spin on a dime.

Much to the delight of his passengers, Glenn did about 25 complete spins in very narrow straights. Most of the people in the mid-section of the boat were dry but those of us in the back seats were a little wet at the end of our ride.

I stayed after our ride to film the next boat and Gennie took a few more photos. The shuttle bus makes the loop to The Station every 15 minutes and we were on the next one and back in Queenstown by 4:00.

We hiked up the hill to our hotel and enjoyed looking at the photos of the day as well as the videos we took. As the sun set I was able to take some fantastic panoramas of the mountains surrounding this City of Extreme Sports.

Jim and Mary Ann had gone on the Wine Tasting Tour this afternoon so when they got back we walked downtown with them for pizza at Winnie’s and then ice cream at Patagonia’s.

Accommodations: St. Moritz Queenstown - - - Meals: Breakfast

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