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► 2010 (6)

▼ 2009 (39)

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Queenstown

Early settler

One of the early settlers and his wife ... Finally Queenstown, adventure capital of New Zealand!

Among other things this is the site of the original bungy jump, and many people on the bus took the opportunity to do a bungy or a skydive. It was great watching people jump (and hearing them scream) and I decided to do it later maybe in Asia where it's a bit cheaper.

After a big night out I was no longer the butt of the top bunk bed jokes when a roommate fell off his top bunk and scratched his face (amusingly in the shape of Australia and New Zealand!).

Gondola view
A gondola trip is a must in Queenstown. The views were spectacular!

Queenstown was actually the base of the Lord of the Rings filming crew for almost 6 months, already 10 years ago! Of course I had to take a few Lord of the Rings tours. I started with a horseback ride and even got to meet one ot the stars from the movies!

LOTR star

Harry the horse was one of the ringwraiths' horses among other parts!

The ride was bumpy for me as I'm not used to riding, but the views were incredible and we got to see some of the filming locations (all restored to their natural state, of course). Most locals here recall the filming well and were often involved and are able to tell funny anecdotes about the crew etc.

Glenorchy view

View between Queenstown and Glenorchy

River view

View from horseback in Glenorchy

I also hired a car for one day with 2 other girls from the bus, and we checked out a little gold mining town just outside Queenstown, did some wine tasting and just drove around for a bit. Very relaxing and a great way to see more than just the city center!

River and wine

Shotover river and vineyard in the background

The next day I went on a four wheel drive tour to some of the Lord of the Rings filming locations. If anyone is planning on going on a 4WD tour with a hangover I have one piece of advice: Bring painkillers! I had actually just been to some of the locations when we hired the car, but now I got to learn a bit more about them. Unfortunately it was rainy and windy and some extremely annoying and ignorant Americans were on the same tour, but it was still a great experience. The nature here is breathtakingly beautiful with green hills, turqouise rivers, snowy mountains and surprisingly few settlements. I especially liked the area of Skipper's Canyon.

Skipper's Canyon

When I got back from the tour, a guy in the hostel had all the Lord of the Rings movies playing in the TV room, so I watched two and a half of them before we went out for beer, pool and dancing. Coming up next is the long drive to Christchurch (560 km apparently) and then a flight to Auckland before I go on the next bus trip, hopefully with equally awesome people!