Lord of the Rings safari

March 27, 2010


Rainy to start the day and cold but already the clouds are lifting up the mountains and clear sky is peeking through. We were picked up by Jill and her jeep at 8:30 and headed off for a journey through the Wakatipu basin – an area where many scenes from The of Lord of The Rings was filmed. For the Tolkien fans we are off to see: The White Mountains, Minas Tirith, Pillars of the Kings, Ford of Bruinen, the site of the Warg attack and the Road to Mordor. We headed North up the basin and across the end of the lake which is drained by a single river flowing North up along the base of the Remarkable Mountains (The Misty Mountains) and followed a dirt track up into the mountains. The views were spectacular as we were almost in the clouds. We then crossed the Kawarau River, still heading north and stopped on the mountain side to watch a bungy jumper take the dive into the canyon. This is the site of the origin of commercial bungy jumping, before then it was just some whackadoodle guys that travelled around the world doing it for thrills. AJ Hackett one of the two founders, supposedly hid in a broom closet overnight at the Eifel tower and jumped the following morning in a tux, holding a bottle of champagne with his girlfriend watching. He made lots of press as he didn’t splat and the gendarmes let him leave the country the same day. He now lives in France and seems to do just fine in the bungy jumping game. Connor has expressed his desire to do this and Mary Rose is in agreement as long as she gets to push him off the platform!

Further north we reached Arrowtown. This is a quaint little village, now with a historical architectural designation that was built in the 1860’s during the gold rush. It is now a tourist town and agricultural land supported by massive (unsustainable?) irrigation. Here I pretended to be Isoldore and rode the path where I was to be ambushed and lost the one ring (everyone thought I looked stupid but who cares). We then went off track into the Arrow River itself – great fun with lots of bumps and shooting spray. We stopped for tea and a bit of gold panning and managed to bring home a few flakes. While there is still mining going on in New Zealand there is no commercial fluvial or placer mining left. Finally we headed South again down the other side of the basin to Skippers Canyon. Here another beautiful set of views and a small climb up the hills to a rocky outlook. Again this area opened up for gold mining in the 1860’s and the pass through the mountains had to be hand dug as the rock kept crumbling, it took 7 years to cut by hand! Viewed and climbed out we headed back to town for a late lunch and a bit of a break.

The afternoon was spent in Queenstown in search of greenstone (nephrite jade) for Duncan. The Maori highly prized the jade they found (predominantly in boulders through the upper valleys) for its colour and beauty but also as it was the hardest stone around to make tools with. It was prized, revered and traded by them. We’ve been looking for a piece for Duncan and finally found an amulet made by a local Maori craftsman. According to the Maori people jade should not be bought for oneself, but must be received as a gift so Duncan received the gift of an infinite spiral symbolizing friendship.

Tomorrow it is up and early for another shot at Milford sound. The weather reports look favourable for flying, so we’ve got our fingers crossed.