New Zealand 2
Mar. 20th, 2017 05:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakTravelling means not much time online, so I use what I have to share the beauty around me.
We moved on to Queenstown, which my AP christened "the ST. Moritz of New Zealand", hang-out of the sports-obsessed, and also of the LOTR Crew during filming. It snuggles neatly into a bay:
Reverse Shot from the promenade and beach:
The steam boat in the distance is the TSS Earnslaw, from 1912, which makes it a contemporary of the Titanic. Still in action.
The day we were there was St. Patrick's day, which I had to explain to the APs who wanted to know why so many people were dressed in green when Carneval has been over for weeks.
But of course the town itself wasn't the main reason why we came to Queenstown. The Kawarau River nearby was one. Here's the bridge where Bungy jumping started, complete with Bungy jumper - find the figure in the photos, I'm proud I captured the movement with my normal camera:
Now we did not jump off a bridge, but what we did do was join a speed boat gallivanting about the river. Why? Check out the scenery (from Arthur's Point and the Edith Cavell Bridge):
It was an exhilarating experience. (One apparantly shared, going by the pictures on the wall of fame, by New Zealand heros Sir Edmund Hillary, George Lucas and British Royals.)
About fifty kilometres - btw: thank you, sensible New Zealanders, for using the metric system and none of that miles and feet nonsense - from Queenstown lies Glenorchy and another National Park, and 28 kilometres into it Paradise and more filming locations - Isengard, part of the Misty Mountains, the edge of Lothlorien, some of Helm's Deep and the place where Boromir died. First, check out what the Ents left of Isengard:
Meanwhile, is this a Misty Mountain or what?
And one can just imagine horses gallopping down from there:
Lothlorien in autumn:
Looking back to the Misty Mountains:
Next, we did try to drive down to Skippers Canyon. Emphasis on "try". The path downwards is ridiculously small, completely unsecured, and if ever a vehicle shows up from the opposite direction, you're completely screwed. We decided we wanted to live and gave up a third in when lo and behold, enough space to turn the care around appeared. Otoh before we left the canyon entirely behind I walked back a bit, for the view is magnificent and very much Middle Earth:
Leaving Queenstown, we crossed over to the other side of the Southern Island to admire the fjords. Here's the most beautiful one, Mildford Sound, and the boat we were on, the Milford Mariner:
Now is this a sight?
As the ship cruises through the fjord - which is a fjord, not a sound, despite the name - you see many beautiful waterfalls, like these:
And seals! This one, we were told, is nicknamed Dan and, quoth the guide, is like a male teenager, lazing about by day and partying by night:
More seals from the opposite side of the fjord. They were exceedingly cute:
One of the places where you can spot the water making its way from the glacier on top to the ocean down below:
In conclusion: the Milford Sound is a true beauty:
Milford National Park isn't half bad, either. The combination of rain forests and high mountains also produces creeks with formations like these:
And such a sight:
And thus I hurry off for more adventuring....
We moved on to Queenstown, which my AP christened "the ST. Moritz of New Zealand", hang-out of the sports-obsessed, and also of the LOTR Crew during filming. It snuggles neatly into a bay:
Reverse Shot from the promenade and beach:
The steam boat in the distance is the TSS Earnslaw, from 1912, which makes it a contemporary of the Titanic. Still in action.
The day we were there was St. Patrick's day, which I had to explain to the APs who wanted to know why so many people were dressed in green when Carneval has been over for weeks.
But of course the town itself wasn't the main reason why we came to Queenstown. The Kawarau River nearby was one. Here's the bridge where Bungy jumping started, complete with Bungy jumper - find the figure in the photos, I'm proud I captured the movement with my normal camera:
Now we did not jump off a bridge, but what we did do was join a speed boat gallivanting about the river. Why? Check out the scenery (from Arthur's Point and the Edith Cavell Bridge):
It was an exhilarating experience. (One apparantly shared, going by the pictures on the wall of fame, by New Zealand heros Sir Edmund Hillary, George Lucas and British Royals.)
About fifty kilometres - btw: thank you, sensible New Zealanders, for using the metric system and none of that miles and feet nonsense - from Queenstown lies Glenorchy and another National Park, and 28 kilometres into it Paradise and more filming locations - Isengard, part of the Misty Mountains, the edge of Lothlorien, some of Helm's Deep and the place where Boromir died. First, check out what the Ents left of Isengard:
Meanwhile, is this a Misty Mountain or what?
And one can just imagine horses gallopping down from there:
Lothlorien in autumn:
Looking back to the Misty Mountains:
Next, we did try to drive down to Skippers Canyon. Emphasis on "try". The path downwards is ridiculously small, completely unsecured, and if ever a vehicle shows up from the opposite direction, you're completely screwed. We decided we wanted to live and gave up a third in when lo and behold, enough space to turn the care around appeared. Otoh before we left the canyon entirely behind I walked back a bit, for the view is magnificent and very much Middle Earth:
Leaving Queenstown, we crossed over to the other side of the Southern Island to admire the fjords. Here's the most beautiful one, Mildford Sound, and the boat we were on, the Milford Mariner:
Now is this a sight?
As the ship cruises through the fjord - which is a fjord, not a sound, despite the name - you see many beautiful waterfalls, like these:
And seals! This one, we were told, is nicknamed Dan and, quoth the guide, is like a male teenager, lazing about by day and partying by night:
More seals from the opposite side of the fjord. They were exceedingly cute:
One of the places where you can spot the water making its way from the glacier on top to the ocean down below:
In conclusion: the Milford Sound is a true beauty:
Milford National Park isn't half bad, either. The combination of rain forests and high mountains also produces creeks with formations like these:
And such a sight:
And thus I hurry off for more adventuring....
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Date: 2017-03-19 10:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-20 06:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-20 11:56 am (UTC)I went to the Queenstown area and Milford Sound a few years ago and it is astonishing how much LOTR is visible in absolutely every direction...
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Date: 2017-03-21 06:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-20 10:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-21 06:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-21 07:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-25 01:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-22 03:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-25 01:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-04-09 10:23 pm (UTC)