Lord of the Rings Tour

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Geo: -45.0311, 168.663

Tuesday Renee and I took a LOTR tour. Our guide picked us up a little
after 8 and there was one other girl on our tour who was from London.
She was spending the entire year traveling around and had come from
South America, was going to Austrailia next and then Asia. Very
interesting to talk with her about her travels! We drove around
Queenstown first to view a Korean fort that was built for some Cold War
movie. It was supposed to be a shell, but the director made an actual
fort so you can still see it on a hill. Then we headed north to
Glenorchy. There are lots of LOTR sites that we stopped at, but I have
no idea what they were. I only know the scenery was amazing! Glenorchy
is a tiny town and we stopped there before heading off on a gravel road
into a forest. Our guide pretty much knew everyone so we got to meet
Choppy the pig and a few brown sheep! In the forest area, he made us
put on some kind of cloak and swing around swords. Renee found it to be
exciting as she knew what the sword and dagger were for. We stopped
back in Glenorchy for tea before heading back towards Queenstown. The
road was pretty windy and I was glad to be a passenger for a change!
The other girl was only along for half the day so we dropped her off
back in Queenstown before heading out to see more sites. We stopped to
watch some bungy jumpers. That is about the stupidest thing I have ever
seen. I was getting sick just watching! We drove on another very
windy, very gravely road to view something about the Pillars of the
King. Then ate lunch in Arrowtown, which is an old gold mining town.
It is along the Shotover River, which is the second highest gold bearing
river after the Yukon. Lunch was delicious! Then we went up to
Coronet Peak to see the ski field. There wasn't any snow and the ski
season starts on the 6th. No idea what they will do when the hundreds
of skiers show up! Our guide took us to see the only uninsured road in
NZ. You have to have a special permit to drive on it and he did have
that. But we did not go down the road as I would not have liked it at
all! Then we headed back to our hotel and got back about 3:00. Renee
and I decided to have dessert for dinner and so she had the Baked Alaska
and I had the plum and apple crisp. Delicious!

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