NEW ZEALAND - SOUTH ISLAND 2010

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In September 2010, we headed to New Zealand's beautiful south island, only a week or two after the big earthquake that rocked Christchurch. We hired a car in Christchurch and headed for Queenstown where we rented a house overlooking the lake and mountains. On the way there, we climbed the Lindis Pass, where the kids got to see some snow. We then stopped to visit the Church of the Good Shepherd on Lake Tekapo, a beautiful aqua lake.

Arriving in Queenstown, we took a look around the botanical gardens and went ice skating. Another day we headed out to Arrowtown, a cute little town just outside of Queenstown. Some of the scenes from the first Lord of the Rings movie were filmed here, most notably the scene where Arwen dares the 9 riders to follow her across the river.

We decided to head up to Mt Aspiring National Park where some more scenes were filmed near Makarora, then we went up to Mt Cook. On the way back we stopped in at Puzzle World in Wanaka and negotiated the maze and puzzle rooms - a fantastic afternoon of fun and highly recommended. After a week of tripping around, we headed back to Christchurch, stopping overnight at a farm B & B on the way. The following day, we went white water rafting at Ranganui before spending the last few days in Christchurch. Quite a few buildings in Christchurch were being demolished or in various states of repair which is a shame because the architecture is quite beautiful, particularly the cathedral.

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