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Published: March 6th 2007
On the Monday we left little ol' Te Anau caught a bus back to Queenstown, to meet Maelle as she arrived in the Island. It felt strange returning to Queenstown, almost like a kind of nostalgic-homecoming, it felt as if we'd been around this area for a while... even though it had been little over a week.
The day largely involved introducing Maelle to such Queenstown delights as the Luge and vibrant town centre. We booked in to take a horse riding tour the day after, and then begin to journey up the west coast (in order to get back to Auckland for Uni). We spent the night at the blacksheep hostel.
The next day we rose early (too early), and made use of the free breakfast at the hostel, before being picked up by the horse people. We drove along the lakeside towards the village of Glenorchy (but one of the many Scottish sounding place names). Once arrived we were kitted out with gear, then taken down the road to be kitted out with horses. I was paired up with a rather moody horse (name slips me), but then switched to a well behaved one 'Wilson'. I
was rather glad of this fact later, when my original ride (being ridden by one of the guides) decided to bolt around disobediently and generally play up!
The ride was stunning, and it was a really excellent way to explore such a remote area... riding through meadow, across rivers and through willow thickets. Wilson behaved well... this was indeed a far cry from my Peruvian horseback experience- I actually felt like this horse was big enough to take my weight! The ride took us though some really spectacular places, and back to Glenorchy, for lunch back at the stables.
In the afternoon we took the Lord of the Rings horseback tour, seeing some of the movie sets including: Lothlorien, the Urukai woodland, the place of Isenguard . The tour took us around a region by the name of Paradise- not too difficult the understand the rationale behind the naming! We were all granted the privilege of riding though a set for a new movie, possibly involving a lion, a witch and a -sssssssh!
We returned to Queenstown, and hopped on a bus bound for Wanaka (pronounced ONE-ack-a). The evening was spent gazing at the stars- numerous shooting-types
were seen.
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Chris
non-member comment
Soak it all up
Dear Tom, Sounds like you are having a great time. When I was about 17 I watched a programme about Milton Sound or McMurdo Sound and always promised myself I would go there. I haven't yet. It sound to me like you are taking it all in so enjoy. How long are you over there for?