New Zealand - Day 2

I woke up from the first night in a new bed ok. Sleep was a bit piecemeal though the bed was soft. Felt sorry for J because apparently I snored a bit – hopefully it wasn’t too bad, but it’s hard to tell!

We got ready and set the pattern for the week – J gets up first and has shower, while I wait, and then I have shower. I’m still ready first. Lol!

The view is so stunning we take more photos of Lake Wakatipu. Each time there is a different feel, as the light has changed.





We headed down to Queenstown and drove up the hill towards the gondola. The gondola is set on the side of a very steep mountain, so it’s a sheer rise up almost half a kilometre. We see a gorgeous cemetery and debate the merit of taking photos of grave stones.



Then it’s the gondola. J is totally thrilled to be photographed, as you can see!



It’s very slow and picturesque as we head up the mountain. Queenstown is putting on its best sunny blue face, which is just gorgeous. It’s truly set in a perfect little valley.




Once at the top, the promised view is truly stunning. It’s cold, but not icy. And the building itself is modern and beautiful in its own way. I am greatly relieved that I’m not at all worried by the view or the drop beneath us – I better not be, given what I was doing the next day!



After that, we drive south along Lake Wakatipu, carefully studying the map to determine the LOTR sites along the road.

We stop at a couple, but my knowledge of the films is patchy (I’ve only seen each maybe once or twice at most) and we both take the opportunity to take some gorgeous photos.




There is a whole 4WD gravel section, but J is a 4WD driver, and I’m keen for anything (remember my bogging) so we happily go through the gravel, and thankfully there’s no problem. My grandparents used to live at the top of a steep gravel driveway, and I had to drive up the driveway when I was a learner, so driving up hills of gravel doesn’t concern me overly much. And as J keeps saying “It’s a rental”.




As we round the “L” of the lake (it’s shaped in an L), we drive north again towards Glenorchy. We arrive at Glenorchy at lunch time and look around before stopping for lunch. The wharf is beautiful and there’s a swimming platform, but I can’t imagine how the water could ever be warm enough, considering there is snow on the mountains above.



There are a number of gorgeous cafes, so it’s a bit hard to choose, but eventually we settle at Foxy’s, where I have some awesome fresh fish and chips. Foxy isn’t very, which cracks me up. Even the view out the window is gorgeous.



Then we drove to Paradise. We are looking for a scene from LOTR, and so we go through 4 river crossings (small creeks really!) before giving up when the water looks about 20cm deep. We are, after all, not in a 4WD! There are gorgeous mossy forests all around at one of the stops, and we take some more photos.





Then we go back to Kinloch and get to a beautiful bridge, with better water. We drive back (I drive back) and stop to take some more stunning photos.





Back in town, we book J’s ski day. I try to chat with the ski guy (because he looks totally bored and is clearly only working there so he can ski on his days off as he has the “rugged” ski look, not sure if you know what I mean!) and J thinks he was going to deck me. We get lost finding it. We also book the JUMP!


We went back to the hotel, and I spend ½ hour on the internet trying to get the Virgin website working (fails) and then spend NZ$12 to ring Virgin. I thought my global roaming would be working, but alas it’s not! I am not successful.

Back in town, we go to a pizza and pasta place, and I have another lovely meal: fettucine pasta with lamb, zucchini, spinach and pine nuts. Fantastic!



Then we go to the supermarket and spend ages searching (unsuccessfully) for a pen to write on CD’s, before I give up and ask for help. Tomorrow I JUMP!