LOTR and para-gliding

2015-03-15

On Sunday, we jumped on a Lord of the Rings tour around Queenstown.  We dropped in on several locations where the films were made and took some photos.  The scenery was really pretty, but the film sites were anti-climactic. Hobbiton was good fun because the set is still in place, but at most of the locations we saw in Queenstown, the set was long gone (or there never was one) and it's just a
bare patch of ground.  You really need stills from the movie to correlate with where you are standing.

Early morning on Lake Wakatipu

"Frodo and Sam stood RIGHT HERE"

Peter Jackson has a house on the hill in the distance

A spot from Fellowship of the Ring

Back to the van

The head of Lake Wakatipu

Striking beauty of the southern lakes

Several of our stops were near a small village called Glenorchy.  Glenorchy is where Queenstowners go to get away for the hustle and bustle.  It's a pleasant little place surrounded by beautiful mountains and almost no cell phone coverage.  We had our tea beside a nice mountain stream.

Glenorchy Library

Chucking rocks

Tea is ready

A nice view of the stream

One of the Hobbit films was shot in this valley

The kids are smiling because the tour is over

We poked around for something to do in the afternoon and settled on para-gliding for the kiddos.  They were chuffed, as the Kiwis say.  The boys and I took the gondola, a ski lift and then hiked about 10 minutes further uphill to get to the launch site.  Laura stayed down in the city to watch them land and I made my way back down after both boys launched.  The excitement continued long after the
flight and we listened attentively as stories of their flights were told and retold.

Headed up the gondola

A little apprehensive about the upcoming flight

Getting suited up

Steven base to final

Jack almost down

BIG smile

TSS Enslaw turning into the dock

Nothing like pizza to finish off the day