Into Middle Earth

February 7, 2009

Anyone who has watched The Lord of the Rings will probably recognize this scene. It is one of many on the South Island that could have – and probably did – serve as the backdrop for the Hobbits, Orcs and other creatures of Tolkien’s imagination brought to screen life in Peter Jackson’s film trilogy. In fact, on one of our excursions up and down the Dart River near Queenstown, guides were able to point out spots where LOTR scenes were shot – and where about three commercials a week are filmed. More later about the Dart River outing.

We have spent the last three days at Queenstown, the happening centre of NZ for anyone into outdoor, usually strenuous activities. Bungy jumping was invented here, along with a number of other crazy pursuits geared to people who are usually young and consider themselves immortal. Geezers like us are welcome, but our bodies pay for it.

First, a little aside. We forgot to mention our visit to Lake Matheson, which offers spectacular reflections of Mount Cook (Aoraki in Maori), NZ’s highest peak – that is, if it’s a clear day. It wasn’t, and so we were content with admiring what we like to call potentially beautiful views through a thick bank of mist and cloud. Doug claimed that the mountain had been taken away for cleaning, but few believed him.

Back to Queenstown. Our first activity was a horse trek in the nearby Hunter Valley, led by Chris, a young American freshly graduated from college and doing the fun job abroad thing before settling into a career. For two hours we walked, trotted and cantered (well, the horses did) through breathtaking terrain, up and down steep slopes, and through shallow streams. Pat’s horse Morgan could best be described as a trotter which her backside can attest to, while Doug’s horse Dudley insisted on snacking on every tuft of grass within reach instead of concentrating on the task at hand. Neither one of us had ridden for quite a few years, so we had a few tender bits on our bodies when the excursion was through. Again, though, it was worth every bone-shaking moment.

And so to our second day’s activity in Queenstown, an obligatory visit to Milford Sound, a gigantic glacial fjord on the west coast where about 6 metres of rain falls per year (yes, that’s 6,000 mm!). As other friends who visited Milford previously told us, they had to deal with heavy rain and mist. We expected no less. But what to our wondering eyes should appear but one of the sunniest and brightest days of the year, an occurrence that even had the tour boat crew marvelling. Result: spectacular views of sheer rock walls, cascades, fur seals lazing on the rocks, deep aqua waters against snow-capped peaks, all under a brilliant sun. The bus and boat tour from Queenstown and back took 13 hours, but every moment was worth it.

Finally, we signed up for a jet boat ride up and an inflatable canoe ride down the Dart River. What a blast! First the jet boat pilot, Bill, raced along at speeds in excess of 60 km per hour in water no more than 8 cm (3 in.) deep, slaloming around sand bars and monster-sized rocks, and then topping it off from time to time with a 360 pirouette that gave all of us a good soaking. Then it was onto shore to pump up the canoes (called funyaks) and paddle our way downstream on the cold waters of a glacier-fed river. The river was down quite a bit, so we often had to climb out and drag our crafts over gravelly bits, but it was a huge amount of fun. Of course we discovered muscles we had not used in some time. We should have received the award for steering the straightest course, two old Scouts plowing on while others spun here and there in the wind. We also made good friends with a denizen of NZ fauna, the sandfly. It is apparently a relative of the Canadian black fly, and it has the same talent at finding and biting any bit of skin not protected by insect repellent. Our trusty bottle of Muskol got a hefty workout.

We are now in a campground in Dunedin, the Edinburgh of the Antipodes where this afternoon we visited yellow-eyed penguin adolescents in a nature reserve, where local naturalists are struggling to save this endangered species. We now have our sights set on Christchurch where our NZ adventure will end and we will fly to the next chapters in Australia. The memories are accumulating fast.