February 6
We made a special breakfast today in honor of Ian's birthday (and the fact that we had a full kitchen and not just a camping stove). We had pancakes with maple syrup and strawberries and a dozen fried eggs. We even had milk! Refrigerated food and drink are usually impractical when we're cooking for ourselves, so that was a nice treat.
We checked the weather forecast for Milford Sound again, hoping it would now be clear skies on Sunday morning, but nothing had changed from last night's projections. We booked our tickets for a cruise Sunday at 3:00. After printing the ticket/confirmation -- at $1.20, the most expensive single page I have printed in my life -- we hopped in the car, headed for Paradise.
Paradise, NZ is a little disappointing for its name. About an hour from Queenstown, Paradise is situated between the Remarkables (a more convincingly named mountain chain), Diamond Lake, and a nice forest. It looks like a nice enough place to live, but granting just this little part of the country the title of "paradise" seems to be making a completely arbitrary distinction.
What we were really looking for here was Isengard. Ian's guidebook says that Queenstown and the surrounding area contains the highest density of Lord of the Rings film locations in the country, and Glenorchy (which is between Queenstown and Paradise) in particular was the real-world location of the digitally rendered tower at Isengard. If it was visible from road or trail, we didn't find it. What we did find were a lot of sheep farms. Deciding that this was really a good representation of New Zealand, we took a group picture and drove back up the road to Queenstown.
We still had grocery shopping to do and I still didn't own a rain jacket. I was dropped off in the middle of the outdoor stores on Shotover road while Zach drove Ian and Wes to a gas station just outside of town. I eventually tracked down a suitable jacket that didn't cost $500 and walked out of the store about when the others had finished shopping. I met Zach at the Fergburger where he got lamb and I got a breakfast sandwich. The young woman who took my order, self-proclaimed "San Fransisco girl" was very friendly and wanted to know what part of the States I was from. "Of course you're from the States!" I hope I can pick up a convincing Kiwi accent soon.
We met Ian and Wes at the statue by the beach and enjoyed a leisurely lunch. We tipped the string duo that played while we ate, including both Bohemian Rhapsody and Oblah-dee Oblah-die, and then bought some ice cream from a truck that only sold vanilla (really?).
Queenstown is known for its aerial activities
Done with Queenstown, we start driving to somewhere between here and Milford sound. We're not very particular about where. We ended up at Lake Te Anau and pronounced it fit for camping. The tenting areas had woodchips spread on them, which would make sleeping more comfortable. I had also found a foam sleeping pad yesterday in Queenstown, so I was really looking forward to a cozy night. It was mid-afternoon when we arrived, so we all relaxed for a few hours to read. When we got hungry enough to cook, we made rice and beans with tomatoes and corn. As usual we cooked enough to make the pot overflow, but we ate every bit of it (every bit, that is, except those which were burned to the bottom). Zach wanted to play cards after dinner, but the stars and our sleepiness distracted us and we soon found ourselves settled down for the night -- Zach and Wes both outside in the nice, bug-free air.
Zach atop the throne tree we found at the beach
The view from there
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