New Zealand (non-Milford Track) Highlights

The second week of our vacation was spent in New Zealand, a country that we've both been wanting to visit for a long time. For me, the appeal lies in two primary things:

1) The entire country is described as a huge national park, filled with mountains, rivers, and lakes - my favorite natural setting.

2) It's where they filmed "The Lord of the Rings", some of my favorite movies of all time.

So, we decided to take an LOTR tour in addition to driving around drinking in the scenery, as well as doing a microlight flight and checking out some entertaining venues.

Since the Facebook import of these blogs doesn't correctly import the embedded video, here's a list of favorite links to photos and videos to check out:

If you're a fan of the Lord of the Rings movies, check out the album for the tour. I put in links to the screen captures from the movie at each film site we visited.

Video of Abel Tasman National Park from a microlight flight 1000 feet up.

Shally "drinking" from a waterfall near Franz Josef Glacier.

From Wanaka's Puzzling World: Fun with perspective.

Definitely check out this video, giving you an idea of how they used camera tricks in Lord of the Rings to fool the eye into seeing different sizes.

One of my favorite scenic shots. This is what I felt like for most of the trip - very, very small.

Watching people bungee jump at the birthplace of bungee near Queenstown.

The clear waters of Lake Wakatipu.

Scenic shot of the Remarkables mountain range.

Notable food items:
Braised lamb shoulder
Excellent butter and cheese due to happy cows grazing on fresh grass all the time.

All photo albums:
Wellington
Franz Josef Glacier
Wanaka
Arrowtown
Queenstown