N.Z. – S. Island: The Sound of the King
Written by: Jessica
Captions by: Diego
Disclaimer: More LOTR and Hobbit jokes ahead – though not as many.
We flew to the South Island on an Air New Zealand flight. This was a much nicer flight and they didn’t make us check baggage! It wasn’t a very long flight, but the views were gorgeous. We had a view of Mt. Cook for a few brief moments, amid a range of mountains. As we descended into Queenstown, we flew low over a mountain—it felt like we should be able to see individual sheep.
The airport was tiny, and we quickly picked up another rental car from Jucy. Luckily, they were in the airport this time! We got the same model of car but this one was functioning without challenges. Diego had tried to ask for a different type of car, but the alternative was a Suzuki, which he liked less than driving a Fiat.
Our first stop upon arrival was to check into our hotel. The views of the lake along the way were gorgeous. Afterward, we took off to see some local sights. We drove up this really windy road to the top of a mountain to look around at the scenery. The River Anduin flowed in the distance, along with many other views used by Peter Jackson’s team in the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies.
Next, we tried to find the location for Arwen’s flood, but to be honest, things weren’t marked well. The nearby town Arrowtown directed us to an area but there were no markers to figure out where it was. A website stated it was farther up the canyon, but we didn’t know how to get there. Still, the river was lovely.
The next morning, we got on the road for Milford Sound. There were so many beautiful sights along the way that it took us a lot longer to get there than planned. We passed Kingston and gave recognition to Aragorn and his forbears. We had lunch in Te Anau and picked up groceries and ice in a cooler bag, because we did not want to pay the prices for Milford Sound Lodge’s sole place to eat dinner. The bag didn’t work well: the ice melted and got into the trunk of the car. Perhaps we should have spent less time taking photos, but that wasn’t an option with how beautiful the drive was.
We got in later than planned to Milford Sound, checked in, dropped off our bags at the small bunks in our hostel dormitory, and went to the kitchen. So much for what we brought: fridge only, no freezer. The poor (part-melted) ice cream couldn’t be kept.
We did not enjoy our nights in the hostel-style beds, but they were much more affordable than the hotel rooms which gave us the ability to pay for two nights, so that we could have longer in the sound to enjoy ourselves. The first night we went to bed early enough to not be bothered by the snorers…only, someone came in at midnight and woke us all up. The second night was better, but it still was far from a comfortable arrangement.
Rosco’s Milford Kayaks took us out on a great trip on our full day in the Sound. 18 km of paddling, a few of which had dolphins swimming along, feeding, near us. Diego and I struggled to keep up with the group at the fast pace needed to keep up with the dolphins (the others seemed fine, but then there was a military veteran in two of the other three kayaks, and two men in the third—Diego and I just don’t have that kind of strength). It took a long time to stop raving about how amazing it was to see the dolphins. Another highlight was getting to kayak through the mist of a massive waterfall. I would definitely do it again!
The next day it poured in the Sound. This was actually lucky as it created thousands of temporary waterfalls. It was a gorgeous sight as we went around taking photos. Along the way home, we also stopped to pay our respects to the Ent. The Ent-Meet was going to take too long, so we just said hi to a couple. Afterward, we continued back toward Lothlorien, to where the Fellowship passed the statues of the kings.
This is the scene everyone remembers, though this was done in the studio with models.
At our departure from Queenstown airport that evening, we said goodbye to some friends and enemies: Smaug, Gandalf, and the Eagles.
One Reply to “N.Z. – S. Island: The Sound of the King”
Makes me want to go!