gorgeous

no long monologue this time... just a few pics dedicated to the fun time we had in queenstown... =)


queenstown: party town.


driving, driving, drivning... we counted 50 little speed bumps (possums) in 2 days...

you guys are jealous youre not here in nz, right?! =)

imagine this view live!

before racing down the luge


'the crew' on top of the skyline complex in queenstown


gorgeous, aye?!


experimenting with camera angles

since we were in paradise gareth felt the urge to recreate the scene in the garden of eden


isengard

miriam and me: were traveling together at the moment

lotr tour

yeeeeeiiiii!!!
yesterday i went on a lord of the rings tour, which of course made my day! =) it ws geat, and a whole day tour as well... in the morning we went up the deer park heights (as you can see in the pictures), where they filmed heaps of stuff. its not like they really filmed one scene in the same spot, you wouldnt believe how jigsaw-like the scenes are put together: with one frame just as a background in the next frame, changing locations all the way through and just randomly put together so it looks like its one scene taking place in only one location... god thats complicated and confusing - peter jackson is a genious... i know, for you it must even be confusing reading this, but yup, dont really have the time to explain everything in detail... it was just awesome and totally worth the money!!! wont say how much it was, cos it was LOTS. =( anyways, you can try to spot which scenes we recreated and what locations we sere in... another interesting fact was that the guide told us that they often mirrored the footage the shot. cos apparently (throughout the films!) the good guys enter the frame on the left and go to the left and with the badies its the opposite. and after the ring is destroyed its just the other way around... like that peter jackson could simulate more of a journey in our minds (subconciously, of course...) brilliant! and even more complicated... =)
the lunch (pic) was great as well, we had REAL focaggia and a huge plate of antipasti... devine!!! =)
then, in the afternoon we sent and had a look at the location where the argonath were situated in shotover river. later on we also went to see the place where isildur is abushed (prologue, fellowship) and the ring betrays him and he gets shot by orcs... =) every once and again the guide would show us scenes from the movies on this portable dvd player and some extras... one of the coolest things, though, was that when i got picked up at the hostel in the morning i got in the bus and beautiful lotr music filled my ears... =) i was on cloud nine!!! we also got to have a look at the props they hap. all of the weapons were one out of 100 replicas, but the elven coat is an ORIGINAL. AWESOME!!! problaby one of sean astin ones, because apparently hes the only one who whole the brooch pointing to the right...

of course i could go on and on about yesterday and everything, but since i dont want to bore you too much just have a look at the pics... =)

only 5 of the pics are recreated scenes from lotr, the others are just the beautiful view, the deer at deer park heights or lunch (and of course the dressing up with the props). =)
the first 5 pics are on location - do you know where they are/ what scenes?!

doubtful sound

so the other day i did a doubtful sound tour in the fiordlands... but to your relief i can say that my comment wont be too long... =)
again, i didnt get nice weather and though heaps of the tour guides tell you that its just as stunning in bad weather because you see all the water falls - at least some rays of sunshine would definitely have been welcome... the tour started in manapouri (where i was staying) and took a whole day. we also kinda got a tour to the power station at lake manapouri, though it was a bit disappointing because it wasnt really guided, so they just dropped us off in this room where we could read stuff on the walls and information papers, but it wasnt that great... after that we drove over a pass (istnt accessible to the public) and then went on the doubtful sound cruise, we were quite lucky that we were only few people. 147 passengers fit onto the cruise and we were only a party of 31 people, so that was fortunate! =) we also saw some seals and heaps of dolphins which did some nice flips for us - one of them like 2 metres high. the day was a really nice adventure, but i was soooo tired at the end of the day.
cheers

stewart island - rakiura track

this is already a bit more than a week ago, but since it was awesome i still wanna show you some pics and say a few things about it...

first of all some news about how i even got to stawart island: i took the ferry - big mistake! i, who hardly ever get sea or car sick was having the worst time of my life on that ferry!!! i didnt expect such a small boat to be called a ferry anyways... it was absolutely horrible!!! the waves were a few metres high and it just went up and down, sideways and worse... apparently its the worst (or second to worst) ferry ride in the world, because the waters only 30 metres deep, so it cant really 'go' anywhere - and people like me have to suffer for that!!! nice. for one whole hour i just wished i were dead, seriously! plus i was sitting backwards, which didnt exactly help... mum & thea: it would have been your death! i dont think i ever felt so sick in my life. (miles: it was like the rock'n'rollercoaster, just not as enjoyable...=)anyways, when i got off on the wharf on stwart island i decided to FLY back instead of taking the ferry. the only problem was that i had my car at bluff and the planes go directly to invercargill - f******************! i was dreading the ride back the whole time i was on stewart island...

so after i had recovered from the ferry i started the rakiura track the next day. its a 3 day tramp and one of new zealands great tracks. it was really gorgous. though of course the weather didnt like me and it was raining quite hard on the first day. that day it was only like 4 hours and the track pretty easy... when i got to the hut there were already some people there... you get together so quickly! there was this one kiwi family with 3 boys the age of 8, 12 and 14 and they were all so gorgeous! at about 6 the weather cleared up beautifully and we went fishing on the wharf, had tea and everything... fun day!

second day: everybody had warned me how horrible, exhausting and muddy the second day would be... it could have been worse (actually thought it would be), but still, was very glad to reach the hut... that was supposed to be a 6 hour walk, but i made it in 4,5... the only really horrible thing about that day was that the WHOLE track was just stairs. since it would have been too muddy and the bush too dense without them the doc (department of conservation) had made all these stairs... and you just go up and down, up and down, and up, up, up again... nice!!! the next few days my calves hurt so much, like ive never felt it!!! couldnt really walk normally for ages, bloody painful!!! anyways, i got along so well with that kiwi family, playing cards with the boys and everything that other people at the hut thought i was either the elder sister or the au pair... that familys great! i got invited to stay with them in tauranga (north island) when im up there - which ill definitely do! =) that night we also watched the stars and we saw heaps of satelites and like 7 shooting stars... plus i saw a live possum for a change... before that i had only seen them as speed bumps on the road... =)

last day of the tramp: we were racing the whole way through, we just wanted to finish and get some fish'n'chips!!! =) which we did. im still surprised the 8-year-old boy got through almost as fast as we did, without sulking or anything!!! great boys!
and then, after some great fish'n'chips i left - on the ferry! another journey through hell! was just glad to be on the mainland again!!! that night i went out with a few people i met on the track and ferry and just enjoyed some civilisation (stawart island has a population of 420 people)...
and that was the gorgeous track. was proud of myself! =)



p.s.
i still need to correct something in the last post (the one with the cathedral caves...). made a HUGE mistake, sorry:
captain, CAPTAIN jack sparrow. =)

southland

when i left dunedin my car was really generous: the batteries had died down so it took me ages to get sorted out and ready to go - eventually i just had to get new batteries since mine had already been like 6 years old.
when that was done i was off to the catlins (south east of the south island, very bushy vegetation like on the west coast). i got to this little place called tahakopa (on a gravel road), where i think only 100 people or so live. wrights mill lodge was my accomodation for the night and because i liked it so much i decided to stay three nights. it is one of the remotest places you could imagine! on top of that there werent any other guests on the second night, which meant that i had the entire cottage to myself (the owners and manager dont live in tahakopa)... weird feeling, but kinda cool!!! just got the fire going at night, cooked a nice meal, had a glass of red wine and enjoyed the night in front of the tv... =)nice. the next day i drove around to see some of the sights: purakaunui falls, mclean falls, lake wiklie and the cathedral caves. the falls and the lake were really nice, but not quite wonders of the world! the caves, on the other hand, were pretty spectacular (unfortunately cant post any pics here): you only have access to them during low tide (i was fortunate enough with my timing =)and they look kinda spooky. even when you enter and walk through them it lookes like the place where jack sparrow would hide his treasures... =)
the next day i just relaxed. divine!!! =) wrote into my journal, some postcards, read my book, watched some tv and, to my pleasure, the sun even came out for a while. yesterday i left again - after a long and super exciting phone call with my girls (isa & mi=) and headed towards invercargill. now that im here i can say that its quite big for nz standards, but its not really a nice place. the kiwi boys have nothing else to do than pimp their rides and the girls (try to) pimp themselves... cos there really isnt anything to do. its like a huge hokitika... anyways, still managed to enjoy my time here: last night was so much fun cos miriam (from israel), 2 people from germany, 2 from the uk, another swiss guy and me sat at the dining table at the hostel and just talked and had heaps of fun for hours, until everybody went to bed.
today i went downtown with miriam and bought heaps of stuff - but im proud to say FOR A GOOD CAUSE!!! all of it was tramping gear. so even though i spent like $130 i got a backpack, cooker, cooking utensils, cutlery, 2 pairs of socks, and a thermal top for it... =) im really looking forward to this tramp im going on day after tomarrow. the 3 day track (one of the great ones of nz) on steward island... really excited... =) its an abrupt ending, but i gotta go, sorry... ill tell you all about the tramp when i get back...
take care

dunedin

hmmm, what can i say... i left wanaka with its beautiful weather to come back to the east coast to have bloody rain again - yeeeii!!! the drive wasnt that spectacular, but like ive said before, it felt good to be driving again... =) coming into dunedin was an adventure itself: for the first time in nz i was on a motorway (on the left!) which was , i have to admit, a bit freaky! thank god there wasnt much traffic... the problem was just that the motorway was really steap: nothing like ive ever seen before! so steap, that i was driving 80/90 k at the bottom and had to go down in gear, till i arrived at the top - only going at 50 k!!! was so embarassing!!! probably could have got a ticket for slow driving, but i couldnt do ANYTHING!!! =)

so, yup, that was a small adventure... the hostel itself wasnt stunning: theres no daylight since there are no windows in the lounge and kitchen... i was staying in a 10-people-dorm and the moment i got in there i just wanted to get out: the stench was aweful and it was stuffy as hell!!! there were windows in the worms, but you could only open then as much as 10 cm - nice. so you can understand that i was only glad to get out and breathe fresh air, even though it was raining. that night i just chilled at the hostel and we watched star wars episode 1 - i have to educate myself while im here: not having seen any of the star wars movies is really not good for my image as a movie fanatic... =)
anyways, the next day i went to see baldwin st (steepest street in the world - according to the guiness book of records). just have a look at the pictures. i was with an australian and a girl from israel.it WAS really steap, i have to say. i really wouldnt want to go up/down there with ANY vehicle nor roller blades nor even attempt to run down there - too bloody steap! the coolest thing, though, was that the footpath wasnt just flat, but the street is actually so steap that they had to make stairs instead to make it easier to climb it. when i was up there i just thought that i really would have hated to be the postman in the 50s... that guy has my sympathy! anyways, had lots of fun all day, lunch at subway and then decided to get a movie for the night. SAW. im always freeked out watching it but i still like it (horror)- as long as im in good company!!! =) so, yup, pretty freaky movie - tops the ring, the omen and everything else ive seen so far...
day after that i just had another look around town - always with new people... one cool thing about this hostel, though, is that theyve got magazines... so after having read the cosmopolitan i felt so feminie again!!! =) F.Y.I.: apparently the 'shob' (shoulder bob) is in this season - so im confident enough to say that im a real trend setter! =)
yesterday i decided to go and have a look at the penguins - since i postponed that when i was in oamaru... i really hesitated, though, since the tour cost $57! but i hadnt seen that much of dunedin, so i almost felt obliged (also because you were expecting me to, mum =) so i did... it was about an hour drive to the otago peninsula and we started out at 3 pm. the penguins return from sea at dusk... we got to the 'station' where they have one of the two albatross 'herds' in the world that breed on mainland. but since that cost another $30 i passed on that one! the yellow eyed penguins - which we went to see later on - are very rare and they only have them here in nz. theyre really cute, but quite big. (had to think of max =)mum and dad, you guys would have loved it!!! they had these trenches built and they are really well disguised so you can get as close as maybe 7m to the penguins... their 'cries' are pretty loud, though, and a bit 'freaky' as well - one even made me jump. =)hmm, its kinda hard to get it across - its hard to describe... just know, that it was pretty amazing. the whole trip took about 5 to 6 hours and i was completely exhausted when we got back - though i didnt really do heaps, aye?! went to bed early.
and now im about to drive down to the catlins...
cheers