Queenstown, Glenorchy, & Isengard

Tue - Thur, 23-25 Feb: Queenstown

On our way from Manapouri to Queenstown we went partway up the road to Milford Sound just to see what we could see.  We had already been to Milford Sound itself twice (once by sea, once by air), but we wanted to try the road, since it is the only paved road access to any fiord in all of Fiordland National Park.  Once again: it's called Milford Sound, but it's actually Milford fiord.  To call it a fiord is sound; to call it a sound is unsound.  I wonder if they have a Fiord Fiesta here?

Here is a view from the Kaka Creek Lookout at the pass summit, near the trailhead of the popular (but demanding) Routeburn track.

Now look at a good detailed map of New Zealand.  This point on Milford Road is less than 20 km west from the end of the road that leads up the Dart River from Glenorchy, which is just up the lake along a good paved road from Queensland.  And yet the Routeburn track is the only path connecting the two points - not so much as even a jeep trail.  To get from here to the other side, and thus access to Queenstown, drivers have to go almost 300 km: down to Te Anau, over to Lumsden, and back up to Queenstown.  Given the amount of tourist traffic that eventually visits both Milford Sound and Queenstown, you'd think they would build a road to connect them directly, but no, that would violate the wilderness and make it too easy for the tourists!  So drive we did, for hours and hours.

Perhaps this would be a good place to insert photos showing characteristic poses of both Tyler and Paula.

One of the days in Queenstown we drove up to the Coronet Peak Ski Lodge which overlooks the whole valley.

Another day we took a 4WD outback tour with a local guide.  We drove by the gorge where bungee (bungy, bunjee) jumping began with A. J. Hackett right outside Queenstown.  His operation is still in operation:

Then we went up to Glenorchy and up the Dart River to visit both Paradise and Kinloch, both of which are mere fictions on the map at the end of a long dirt road.  But they are significant because this area was used as a location for Isengard in the Lord of the Rings movie.  Here is Mt. Earnslaw from the head of Lake Wakatipu near Glenorchy.

Here is the view across the broad Dart riverbed.  Compare it to the photo from the movie - match up the peaks in the background.  Isengard was added by digital magic, and the river removed.

This really is a lovely river valley, and of course we were there in late summer - equivalent to late August in the Northern Hemisphere.  Here are some friendly natives that we met.  These are for Rachel.