OK. First order of business today is to shorten the blog headline. How about I just start tagging my blog page as "Down Under?"
We began our day with an exciting ride to Lord of the Rings country in a Toyota Land Cruiser, forging forests and rivers. It was a beautiful car ride along the shores of Lake Wakatipu, but I probably wouldn't do it again. Nice sightseeing and lots of information about the filming of Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Wolverine and Narnia films, but I think I was expecting an extreme off road adventure riding up a mountains into the jungle and ripping through rivers at full speed.
The visit to Isengard, Lothorien forest was very beautiful. Our guide had an iPad and showed clips of the movies that were filmed at each location, which added an element of interest. I could definitely envision Froto and Samwise running for their lives from the Dark Lord with Aragorn and Boromir in tow. But other than that brief moment of fantasy, The Glenorchy "off road" experience was much too tame and a little lame. Perhaps we did the wrong tour??? Guess I'm just an adventure junkie and was somewhat let down today. But our Jetboat ride awaits this afternoon. That should get the adrenaline going. I'll be back with more on that trip later tonight.
Well, the slow morning gave way to an adrenaline junkie's heaven in the afternoon. Stevie and I rode the Shotover Jet Boats through the Shotover River Canyon. The small boats are powered with 2 V-8, 700 horsepower engines that displace 800 litres of water per minute to create an incredibly exhilarating experience.
The drivers are well trained and maneuver through the canyon at "warp" speed. It's definitely white knuckle time as the boats spin 360 degrees within inches of the canyon walls and huge boulders while spraying down the passengers with cold river water from the jet spray. The canyon is stunning and I would have enjoyed it so much more if I hadn't been holding on to the boat rails for dear life. Stevie and I are in the second row of the photo above. The shrieks and screams of the other passengers in the boat intensified the fear factor and made for a very exciting ride. I would give this adventure an A+ rating, although, neither Stevie nor I opted for the "go again" ride for just an additional $20.00. Guess we felt we'd defied death once and didn't want to push it. But it really was a fun ride that I would highly recommend.
After our Jet Boat trip, we decided it would be an excellent idea to start some day drinking to calm our nerves. We went to an adorable roof top bar called the Sundeck Lounge, recommended by my friend, Vicki. Thanks for the great recommendation, Vicki.
The bar's stunning view overlooks Lake Wakatipu. We had hor d'oeuvres and a nice bottle of champagne, which did the trick. After the Jet Boat rush faded, we moved on to our dinner spot, Botswana Butchery, which over looks the lake as well as Queenstown's beach.
There was an abundance of activity at the beach until around 8:00, when the people began to clear out. We finished our meal and headed back to the hotel for the evening.
Tune in tomorrow for more adventures of Julie and Stevie in the Down Under.
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