Jet Boating and Skiing
I decided to see more of the surroundings of Queenstown so booked a Jet Boat combo tour. The journey started from the Main Town Pier in the centre of Queenstown and headed out accross Lake Wakatipu and along the Kawarau River. The jetboat then speeds into the shallow, fast moving braids of the Shotover River. The Kawarau Jet Boat was pretty fast reaching speeds up to 85 kilometres per hour and it is able to operate in very shallow water(10 cm). The driver did a few crazy turns and spins and everyone got soaked.
I left the boat to join up with a tour bus for Deer Park Heights. This was an animal park but also the spot where they filmed some Lord of the Rings scenes. That afternoon we saw Fallow Deer, Minature Horses, Llamas, Highland cattle, Bison and a Tibetan Yak.
As well as the Lord of the Rings filming spots randomly at the top of the park was The Korean Prison from the 1986 Disney movie The Rescue (never heard of it). The set was falling apart and was all fenced off.
There were three or four LOTR locations including where they shot the Warg Battle and the area where Aragorn gets dragged over the cliff.
The picture below shows where the Rohan refugees moved around the eastern side of a mountain tarn.
Other scenes shot in the park include the Rohan camp by a second tarn and Gandolf riding to Minus Tirith with the Remarkables ski field in the background.
All in all Deer Park Heights was a good place to visit and you get the best 360 degree views of Queenstown and surrounding area from the top.
I finished my time in Queenstown with a bit of Skiing. I got a beginner package which included clothing hire, ski and boot hire, transport up the mountain, a beginner slopes ski pass and 2 x 1 hour lessons for abot 40 pounds which was great value.
My first day was up at a area called Coronet Peak. I must admit that I was very sceptical that I'd enjoy it. I arrived and got geared up and headed onto the slopes for my first lesson - the snow was soft and a bit slushy but this worked in my favour for the first lesson (although I didn't realise it at the time). I managed not to fall over once and enjoyed it so much that I practiced right through lunch and by the end of the second lesson of the day was happily going up the handle tow and magic carpet and down the nursery slope.
After a days rest I headed up to the Remarkables Ski area for my second lesson. I headed straight up the handle tow and had planned to ski off but the snow was more like ice (although the instructors later said it was compacted snow) and I fell back into the lift which was not good as loads of little kids were trying to get up at the time. I had to take my skis off to get away from the lift!! When I finally got back onto the slopes I found it very difficult to move around on the ice and almost did the splits - very painful! I managed to get back to the top of the slopes for my 2b lesson. My instructor was laughing at me as I had no hat or gloves and made all the other instructors guess where I was from (Northern England). Things did improve during the lesson and I was a bit dissapointed as we were supposed to go up onto the proper slopes at the end of the lesson but we ran out of time. A couple of us from the class decided to chip in and get a private lesson from the instructor so we could get up onto the big boys slopes.
We got the chair lift to the top but one of the lads really couldn't get the hang of it - on the first attempt he fell off at the top knocking me and a girl over in the process. We then skied down the run 3 times with the instructor and by the third run I was pretty confident (although the other lad still couldn't get off the lift properly!!). I spent the rest of the afternoon skiing down the run - it got a bit hairy at one point as it started to snow and visibilty was bad - I think my hair froze too from not having a hat. I had one tumble as I took my mind off what I was doing to make sure a snowboarder didn't hit me - as I was falling I thought it was going to hurt but I think the soft snow cushioned my fall - another passing boarder collected my ski pole for me! Towards the end of the day I even plucked up the courage to go higher up the mountain on a beginner / intermediate run - it was nerve racking in parts with a few steep drops but I managed it and really enjoyed it too.
Unfortunately I've got no photos of the skiing as I was paranoid about breaking the camera when I fell over! However I'm definately keen to give it a go again soon.
Finally it was time to leave Queenstown after nearly 2 weeks there (sob!). I was sad to leave but you end up spending so much money there on all of the activities and nights out.
I left the boat to join up with a tour bus for Deer Park Heights. This was an animal park but also the spot where they filmed some Lord of the Rings scenes. That afternoon we saw Fallow Deer, Minature Horses, Llamas, Highland cattle, Bison and a Tibetan Yak.
As well as the Lord of the Rings filming spots randomly at the top of the park was The Korean Prison from the 1986 Disney movie The Rescue (never heard of it). The set was falling apart and was all fenced off.
There were three or four LOTR locations including where they shot the Warg Battle and the area where Aragorn gets dragged over the cliff.
The picture below shows where the Rohan refugees moved around the eastern side of a mountain tarn.
Other scenes shot in the park include the Rohan camp by a second tarn and Gandolf riding to Minus Tirith with the Remarkables ski field in the background.
All in all Deer Park Heights was a good place to visit and you get the best 360 degree views of Queenstown and surrounding area from the top.
I finished my time in Queenstown with a bit of Skiing. I got a beginner package which included clothing hire, ski and boot hire, transport up the mountain, a beginner slopes ski pass and 2 x 1 hour lessons for abot 40 pounds which was great value.
My first day was up at a area called Coronet Peak. I must admit that I was very sceptical that I'd enjoy it. I arrived and got geared up and headed onto the slopes for my first lesson - the snow was soft and a bit slushy but this worked in my favour for the first lesson (although I didn't realise it at the time). I managed not to fall over once and enjoyed it so much that I practiced right through lunch and by the end of the second lesson of the day was happily going up the handle tow and magic carpet and down the nursery slope.
After a days rest I headed up to the Remarkables Ski area for my second lesson. I headed straight up the handle tow and had planned to ski off but the snow was more like ice (although the instructors later said it was compacted snow) and I fell back into the lift which was not good as loads of little kids were trying to get up at the time. I had to take my skis off to get away from the lift!! When I finally got back onto the slopes I found it very difficult to move around on the ice and almost did the splits - very painful! I managed to get back to the top of the slopes for my 2b lesson. My instructor was laughing at me as I had no hat or gloves and made all the other instructors guess where I was from (Northern England). Things did improve during the lesson and I was a bit dissapointed as we were supposed to go up onto the proper slopes at the end of the lesson but we ran out of time. A couple of us from the class decided to chip in and get a private lesson from the instructor so we could get up onto the big boys slopes.
We got the chair lift to the top but one of the lads really couldn't get the hang of it - on the first attempt he fell off at the top knocking me and a girl over in the process. We then skied down the run 3 times with the instructor and by the third run I was pretty confident (although the other lad still couldn't get off the lift properly!!). I spent the rest of the afternoon skiing down the run - it got a bit hairy at one point as it started to snow and visibilty was bad - I think my hair froze too from not having a hat. I had one tumble as I took my mind off what I was doing to make sure a snowboarder didn't hit me - as I was falling I thought it was going to hurt but I think the soft snow cushioned my fall - another passing boarder collected my ski pole for me! Towards the end of the day I even plucked up the courage to go higher up the mountain on a beginner / intermediate run - it was nerve racking in parts with a few steep drops but I managed it and really enjoyed it too.
Unfortunately I've got no photos of the skiing as I was paranoid about breaking the camera when I fell over! However I'm definately keen to give it a go again soon.
Finally it was time to leave Queenstown after nearly 2 weeks there (sob!). I was sad to leave but you end up spending so much money there on all of the activities and nights out.
posted by Phil at 7:14 AM
1 Comments:
Oh - poor you - the second day skiing wasn't as easy as the first! ;-) You wait - I will whip your butt skiing!
Love Jen x
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