This was an absolutely fantastic day with great weather and beautiful scenery! We took a bus ride on Skippers Road (occasionally looking down with some trepidation into Skippers Canyon) on route to an exhilarating jet boat ride on the Shotover River. During that ride I encountered my first Lord of the Rings location – the Ford of Bruinen from The Fellowship of the Ring.
Departure from the pier
Jet boat ride on the Shotover River seen from a canyon overlook
Location for the Ford of Bruinen (Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) on the Shotover River
Due to the arrival of threatening clouds, our helicopters took us back to the airport rather than to the top of Bob’s Peak as originally planned. The clouds cleared away, fortunately, so after arriving back at my hotel I walked to the Skyline Gondola and rode up to the Bob’s Peak terminal for beautiful panoramic views of The Remarkables mountain range and Queenstown.
Queenstown and the Remarkables from the top of Bob’s Peak
I returned to the hotel in time for my long-awaited Lord of the Rings tour. We visited several of the movie locations as well as the town of Glenorchy and had our picnic lunch in “Lothlorien”.
Lord of the Rings movie locations:
Oliphant and Stewed Coneys (The Two Towers), Twelve Mile Stream
Lothlorien (The Fellowship of the Ring), near Glenorchy
Isengard (The Two Towers), near Paradise
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