Sunday 19^th January 2003
Both have colds now, and today we drive north to St Arnaud, Nelson Lakes. A long drive and we cough and snivel all the way. Nothing much else to report. When we reached Hokitika on our way up the west coast we completed our circuit of South Island. Nelson Lakes is a park that we missed on our first lap and so we have decided to stop here on our way back.

Staying at the Yellow House which is a YHA affiliated hostel. We hadn't expected much when we booked but the hostel is actually excellent. Our room is small, off the TV lounge and we have two single bunks - this will be another first for us. But it is charged at dorm rates ($19 per night) and because we are YHA members includes our sheets and duvets. The kitchen is excellent and Glyn baked flapjack for all and sundry before doing steak, potato wedges, salad and water melon. The hostel is in perfect condition, very clean and well equipped. Unfortunately, Pat, the current owner is selling. After dinner Pat lets us use the hostel phone line to connect the laptop and we buy two home made ice creams from the freezer.

We arrived in time to see the last race in the Louis Vuitton Cup, won by Alinghi, on the TV. The Americas Cup proper gets underway on Feb 15th, we will have to try to catch something of it when we are Auckland way. Should bear in mind that accommodation may be difficult.

By the way, it seems using a laptop on one's lap can cause serious burns! So Pete is being very careful.

Monday 20^th January 2003
Glyn's cold is bad. We take our time about moving on but we are getting in the way. Pete attempts to find a view of the lake by car, without much success. Nelson Lakes is an area containing two lakes unimaginatively called Rotorua and Rotoiti - the one at St Arnaud is Rotoiti. Finally end up at lake front and take some pictures.

Then back (this was our 2nd hostel in NZ) to The Villa in Picton. I think we expected to be disappointed now that we have so much experience behind us but in fact it feels like an old friend. This time we are in the "cottage" which runs pretty much independently. There is a notice on the fridge door offering sailing from 6 to 11'ish for $35. Pete is keen and puts his name down.

Come 6 o-clock, of the possible 5 sailors only 2 actually show. Peter, the boat owner, agrees to go ahead anyway and we embark from Picton wharf. The boat, Rita Fox, is a 36' NZ built wooden sloop. We sail down Queen Charlotte Sound as far as Tory Channel avoiding the ferries before returning via a couple of the bays on the north side. The wind is a little variable and from the north so we get gusts coming between the hills, but Rita Fox is heavily built and heels gracefully. The time flies by and the sun goes down, gracing us with a magnificent sunset. The stars come out and there is some discussion over the merits or otherwise of northern and southern hemisphere constellations and how to find south using the Southern Cross. As we approach Picton the night is dark, Picton is bright, and a large yellow moon rises but soon disappears behind the hills. We are dropped off around 11 and Peter disappears into the night looking for a safe mooring somewhere down the Sound. A very pleasant evening.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to South Island and cross the Cook Strait.

Tuesday 21^st January 2003
Up and away fairly early to be at ferry terminal for 9am (1 hour before sailing). Weather seems fairly calm. Board in good time on the Aratere and set off up Queen Charlotte Sound before turning right into Tory Channel. There are some twists and turns before we enter the Cook Strait about an hour after sailing. We discover to our dismay that the trip is going to take 3 hours. Although the weather is still good there is a swell and the water is cut up in places. Later learn that only a short distance south and east the seabed drops away to a depth of over 2000m! At the end of the second hour we are across the Strait but it will be another hour before we actually dock in Wellington. A few facts and figures on the Aratere: Name means "Quick Path"; Built in Spain 1998; Length 150m; beam 20.3m; Speed 19.5 knots; Gross tonnage 12,596; loaded draft 5.5m; Engines 4 Wartsila 8L32 of 3680KW each coupled to alternators of 3300V @ 50Hz.

Once ashore we decide to drive directly to Plimmerton where we are staying at Moana Lodge for two nights. We have an excellent corner room at Moana with views across the bay. This backpackers is definitely hotel standard - we even have towels - but it is relatively expensive at $54 per night per room. The kitchen is an ex-hotel kitchen. The star of the piece though is Honey who is a 17-week-old Bernese Mountain dog - very cute!


Glyn is still suffering with her cold so we stay in for the rest of the day.

Wednesday 22^nd January 2003
The weather is showery and Glyn opts to stay in while Pete goes in search of "Lord of the Rings" locations in the Upper Hutt area. LOTR was directed by Peter Jackson who is a local here. The studios were based in Wellington and a number of locations were used in the area. Hobbiton was also nearby but on a private farm and apparently the owner is now charging $50 for tours - so we'll give that a miss. Lower and Upper Hutt are really two suburbs of Wellington positioned in the Hutt valley and connected by a fast road. A visit to the Upper Hutt visitor centre yields a list of locations and a map to find them and so set out between the showers, starting with Rivendell at Kaitoke Regional Park. Walk around track in native forest at nice park. Finally follow signs to Rivendell where there is a plaque. Without it there is no way that one would identify the location, maybe knowing enables one to imagine - but it is certainly not obvious.

Then on to Isengard and the location of Saruman's tower of Orthanc. This is supposedly at Harcourt Park. All that is there however, is a fairly ordinary wooded park with a "disc golf course". Can't imagine any connection between this place and what is remembered from the film.

Next to the Great River Anduin which is the river Hutt as it flows past Upper Hutt. Once again this is a very ordinary place right next to a busy main road. It certainly has the advantage of accessibility. Try to imagine carefully framed shots that might be useful within the context of the film.

Finally to Dry Creek Quarry at the bottom of Haywards Hill Road which was the location used for Helm's Deep - a deep fortified ravine in Rohan. This is a small working quarry. There is clearly a big missing link - what could possibly have been filmed here?

So all a bit disappointing. None of these locations needed to be in New Zealand - they could have been almost anywhere. There must be so much digital trickery going on. Back to the hostel and half an hour with the VCR, remote control and the first LOTR film on video. Not much wiser but there are a few seconds of Gandalf and Saruman talking in a wooded park - must be Harcourt. Good job we didn't decide to use LOTR locations as a structure for our touring.

After dinner half a dozen of us sit and watch the "Fellowship of the Ring" in the hostel TV room - Pete for the second time, Glyn for the first. Some of the aerial shots look very familiar and Glyn can imagine being in a helicopter again.

Thursday 23^rd January 2003
Today we have set aside for Wellington, and Glyn is definitely beginning to feel better from her cold. We manage to get away quite early and our first objective is the Te Papa museum - the national museum of New Zealand - on the waterfront. We drive right down to the museum and park in an open-air carpark that charges $8 for the day (in fact should have parked actually at museum, which would have been only $7). As we enter the building there is a small underground exhibit showing how the museum is earthquake protected by sitting it on rubber mounts with lead in them as damping.

We are a little early, as the museum doesn't open until 10am. There is currently within the museum a "Lord of the Rings" exhibition and as people arrive for this they decide to open a little earlier than normal. We have been warned that the museum might be best done over a couple of days because of the danger of information overload and so we buy a guide that will show us a fast track.

We see interesting displays showing the tectonic plates and the movements that have formed the islands. There are historical presentations of past earthquakes, including a small building that shakes appropriately, and a computer link showing seismographs in real time from around the country. From there we move to a natural history display with many of the native birds, and skeletons of various dolphins and whales including a full skeleton of a pygmy blue whale which had been killed when struck by a container ship.

From there we move to another floor where some Maori history was presented, complete with buildings and canoes. Then the history of European settlement and the Treaty of Waitangi which is now being scrutinised in the context of Maori rights and reparation. A real minefield has been opened up by questioning the understanding of the Maori peoples at the time when the treaty was signed - in effect the argument is that if they had known what they were signing they would never have signed it. That looks like it is going to make it impossible to settle anything.

We stop for coffee. Pete feels the museum is too sparse, with lots of space given to a small number of exhibits. He feels this is a modern trend. Glyn on the other hand likes the place and its approach. She feels it is good for children with plenty of hands on material. We decide to look at what the Lord of the Rings exhibition has to offer and whether it is worth paying $12 each for entry. (The museum itself is free.) Sounds like it may be good so go for it - we get a concessionary price as BBH/YHA cardholders.

In fact the exhibition is very good, and even manages to answer some of Pete's location questions. There are many exhibits including lots of the costumes, armour, and weapons, as well as concept sketches and some sizeable models, some of which were actually used in the filming. Additionally at several points there are video presentations of the various techniques used to create the effects. We are shown how scenes can be built up from live action with models in the background as well as filmed locations. Digital animations are used often and there are digital versions of all the main characters that can be inserted into frames where it is not possible to use the real people. The scenes where Gollum appears with human characters are actually created using an actor taking the place of Gollum who is removed during post-processing and replaced with the animated character. To achieve the difference in size between the hobbits and other actors various tricks were used. One method is simply to have the larger character nearer the camera but with the scenery arranged to look like they are adjacent. An example set is used to enable visitors to have photographs taken with their partners where one looks much larger/smaller than the other. The set used for Bag End was actually created in duplicate (right down to the last detail with all the props) at two different scales - a large version used when a hobbit is filmed and a small version for Gandalf. It is all quite fascinating.
When we have finished there we decide to move on and take the cable car from the city centre up to the Botanic Gardens. We get off at the top of a hill and walk down through various gardens to the Rose Garden where we stop for drinks, a roll for Glyn and ice cream for Pete. Then back to the car via the Parliament buildings and the waterfront, which has been nicely pedestrianised whilst keeping some of the old character. There are a group of sculptors working in one area that is quite interesting.

It is now 4.30 and we were supposed to be at our next hostel at Whanganui by 6, but we obviously are not going to make it. We set off but get held up along the way and stop to ring the hostel to say that we will be late. Just as well as they are fully booked and would probably have let the room go. As we drive north we don't feel that we are missing much. The land is fairly flat and featureless. As we approach our destination some valleys and hills do start to appear. Pete says it looks a bit like Telly Tubby land! Eventually arrive at 7.30. We have a nice ensuite room in the garden. We bring in our stuff from the car then nip out for a little shopping and takeaway fish and chips that we eat at the hostel. Fish and chips are very cheap and together with fritters for dessert, total bill is $10.