The drive from Fox Glacier to Arrowtown was a long one. Originally we had planned to stay in Queestown but there turned out to be some festival or other on and the ski season had started so there weren't any beds available. That turned out to be a good thing. A hostel we called in Arrowtown said they had a bed available and so we headed to there. On the way south, we passed through Haast and Haast Pass and we saw some great scenery on the way. We finally arrived in Wanaka as the sun was setting and stopped to visit a supermarket and a cash machine. It's a shame we weren't there earlier or spending a night there as there seemed to be a couple of great things to do / see in Wanaka. For instance, Puzzling World or tours of the many LOTR locations in the area. As it turns out, you can visit the locations easily by yourself if you have a car but more about that later.

It was dark when we reached Arrowtown and it took some time to find the hostel. The Poplar Lodge has to be one of only two hostels we have stayed in while in New Zealand that has central heating. We were glad of that, Arrowtown was cold although that's only to be expected with looming, snow topped mountains nearby. The girl managing the hostel gave the usual tour of the facilities and then started to tell us about all of the great restaurants Arrowtown has to offer. This seemed surprising as it's not a huge town and Queestown, just 20 minutes away, is a much more likely venue for restaurants. As we were only a five minute walk from the centre of town, we decided to put our freshly purchased food supplies on hold and try a restaurant. Our first choice, Saffron, was fully booked for that night so we booked a table for the following night and opted for the Stables instead. The Stables turned out to be a very small restaurant but it more than made up for its size with the quality of the food. I had some lamb shanks and a glass or two of wine from Sam Neill's vineyard, Two Paddocks. (He's the actor from The Dish, Jurassic Park and The Piano in case you were wondering.) Suitably full, we headed back for some sleep.

We had decided to spend a couple of nights in the Queenstown area as we thought that there was quite a bit to do and see. That didn't stop us getting up very late the next day. We had breakfast at about 11.30! Having made a packed lunch to eat at about 2 or 3pm, we headed out to explore Arrowtown. I was reminded a bit of Burford in England as we walked around. Arrowtown has quite a few restaurants and expensive shops in its High Street. More than is normal for a town of its size. The architecture though is a world away from Burford, but its still a nice looking place. In New Zealand's autumn season, it must look great.

We wandered down to the Arrow river in search of the Ford of Bruinen location. The river runs along one edge of the town and wasn't hard to find. Reaching the river edge though was more of a challenge. The area next to the river bank was quite muddy and several streams were running through it. Local muppets in their 4x4s were having fun and although it was easy for them to go through streams, they were too wide for us to jump. We eventually found a foot bridge and did a little dance and we slipped across a patch of ice before finding the area we needed. Nine Nazgul, an elf, a hobbit and a horse were here once.

Closer to the town again, we found the remains of the Chinese settlement from the late 1800s. Arrowtown was founded as a gold mining town and many Chinese settlers came here seeking a better life. The gold rush ended quickly though. We spent a while walking through the old settlement and reading about the miners before heading back to our car and into Queenstown.

Queenstown is a popular tourist destination. During the ski season it is a base for lots of ski dudes and snow boarding dudes. The rest of the year you can bungy, skidive, waterski etc. until your heart's content. The town itself is geared up towards receiving tourists and so the shops selling snow boards and accessories are prominent while the ones selling useful stuff are hidden away. We still managed to find something we had been looking for though, Merino fleece.

As there didn't seem to be too much else that interested us at the time, we took the cable car up a nearby mountain to admire the views. It was very, very, very cold up there. Ouch! Had there not been any ice around I would have been tempted to try the luge track but it was unfortunately closed, so we went down the mountain again. At the bottom of the cable car, we found an indoor mini-golf course and since it was getting dark, we went in. There were 18 fun holes all with different themes. The first one is set at an airport. Other ones had castles, ski lifts and sawmills etc. It was fun.

That evening we went out for dinner in one of Arrowtown's fabulous restaurants, Saffron. Saffron is also reputed to be one of the best restaurants in New Zealand and was apparently a favourite of the LOTR cast and crew. It's very easy to see why though. The food was delicious. I didn't bother with a starter as I had seen a dessert I liked the look of. A bottle of Cloudy Bay sauvignon blanc went down nicely too and I was somewhat "merry" by the time our cheese board turned up. Speaking of cheese boards, Arrowtown has a little cinema of its own and it's my kind of cinema too. They have big, comfy seats with room for a wine glass and during the intermission you can pick up a cheese board to take back in with you. Watch a film, eat some cheese! Cool! If we hadn't been eating in the excellent Saffron restaurant, I would even have endured Troy to try the cinema out. I like Arrowtown!

Sadly all good things must come to an end. We had planned to get up quite early the following day as we had a long journey ahead and we wanted enough time to make some stops. As it turns out, Claire didn't want to get up that early and I was still in my own cloudy bay. So we got up at a reasonable time and headed south again. Very near Queenstown there is a mountain park called Deer Park Heights. I fancied stopping there briefly on our way as the area was used to portray some of Rohan in The Two Towers. Entry into the park was $20 and I was initially skeptical but we paid and drove in. The park is a bit like a cross between a farm and a giant safari park. There are deer, goats, sheep, pigs, cattle, bison, ostriches and llamas dotted over the side of the mountain the park is set in. They are all pretty tame and respond well to being offered food from the food dispensers in the park. At our first stop, Claire was butted by an eager sheep as she tried to ensure that the kune kune pigs had their fair share. Worried that we were quite low on fuel, I turned the car engine off after a couple of minutes only to find that the car would not start again. We appeared to have a flat battery.

I should explain about our car. It is rented but it is not very new. In fact it's about 13 years old. It's a backpacker rental. An older car with high mileage (or kilometreage if you like) that we're returning to its home in Christchurch from Auckland. Being as old as it is it has a few "features". Squeaky wipers and the odd rattle or squeak. It runs well when it's started. The engine is a thirsty Ford 6 cylinder so it's held up well. The wheels are slightly mis-aligned so one of the tyres is wearing very quickly and the hire company have forgotten to renew the tax (their problem as I have told them and they are responsible for paying any fines anyway). It's also is a grumpy starter. Every day it sounds like the starter will fail to turn the engine enough to catch but every day so far it has managed and then there is no looking back. Until now. For some reason the starter doesn't even seem to be able to turn the engine once. Fortunately for us though, a park ranger came by and offered us a ride down the mountain and a cup of tea while I phoned the hire company. Fortunately for us it turned out that one of his sons had jump leads and we were mobile again. I didn't turn the engine off in the park again though!

Besides feeding the animals, the bison was enormous by the way, we saw several LOTR locations (see the photos for more detail) and a Korean prison movie set used in The Rescue, a straight-to-video Disney affair. Having intended to spend only 30 minutes in the park, we ended up spending almost two hours there. I have to say though that it was worth every penny. The views were great, the skies clear and the animals hairy and full of saliva!