Gone traveling,
Back shortly.A Travel Journal by Scott Hargroves & Heather Noonan

Hello people =)

If you were wondering why Yesterdays blog was a little strange in the way it was written, I thought I’d explain that I’d actually written nearly all of the blog, before internet explorer decided to be weird and nearly all of it was deleted. there was no undo option either. So after a few moments of being GUTTED and realising we were going to have to spend even more in the extortionate internet cafe, I started again, salvaging what I could from the original piece but forgetting some bits and accidentally repeating myself. Sorry!

Tuesday has been a day of many activities. Well, it is Queenstown, and they do like the word ACTIVITIES. I say many, but I actually mean 2. 2 pretty awesome ones. Queenstown is a cute little town-city. I’m not sure what category it would come under but it’s surrounded 360 degrees by Mountains and is situated right alongside Lake Wakatipu. Surprisingly, I’ve only heard about 2 Kiwis whilst here. A couple of Irish, one Scottish, maybe 34 Americans and about a hundred Scousers. Strange, eh? We woke up bright and early to get ourselves on the Gondola ride (steepest in the world) up a big big hill. We’ll point out the pictures. Our aim was to get ourselves on the luge ride, in which you sit on a sheet of plastic with a bit of metal for your steering and brakes. Crazy kids. you’re supposed to try the “scenic” route first before they let you on the “advanced” fast route. To me this screamed danger, broken bones and bruises, so whilst the boys did the man thing and hundied (that’s kiwi for SUPERFASTTRACKEDIT) down the advanced route, I played the big wuss (well, I am a girl: we can not steer, or brake…) and went on the scenic route again. I did nearly crash over the edge on my first go. Scott saved me. What a hero.

After a little viewing of the landscape we headed back down in order to be on time for our pre-booked bus to Dartstables. I was pretty excited, as I’m sure the other two were, and when we were on the bus it felt very strange knowing that this was something I had planned for a long time and was actually happening right there and then. The full journey, split into two trips, took about an hour and a half. We donned wellies, a helmet and Scott and Thomas rocked it out in Ranger-gear. You’ll see the photographs. After that we were assigned our horses. There was quite a large group of us, but we were to be eventually split as some were doing the more advanced trips. The one we were doing was “The Ride of the Rings” which basically consisted of a trek around a place called “Paradise” in which Peter Jackson went to great lengths to use during the filming of The Lord Of The Rings. Sounds like the worst trek in the world to me.

Anyway, back to the Horses. Scott got a massive black Horse called Boris, who was a bit angsty and stomped a lot. He was also very afraid of getting his feet wet. Thomas had Murphy, a shorter brown one who was at the back of the pack (The Horses have their own ranking system, and all hell can break loose if one of them decides to push in, apparently.) Being at the bottom of the Horse-Aristocratic ladder, he was the one that got picked on – and it showed. The girl told me I would have Oscar, and then said that Oscar was one of their Horses used in the LOTR films. ARGH! Stroke of fate, perhaps? I’m not going to lie, I looked stupidly happy, and everybody else looked suitably miffed. Oscar was a bit of a disinterested, moody Horse, whose attitude matched his stardom, but I didn’t really care. He was a bit massive too, though not as big as Scott’s horse Boris.

It was a bit daunting climbing on him, and he refused to do what he was told at first, but once we got going he was ok. The trek was slow and wonderful. We went through part of the Forest area on Paradise Hill, where both scenes for Lothlorien, and Amon Hen were filmed. Megan, our guide told us lots about the filming, and also about other things that have been filmed in the area, like Wolverine and Prince Caspian. Apparently She took a group out once and they turned into an area where Hugh Jackman was stood, starkers except for a towel. He didn’t seem to know that they were going to be there….and took off quick sharp. Back to LOTR, we found out some odd facts: like Aragorn having a Lady Friend from the stables who was used as a male extra, so he would often be seen wandering around set hand in hand with what looked like a very short, ginger bearded Soldier – but who was in fact, his girlfriend. Also, due to Paradise’s recent history, the crew were told they could only use the hill if they left it exactly as they had found it. Peter Jackson brought in a group who thoroughly mapped out the area and took every flower, plant or foliage that might be in their way, then sent them all to a purpose-built greenhouse where they were kept in perfect condition until filming had wrapped. They were then brought back and put in exactly the same position they had come from. That’s a lot of lengths to go to, but apparently he had his heart set on the hill as a location and so was adamant they would do crazy things like plant transportation in order to shoot on it. Megan got a few facts wrong about the actual story, both in the film and the book, but I didn’t want to come across as the know-it-all annoying one (which we all know, I totally am) so I kept my mouth shut at those points. Plus it didn’t really matter – it was great hearing everything, even if I knew it already, and the views were stunning. We all said that being on the back of a living thing is very weird, and you’re taking everything in whilst at the same time understanding that you’re actually on Horseback. It was an amazing experience.

Tomorrow we’re up early once again for a massive drive down and around to Milford Sound. Expect more musings on the wonder, amazement and beauty of it all.

Missing you all, and it’s pretty weird that it’s only 10 days until Christmas. me and Tom have been rocking Santa Hats for the past two days (TOM: however scrooge isn’t a a huge fan of them) (HEATHER: I wouldn’t call him Scrooge. he’s just paid for Fush and Chups.) (TOM again, this blogging business is quite fun eh, laterz)

The photos have been taking forever to upload, as there are lots and they are all huge file sizes. Not all of them will be up yet, but be patient. Once we’re back in Napier we’ll make sure all of them get up so you can have a nosey if you wish =)

Speak soon! x