Ready for the Routeburn

Not a bad day, all told, with a rushed bit in the middle. Slept like a log in my tent but was woken by the fire siren (sounds like an air raid siren) at about 7am – some sort of event going on, apparently. Got up and had a leisurely breakfast before packing up the tent and going to dump bags at tonight's hostel.

After that I needed to take the car back, so I went via Deer Park Heights. This is a private farm on a hill overlooking Queenstown with some really incredible views, a random movie set from an old Disney film, and several Lord of the Rings locations. And a lot of tame animals that are too used to being fed, including donkeys, pigs, llamas, deer and goats. It was worth it for the views though and I was quite glad I'd never made it up there on my bike yesterday as I had planned – the hills could have killed me!

Dropped the car off at the airport and then had to wait for the bus back to town, having ascertained that a taxi would cost me $35. That almost made me late for the 4x4 tour I'd booked into Skipper's Canyon, but I made it and managed to grab a sandwich for lunch too.

The tour – something I'd picked because I was intrigued by the rental companies' edict that rental cars are not allowed in Skipper's Canyon – turned out to be remarkably good fun, helped by a good driver/guide. The road itself is hair-raising, built in the 1880s over a couple of years (it's 16km long), still unsealed with vertical drops to one side. But it takes you into a really narrow canyon with wonderful views and the very very blue Shotover River below. We stopped for pictures a lot, Malcolm our driver told stories in a terribly Kiwi way, and we also paused to pan for gold by the riverbank close to the location for the Ford of Bruinen in The Fellowship of the Ring. Malcolm predictably had stories about getting horses down there, as well as another one from his boss concerning a utilities vehicle driving way too fast down that road in 1999, containing Peter Jackson himself. I found two small specks of gold in my pan, hardly enough to make a fortune! (We also got bitten by sandflies that then invaded the jeep. Grrr.) We had afternoon tea at the old Skipper's settlement, where a farmstead and a school remain, before heading back. It wasn't something I'd have seen alone and the others on the tour were good company, so all in all I'm glad I went.

Now I'm repacking bags so I can carry everything for the Routeburn, hoping I have enough clothes and food. Should be okay. I think.

Pictures on Flickr are all up to date.