Helicopters and Lord of the Rings

Another early start as we were booked on a helicopter trip to view Mount Cook and the glaciers at close range so we were up and tanks emptied in plenty of time. The shower block had motion sensored lights, which are fine with other people around but with just me in the shower I had to manage in the dark for much of it! Unfortunately the wind was too strong for us to take the full trip over onto the Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers. This was disappointing, as it was our only chance to see the west coast, which would have been too ambitious by road with the van. However, it was a tremendous trip. We sat up front with the pilot as he cruised up Lake Putaki towards Mount Cook and the high mountains, still snow capped, even at the end of summer. We saw the Tasman Glacier with the glacial lake full of icebergs which had been dislodged by the earthquake and the Murchison glacier before landing on the ice at 7500 feet for a stunning view, a freezing wind and a photo opportunity. Once again the Wild Kiwi fleecies came into their own. We then had a bird’s eye view of the rare mountain goats, clinging to the rocky outcrops before heading back down the valley to the landing pad, which was right next to the salmon farm, so we bought some sashimi to have for dinner.
We then drove through the high country to Twizel, a town built to house the workers building the hydro electric plant which produces 30% of the South Island’s electricity through a series of lakes and canals running through the mountains. The town was due to be demolished when the work was finished but people liked living there so much they petitioned the government to let it stay!
We booked ourselves onto a Lord of the Rings tour, a bit nerdy but great fun. A guy took us out to the Pelennor Fields where they filmed the crucial battle in Return of the King between the Rohan and Mordor armies. The scenery was just amazing and he was full of great stories about the extras acting the part of Orcs (including the mud tent) and the riders who came from all over NZ and slept with their horses for 30 days whilst filming. He also showed us clips from the film to help to bring it to life and drove the 4WD along the plain to give us a feel for being part of the charging army! At the end we played along and dressed up as Demon Kings and Orcs, waving swords around and wearing rubber masks to enter into the spirit of the thing. Since seeing the country in LOTR was what most made me keen to visit NZ it seemed an appropriate thing to do and was great fun.