NZ14:Day 23-12th Dec~am:A morning of photography & a bit of wine & cheese

Day 23 ~ Dec 13th: I go all David Bellamy! 

I was up early & on the phone to the Air Fiordland peeps, only to find that the weather wasn't suitable, so my flight was postponed to 2pm.
That meant I had a free morning, so I decided to drive out to Cromwell & the bit of the SH6 by Lake Dunstan I'd seen on my fast drive to Glenmac.
First though, I had a meander through Queenstown Gardens on the way out to Park St & the car, & took this shot of Wakatipu through the trees.

I needed gas, so after stopping at the garage in Frankton at the top of the hill to fill up, I headed back out along the SH6 towards Cromwell.

A Remarkable inversion

Just before I got in the car I took the pic of the inversion over the Remarkables. 
I'll ski there, one day.

On the way through Gibbston I saw a sign for Peregrine wines, & decided to call on the way back. The Took connection was too hard to resist, & besides, the Ake Ake was almost gone.

At Cromwell I headed up the Lowburn side towards Wanaka with Lake Dunstan to the right. 
There was a camp site lakeside, & it was early enough peeps were still having breakfast. 
Their bacon smelt wonderful :-)
According to Gmaps, it's called Lowbor Habor Camping Site, but I'm sure that's a typo?

Me being me, I went for a paddle & took a pic of a volcano-shaped hill, with a nice line of trees up the side.

Still smelling the bacon, I saw some blue lupins looking down the lake towards Cromwell, & then lay on the floor to get the pic of the lovely yellow flowers.

I wish I knew what these are

Back on my feet this mummy duck came floating by with her brood. 
8 were Mum coloured, but 1 was a golden chick. I wonder why?
Back on the road I spent quite a while taking photos of trees & flowers. As I'd noticed on the way down from Makarora, the yellows were amazing :-)

Shame about the fence posts!

Ditto :-/

Those nice yellow flowers again

More yellow. Mum would've loved it here.
It was her favourite colour

See the bee?

I spent quite a while on the SH6 ~ laying on the floor when there weren't any cars coming!


It was still only 10am, so there was no rush.

Another one I don't know the name of.
But it doesn't matter, it's still beautiful

That's Pecan Pie to go with the coffee & computing

Back in Cromwell, I found out I could get 30 min free wifi with a coffee, so I sat in the sun & checked my Es.

The Karawau River off Bannockburn Rd.
Cromwell is over the trees

Heading back towards Queenstown on the Kawarau Gorge Rd., there were loads of fruit farms as well as vineyards, & having seen a sign for Bannockburn, I decided to hang left & take a look.
Coming to Bannockburn Rd. I went right & crossed the Kawarau, pulling up just over the bridge for some more flowers!

Roses & the Kawarau looking down towards the Gorge

Blues & yellows by the Bannockburn bridge

Just after the bridge is a ranch-type sign for:

Bannockburn

Heart of the Dessert

Apparently it's one of the hottest areas & they grow a lot of expensive Pinot Noir here.

There were 3 other Scottish references on the signs on the right: Bannock Brae, Carrick & Cairnmuir. Clearly, the original miners etc. were of Scottish stock.
The Scottish hunt over, I went back towards the SH6 & my appointment with some vino.
At the Peregrine Winery, I had a wander through the grounds before entering the very chic Cellar Door for my tasting.

The function room at Peregrine Wines

I was the only one there, & had a go at quite a few, & as the tasting was free (check out the comments on TripAdvisor!), I thanked the helpful lady by buying a couple of dessert Rieslings.

Like I said, the tasting room was very chic!









Before I got in the car, I lay down on the floor again & took a photo of my double box of wine, & the Peregrine surroundings.

A Cheesery tree

Back in the car, I only travelled a short way back towards town when I saw a sign for Gibbston Valley Cheesery, so I drove in to take a look/taste.
The Cellar Door was available too, but I think they charge to taste, so I just tried a few of bits of cheese & bought 3 to take back to Nomads:~ Hard, Soft & Goat. 
Sadly, they cost nearly an arm & a leg at a touch over $30.
I shan't be shopping there again! ;-p

Out in the car park I found a nice tree with some colourful flowers underneath, so I took a couple of photos.

I got back to town by midday, & stashing the car on Park St again, I took my cheese to the fridge ~ carefully name & date labelling it first. I didn't want my expensive cheese being chucked out by staff cleaning out the fridge like they do every day.

I hid the Rieslings under my pillow, & went for a wander until 1300. I had a walk through town, & went up through Queenstown Gardens, noticing a load of lovely trees. I planned to go back the next day & get some pics.

Back at Nomads, 1305 came & went, & at 1320 I called Air Fiordland. They said the taxi was on its way.

It arrived at 1/2 past, & loaded with the camera & 2 mobiles (just in case!), I climbed in. On the way out we picked up a French bloke & a US couple. There were 2 English Honeymooners already in. I didn't get any names from my fellow guests, but the driver was called Don, & when we arrived at the airport the girl on reception was Danielle & the Captain was Dave ~ so a day of Ds. 

Well, it would've been if the Pilot hadn't been called Blair!

In case you didn't know, Milford Sound is the exceedingly famous body of water on the south-west coast of South Island. You can get day trips travelling by coach via Te Anau, but it does take a day, & I didn't want to waste what time I had sitting on a coach. Had I not driven to Te Anau from Queenstown in 2009, I may have thought of the cost, & done the coach trip, but the wonderful Jaimee from Queenstown I-Site helped me decide on a 1/2 day flight out & back ~ see below.

Plus, a guy at the other end of the E when I made enquiries at Air Fiordland offered me a deal for the 1/2 day flight out~boat on the Sound~flight back deal.

Sorted :-)

In blue is the E-conversation I had with Jaimee. I've been saving it for nearly 2 years :-0

Hi
I am not online at home, & while I can surf here at work, the system keeps chucking me out of google.
I am trying to compare Fly-Cruise-Flys to Milford Sound (ex Q/town), but due to the google problem I'm getting nowhere fast.
Please would you send me a list of tours from Queenstown to include departure times, length of flights*,& length of cruise (+ whether Cat or Ship)
* I had some success on the Milford Flights website, & notice they say you fly back over Sutherland Falls & glaciers. Is this the same for all the various operators?
I will be in Queenstown on Dec 11th to 13th ~ probably driving back up to Christchurch on the 14th. If I set off after lunch on the 14th, I may be able to do the 0800 that day as well, but I'd rather book the trip earlier (12th/13th) in case the weather stops the trip going.
If I haven't made myself clear, please E me.
Thanks a lot
Shirley

Hi Shirley,

Thank you for your enquiry.

There are a few companies that do this type of tour. Generally with all the flights they are 45 minutes each way to Milford Sound and back. And they all consist of 2 different types of cruises. The 2 cruises are either the Scenic Cruise (which is a 1 hour and a half to 1 hour and 45 minutes trip) and a Nature Cruise (which is a 2 hour to 2 and a half hour cruise).

Real Journeys is one of the companies that does the fly-cruise-fly. They run flights with both the scenic and nature cruises and have a twin engine plane. The main difference between the 2 cruises is that the nature cruise is on a large motorised sailboat and has a specialised nature guide on board who all your commentary comes from them and they are available to speak to if you have any questions. The Scenic cruise is 1 hour and 40 minutes long and all your commentary comes from your skipper, there is also generally a second commentary in a different language. The price per person ranges from $450 - 520. The price depends on the time and type of cruise you participate in.

Milford Sound Scenic Flights and Air Fiordland also do the fly-cruise-fly. They however only do the flights with the nature cruise. The company they do this with is Mitre Peak Cruises. This is a small boat cruise so you are low down in the water and can be close to the wildlife if they interact with the boat at the time of the cruise. All your commentary comes from your skipper on this tour and they have a single engine plane too. Their price per person ranges from $450 - $500.

Air Milford is the other company. They however do their cruises with Southern Discoveries and Cruise Milford. The Cruise Milford is a Scenic cruise and is 1 and a half hours long and all your commentary comes from your skipper. The Nature Cruise is with Southern Discoveries and that is a 2 hour and 15 minute cruise with a specialised Nature guide on board that is also able to answer any questions that you could possibly have at the time. This company has a single engine plane for their trips too. The price per person is between $460 - $520

Hope this helps.

If you have any more questions please do not hesitate to contact me further.

We are also located in the centre of town so if you need to make any bookings or have any questions during your trip and are open 8.30am to 7.30pm 7 days a week.

We can also organise any trips you would like to do even before you leave.

Sorry for the late reply, we have had a few difficulties with our emails for the last few days.

Kind regards,

Jaimee

Frontline Consultant
Queenstown i-SITE Visitor Centre

Now that's what I call customer service. Totally Awesome!

I sent Jaimee thank you, & said:

Jamiee

Thanks a lot for all that info.

I am going with Air Fiordland on Dec 12th.

I will be blogging it, so have a look at http://shirleynzandorangs.blogspot.com/ in a couple of months (or 6  ;-p  )  You’ll probably get a mention!

So you can see that I was a teensy weensy bit on the optimistic side - even saying 6 months. Ahem!

But better late than never, & when I've finished this in a few minutes, I shall send it, & hope Jaimiee is still at the Queenstown I-Site, & enjoys the blog.

Here's a footnote to the heading of this blog, for those too young to remember, & those followers who aren't from the UK: 

David Bellamy was a very enthusiastic botanist/environmentalist on TV in the '80s. 

David Bellamy OBE
David Bellamy in 1981
Born	18 January 1933 (age 83) London, England, UK
Education	Sutton County Grammar School; Chelsea College of Science and Technology (now part of King's College London); Bedford College (now part of Royal Holloway, University of London)
Employer	Durham University
Known for	botanist, author, broadcast presenter, environmental campaigner

He was famously parodied by Lenny Henry.

The Bellamy Rap - Three of a Kind Series 1 - YouTube

Due to the number of photos I took, the actual Milford Sound blog is next up, but as it's gone 2300, & I'm at work at 0800, it will have to wait for another day/week/month ~ err, year??

OAO

NZ14:Day 22 ctd.11th Dec~Jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft

Day 22 ctd ~ Dec 11th: I get strapped to a Serbian, & freefall above Lake Wakatipu

Following the instructions to drive down SH6, I missed the NZONE dropzone sign & ended up in a very exclusive looking lakeside estate.
Oops!

Back on SH6 headed north, I found the sign & turned left.

On check-in, I chose the video option, & found out Nic was to operate the camera. She's from NZ, & the current NZONE website blurb says she's had about 10,000 drops. 
Gosh!
Nic is a Tandem Master as well as a skydiving photographer.

The NZOne loo

After a trip to the DropZone loo, Nic took me to get kitted out, & to meet Sasa, the tall Serbian I was to be strapped to. 

His name is pronounced Sasha, btw

Here's a link to him going it alone!

NZONE Skydive's Sasa Jojic Skysurfing over Queenstown ... - YouTube

▶ 1:47

When I googled him, I found a link in a language I don't read, but I saw the name Orlando Bloom, so maybe Sasa took Legolas Greenleaf up for a freefall??
The NZONE website blurb says he's from Yugoslavia (Der? Why have I written Serbian in my notes? Um? He must be from the Serbian bit of old Yugoslavia?)
Skydive Operations Manager Sasa has made over 29,000* skydives and is a double Yugoslavian champion with a record five years on his home country's skydiving team. Sasa looks after daily skydive operations and has been with NZONE since 1998. Sasa is both a Tandem Instructor and XLR8 (AFF) Skydive Training Instructor.
* Golly gosh :-0
I'd watched the briefing video while waiting for my time slot, and I also got the chat about safety, & how to position my arms & legs while strapped to Sasa's chest.
The next step was to put on the togs & tandem harness.
And, as usual, I needed the smallest helmet because I have a child-sized head %\

The parachute packing area

Nic, me & Sasa the Serbian.
Like I said, he was very tall!

I was to have a pre-fall on-camera interview with Nic ~ see vid :-O  
This could've gone better in my opinion ~ I sounded like a total nana, for a start, to say nothing of looking crazy, as I was still a jinja minga!

The aircraft

The fallers file out to the flying machine

I took a few photos for posterity, & Nic took a couple of me before my camera was stashed away. 
I suppose it would never do for an unsuspecting member of the public to get their noggin demolished by a free-falling camera!

We got loaded singly, but attached to our respective Tamden Masters straightaway once we we in. It was a little like sardines in a tin!

Nic took some vid of me sat between Sasa's legs as we ascended to 15,000 feet, & I kept waiting for the adrenaline to kick in.

It was quite a lot of dosh to do the jump, but I figured if I was going to do it, I may as well fall for as long as they allowed. 

From memory it was about 400NZ$ for the furthest free-fall of 60 seconds, & still nearly 300NZ$ for only 25 seconds, so I opted for a big drop.

The pair in front of us got the go-ahead, & dropped out of sight, then pair 2 went.

Then it was us!

Nic climbed out & took up her filming position on the fusilage above the door, & we sat on the edge of the doorway. My butt-cheeks were barely in contact as we waited.

And I still wasn't scared, or even vaguely apprehensive. 

Weird?!

Maybe it was the lack of sleep the night before?

I felt a bit like I did at the Shotover Canyon Swing in 2011. Excited, but not scared.

Anyway, the OK came, & Sasa rocked us out.

There was no sensation of falling at all. Just the wind. But you can get wind like that on a mountain top, so even that wasn't unusual.

However, the view from up there was Amazing!

Nic dropped with us & videoed it. She kept saying something, but I couldn't hear for the wind.

I could've free-fallen a lot longer (but hitting the ground at 200kph would then have been a messy problem :-p )

I remember saying Wow as we left the aircraft, & doing nothing much else for the whole minute of the free-fall, except grin stupidly.

I grinned so long & so wide that my jaw felt frozen as we came into land. It was a bit like that feeling when you schuss a long way on a very cold day in the alps :-)

When Sasa pulled the cord, I suddenly saw how fast we'd been falling as Nic dropped to a little spec in seconds. She was off down to film my landing, so fell for longer to beat us down.

As with sailing down wind, it was pretty quiet once we cut our speed down.

This is what it says on Wiki:

During a normal deployment, a skydiver will generally experience a few seconds of intense deceleration, in the realm of 3 to 4 g, while the parachute slows the descent from 190 km/h (120 mph) to approximately 28 km/h (17 mph).

When I started to write this blog I noticed there was nothing in my notes to say how far we dropped before Sasa pulled the cord, so I E'd NZONE ( that's Enn Zed One, not Enn Zone ) & asked. 

Linde replied, & told me I'd fallen 10,000 feet & the parachute opens at 5,000 feet. That made it sound like the parachute opened on it's own  at that altitude?

As the highest point of the Remarkables is about 7,600 feet, I'd fallen down about a mountain & a half ;-p

At the bottom, Josh from Gloucester took a pic of me & Saca, & we both agreed it was awesomely brilliant :-D

Or brilliantly awesome: take your pick.

The Vid

At some point in the proceedings I found out that Sasa had apparently been jumping for 28 years, & my notes say that was 1/2 as long as I'd been alive at the time.

tbh, he barely looked old enough!   
That's the trouble with getting older: all the policemen (& Tandem Masters) look like teenagers ;-p 
So that was it. I'd certainly do it again, but somewhere else for a different view.
Thanks Sasa & Thanks Nic. Major good fun!

I changed out of the fetching flight suit, visited the loo again, & on the way back to Queenstown called in at the Remarkables Shopping Centre for 3 days worth of food at Nomads.

Back in town, I could park the car on Park St. (apt name ;-p ) as I'd already dropped my bags off, so I found a spot to leave it overnight, & walked down to Nomads with my shopping.

They'd put me in a dorm with 1 girl & 4 guys. 3 of the guys were there when I arrived & they were from Manchester, Pamplona & the US. The other guy & girl weren't about.

Down in the kitchen I cooked 2 of the 'yellow label' burgers I'd bought & pan chipped a potato. This main course was preceded by an avocado, & it was washed down with a Pinot Noir from Ake Ake.

I was having another glass & writing my blog notes when the Manager came up & said it was a 'dry hostel'! I don't remember that from 2009 & 2011??? She took my bottle for when I checked out, but my notes say I planned to get it off her when I have my free day on Saturday. Free being ~ I have nothing particular on the schedule.

I was due to be up for my Milford Sound trip pick-up at 0705, so I had an early night. After last night's very late one, & all the general excitement, I was ready for bed!

OAO

NZ 14:Days 21 & 22-10th & 11th Dec~The Waitaki Valley to Wellington, Hobbits etc.& back to Wellington

Day 21 ~ Dec 10th: Glenmac to Wellington, & the Hobbit party at the Roxy

Where Pete & I had ridden on the last 2 days
~ taken driving along the track from Glenmac

I was up well before 7, had my last breakfast at Glenmac, thanked the lovely Kaye, & set off for the airport at 0716 with 233422 on the clock.
By 8 past 8 I'd done the 65 or so K to Omarama, including a stop to take a pic of some wild goats precariously gramnivorating on a hillside to the left of the SH83.

A goat close up

Any white blobs are probably goats
Respect!

I got some more gas & coffee at the Mobil garage, & took a left onto the SH8 at 0815.
My flight was at 1130, & I was on schedule at Cromwell, turning off the SH8 at 0919 & about 175K.
An hour & another 80K later I arrived at Queenstown, & left my bags at Nomads. 
I had plenty of time as I only had carry-on luggage, so I tried to get some elf ears, & went online at the library to E Alex about his jacket.
Back at the airport, I did the cheap parking option & parked the car (with all the other cheapskates ;-p ) on the roadside ~ the SH6 between Q/town & Invercargill. It would be safe overnight: this is New Zealand we're talking about!

The Hobbit paint job on an AirNZ model

Bilbo over the wing

Thorin & crew forward

I had a brew at the airport, took the photos of the heroes I was to watch that evening, boarded, flew, & landed in the rain.

On the bus into town, I telephoned Faye ~ see NZ 2009 blog, but as it was short notice, she had a friend with her, & it was pouring, we agreed to postpone.
I had a hair appointment at the The Powder Room on Cuba St.: They were going to attempt to make my hair look like Tauriel's! 
The bus dropped me off at the bottom, so I walked with my hood up & the coat over the little ruckie to keep the rain off everything.
I was early, but Emma was ready, so she got stuck in & did what she could with my fine, newly gingered, hair. I held a tablet with a pic of Tauriel's hairdo for her to copy the French plait. Once done she took me upstairs to have my eyebrows tinted & put concealer on the big bite scar between my eyebrows. Thanks to the bites I got in Northland, I had been left with a big red mark.
Emma curled/waved the ends of my hair, but I wasn't hopeful of the waves staying in. My hair's not conducive to being styled! Sadly, & despite LOTS of hairspray, the waves had mostly dropped out by the time I got to the Y on Wakefield. At least I'd managed to find some elf ears on the walk back there. I also bought some hairspray in the hope I could repair the damage done by the rain & wind (I was in Wellington remember ;-p ).
I checked-in & found I was in a 4-bedded dorm on the 6th floor. There were 3 German girls already there when I arrived.
By this time I was pretty hungry, so I walked round to Courtney place & grabbed some fish & chips to take back to the Y. The dining room was heaving with a school trip, but I found a seat & ate them out of the paper. My notes say they weren't the best F&C I'd eaten, but they filled the hole. There was no free tea/coffee, so I ate them with hot water. At >$35 a night, you'd think they could manage free brews?
The party was due to start at 8 at the Roxy out at Miramar, & I'd checked out the bus options back at home. The number 31 from Courtney Place would get me there in 16 min, & having got my Tauriel costume on, I set off early to get the bus just before 7.
It stopped just outside the Roxy, & 2 Japanese in fancy dress also got off. As I was 45 min early, & a lady at the Roxy said they weren't yet ready, I went to a Mexican restaurant just down the road. I had a cider & a brew. 
It was called Boca Loca, & I was in there about an hour.
There was a queue when I went back to the Roxy.

The Roxy queue of hobbits, dwarves, wizards & elves

Statue of Gandalf & me.
Note orange coat~the sleeves became important later!

The foyer at the Roxy cinema w Bilbo et al!
With that hair, it may have been Sam?

There were dwarven style carvings to give the Roxy
the atmospheric feeling of Erebor's interior

Once in, there was a bit of a hoohaa about my lack of a ticket for the film at midnight, but Julie confirmed I'd paid (ages ago!) & I joined the queue for a souvenir photo. It came out like a film strip & had me standing between Gandalf & Bilbo w Gwaihir overhead.

One of the photos was turned into a badge, & when we all left after the film, we also got a goodie-bag & some postcards of characters from the film. The bag contained a piece of film-strip, & my bit was 10 frames of Aragorn talking to Frodo! 

I think it was the bit on Amon Hen.

Cool :-)

Wearing my yellow movie wrist band, I went exploring.

Middle Earth style nosh

A company of dwarves outside the Roxy

I wandered about, eating & drinking (non-alcoholic), & taking some photos of various outfits. There was great one of Thranduil, & the eventual winner was a girl dressed in a dress made of golden discs ~ she called herself The Kingdom of Erebor, & she won the fancy dress competition judged by Richard & Tanya Taylor.

In his speech before announcing the winner, Richard said they had chosen it because of the 'concept' of it rather than just copying the costume of a character. He was very complimentary :-)

The string quartet

Outside there was a marquee on the pavement with more food & drink, & a string quartet playing. There were hardly any people in it which was a shame: the music was lovely.

Aragorn

  Dori & a good shot of Bombur's pate

Inside the foyer there were 3 glass cases with Dori, Nori & Ori's costumes displayed. I don't know if they were the originals, but there's no reason to suppose not, as the Weta Workshop & the Weta Cave were only about a K & a half up the road.

Ori's costume

Dori's costume

Nori's costume

The food was Hobbity ~ cheeses, dried & fresh fruit, nuts, & pies big & small.

The drink was all soft, but in champagne glasses & fizzing gently, it looked the part. There were various things to drink it out of. Mine was a jam-jar wrapped in a piece of jute sacking! I subsequently put a load of sweets in it & brought it home for CRT. I got 3 more jars & filled them with sweets for CRT as well!

The bubbling brew w dry ice to make it 'steam'.
In the bottom right corner there is a small bit of the
skirt from 'The Kingdom of Erebor', & you can just 
about make out her golden shoulder by Aragorn's hand.

There were also oysters, meats, fish,  crusty bread & 6 flavours of ice-cream ~ I had the pecan pie, & the coconut & mango. 
Having eaten my fill (for now :-q ), I used the sleeve of my big orange coat to store my 'takeaways' ;-p
My sleeves looked like orange sausages!
There were Hobbit & LOTR images all over the corridors between the screens, & peeps began sitting in the screen where the film was to be shown Very early on.
I just mingled & meandered, taking photos, eating, drinking a bit more, & chatting to peeps about where they were from.

Bofur & an older Bilbo (presumably from the
end of the film we haven't seen yet?)

Gandalf the White (Um: wrong film) & Balin

Thorin's 'scale double' & me
By this point in the evening there were
no waves left in my hair at all!

At some point in the proceedings I met Thorin's scale-double, Mark Atkin. He's from Sheffield, & my height ~ hence his scale double job. Nice work if you can get it!

I also spoke for a while to an English graphic artist who had a little exhibition in a corner. He'd done some calligraphy & maps for the film, but I didn't catch his name.

More food

Downstairs again, I met Jamie Selkirk, a producer & main editor of the films. He got an Oscar for his editing of The Return of the King.

Jamie Selkirk & me
Reasonable shot of the ears!
Mine, not his ;-p

Later on in the evening, Lawrence Makoare did a musical & comedy spot on the stage with Shane Rangi, but the photos didn't come out well, so got binned.
Lawrence played Bolg in the Hobbit movies, & several parts in LOTR:
~ Lurtz:  Saruman's Uruk Hai commander; 
~ The Witch-King of Angmar:  Given his come-uppance by Eowyn;  & 
~ Gothmog:  Commander of Sauron's ground forces at Minas Tirith. 
Shane was the bald guy with the amazing eye make-up on the Oliphaunt in Return of the King. He got killed by Eomer, & it resulted in mayhem along the line. He was in all 3 Hobbits doing stunts. He's a big bloke!

Me & Shane Rangi

These 2 were pretty accurate, but .  .  .  .

They were really in the wrong film!
Frodo & Sam weren't born when the Hobbit took place

I did get some of Richard Taylor during the presentations (Aragorn ~ see pic above, was one of the lucky recipients), but it was very crowded & the light wasn't great, so they didn't come out well. They hit the cutting room floor, as it were.
Just before 12 they cleared out the cinema, & all those with a wrist-band queued to get a seat. Thinking it was going to be a long movie, I went to the loo, & judiciously snaffled some loo roll (I was bound to cry!) The necessaries done, I was happy to see there was a seat on row 3. The seats were wide & plush: big leather armchair-like seats with 3D glasses waiting for us all.  So I got some pics before everyone put their glasses on.

Gandalf (minus his wig!) & Thorin wait for the Battle

Fili
She/he was sat just in front of me

There was a 'Thank you NZ' film on 1st, & it was a good job I'd got tissues ;-p

Then the main event started:  The Battle Of Five Armies :-D  

It was the last one :-(

It began more or less where the last had ended with Smaug on his way to Lake Town, & as usual, the SFX were great (of course, at that stage I was planning to buy the extended edition so I could see it all!)

There were only a few bits where I noticed the 3D effects, so ~ as with the 5 other PJ Middle earth films, I planned to watch it again at the Odeon at home.

The film was pretty good, but it seemed very short, & at the end everyone stayed in their seats until most of the credits were over.

Once back home, I ordered the extended edition (of course), & I enjoyed that more when it arrived just before Christmas 2015. 

At this point in time (Sept 2016) I feel a mega-Tolkein-watch coming on. Maybe next time I'm not on OT at the weekend, & it's too wet to go out, I'll sit down with my home cooked popcorn (salted!), & watch the lot??

Film over we all piled out again, & as it was at the Roxy ~ & not the Reading in town, as originally planned, I managed to blag my way onto a Red Carpet Tours bus going back to a hotel.

Party-goers exiting the theatre

There'd been a competition & all the winners got a special Hobbit/LOTR location tour of NZ, visits to the studios, & meets with peeps like Peter. They got all their flights, from wherever in the world they lived, & weeks' worth of accom. as a prize. 

See Daily Mail link with vid below about that.  

btw~the vid takes ages to load :-/, but it's quite entertaining :-)

Most of this evening's celebrants had booked the party, film & a couple of day's hotel through Red Carpet Tours, & some were staying in a hotel on Wakefield St, so it was a straightforward walk back to the Y at about 3 in the morning.

On the way back in the coach, I could hear the party-goers discussing their favourite bits. I think Howard Shore's theme for Tauriel & Kili was mine, but it's so beautiful, & such a tear jerker, that even without the visuals, it gets me all weepy.

The film referenced bits from Tolkein's Unfinished Tales etc., which were not in The Hobbit novel, but they helped tie up loose ends, & explain the Gandalf disappearance, & the power of Galadriel. 

Thranduil's reference to Strider when speaking Legolas made me want to read all the other books to see where they dug that from, as Legolas did not seem to know who Strider really was in the Council of Elrond scene in Fellowship???

Having now watched the extended edition, & all the extra bits that come with it, it turns out that Christopher Lee's bits were all filmed in England, as he is now too old to go gallivanting off to NZ for a few minutes of screen time. The SFX were so good, you'd never know, if you didn't know, if you get my gist?

The most sad bits were Tauriel's grief over Kili's death, & Bilbo crying over Thorin's death on the ice (great acting by Martin F), & the most fun bits were in the extended edition ~ Billy Connolly's Dain, & the ice chariot sequence. 

I think I'll watch the extended edition again . . . 

Dropped off at the Red Carpet's hotel, I walked back through a dark & deserted Wellington to the hostel at the end of the road. Wakefield St is about a K long, so it took a few min, but the late nighters I met didn't seem to notice there was an elf among them ;-p
I had a bit of trouble getting in, as my swipe card had switched of at 0200, & it was now 0330, so I had to hang around waiting for one of the late night smokers to go back in.
Upstairs, the card wouldn't work to open the dorm door either, so I had to knock to get in.
Of course, it was pretty dark in the dorm, but I think I managed to get into bed just before 4am, having woken only the one poor German who let me in.
But they got their own back by waking & packing noisily at 0645. Duh!

Back home nearly 2 years later while I was writing this blog, I went looking for The Kingdom Of Erebor, but I couldn't find any images of her, or her very intricate golden costume. 
Shame :-(
You'd've thought someone would've put something on the web, somewhere. 
If they did, despite several searches using a variety of words, I couldn't find anything, so gave up.
If you know better, send me a message.

I did find this pic somewhere, & this article in the Daily Mail about a Hobbit costume party, but I don't think it's the same one???

Hobbit fans spend $65k on elaborate costumes to travel to New ...

Day 22 ~ Dec 11th: Wellington to Queenstown

Like I said, I was woken early by the exiting Germans. My notes say "2 of them were talking in normal voices, and getting off to sleep again didn't really happen".

Although I'd set my alarm for 8, in the end I got up at 0730, packed my 4 jars, & checked out at 0810, having had no breakfast - or a drink :-(

As I had 'carry-on' & only a smallish ruckie, I decided to leave parts of my costume behind (to make room for my jars of Hobbit sweets).

Across the road was a Countdown, so I went there & got stuff to see me until tea time.

As I left, I got a text from Alexis. He was at Nomads, so I'd be able to give him his jacket back.

I was pretty early, so I decided to take the Number 2 to the airport to save a bit of dosh by not taking the Airport Flyer.

The 2 stop was quite a way down Courtney Place, & some 2s were only going to Kilbirnie shops, so I waited about 1/2 an hour until, eventually, a bus for Seatoun came which I knew would take me to the roundabout near the airport. I took that for $5.
While taking buses in Wellington, I noticed how polite all the passengers were. Almost all said Thank You to the driver, & actually sounded like they meant it. 
I noticed the same in March 16, but that's a blog yet to be written!

It's only a few minutes walk from the roundabout to the terminal, but I was ready for my Americano with milk when I got there. They say you should order a flat white in NZ if you just want a milky coffee, but it's never flat, but frothy. 
Yuk!
Near the self-service check-in desks I saw Smaug ~ opening & closing his eyes, so got a couple of pics.

It really needed to be a vid to see the eyes work!
Now he sees you  .  .  .

 Now he don't

Gwaihir, The Wind Lord
Gandalf's aboard as well~see later blogs

Then the flight was called & I got a pic of the 'Middle of Middle Earth' sign on the Terminal building.

I took this while in the queue for boarding

& this from my seat aboard

I was in seat 11D, & got some decentish photos out of the window, as well as some sleep!

The west edge of Lyall Bay with Houghton Bay
& Island Bay beyond.

South Island
It looked better in real life!

A view at some point showing how
dry & sere SI was in December

The Shotover River just before it
joins the Karawau from the NW

The hill under the fuselage is Queenstown Hill, & not the hill known to keen LOTR nerds like me as Deer Park Heights. 
Deer Park Heights ~ named in the LOTR commentaries as the place where several scenes were shot, is known as Peninsula Hill by locals, & was sadly closed to the public before I got there in Dec 2009 on my LOTR Location Odyssey :-(



On landing I called NZOne, & confirmed the event was on.
I got directions ~ it was about 10K south down the SH6, so I walked back to the car & off I went.

This blog was just about the morning of the 11th.
In the afternoon I was to jump out of a perfectly good aircraft, but that's another story!
OAO