south south island

Greetings from Millwood resort, located near Queenstown, New Zealand! In the last few days we have seen amazing scenery in this region known as the southern Alps! Yesterday we cruised on Milford Sound which is very much like a pristine fjord! Very steep sides on the surrounding mountains, too many waterfalls to count, penguins, fur seals...it goes on and on. We have had beautiful weather - a lot of rain just before we arrived and a storm coming in this evening - but no rain on our cruise or today on our jet boat river excursion.

The jet boat trip was into Hobbit country. Peter Jackson filmed most of the Lord of the Rings trilogy here, as most of you know. We have driven through Hobbiton on the north island but most of the filming was done in the area of the Dart river, where we went today. In fact, today was the first day of actual shooting on "The Hobbit" and we saw the set from both the boat and the bus ride back. Very exciting! We also saw the forest with the trees that were the inspiration for the walking/talking variety in the film! And the mountains of Mordor were pointed out to us in the distance!

New Zealand is so beautiful - so many spaces that have not been despoiled by humans, although they do have some important environment issues to deal with. This place looks a lot more like home than any other we have been to on this trip. So green, so much water, so hilly.

We can hardly believe that we have only a little more than a week to go on this adventure! We have seen so much - deserts, rainforests, ocean reefs, snow capped mountains, small towns and huge cities, and spaces where no one lives at all. Maoris and Aboriginees, Europeans and Asians, and Americans.

I will try to do at least one more blog entry, so keep checking this site! I am unable to upload pictures at this time, but I will try later!