New Zealand: Day 30

Gold rule

February 1, 2013

Cue U2's "Beautiful Day". It is a beautiful day. The sky is once again a brilliant blue, with almost no clouds but for a few high altitude cirrocumulus and cirrus. Temperatures are still very warm, definitely in the 80s. I later heard that it had exceeded 90 degrees F again today. If I get this frazzled over a modest "heat wave" in New Zealand, how am I going to manage the grueling Mississippi summers? I had better build up my tolerance levels quickly.

I must now give kudos to Gary Tate, the owner and operator of the Minaret Lodge in Wanaka where I spent the night on Day 26 and Day 27, as well as the person who put together this comprehensive Rings Trail South self-drive tour I have been following for the past several days since the coach tour ended. All you have to do is tell Gary when you want to start the tour and pay him directly, and he makes all of the bookings with the various B&Bs and the LotR tour operators. It's your responsibility to obtain a vehicle and make your way from town to town.

When I originally made my plans for this trip, Gary sent me a preliminary itinerary stating that the final tour would end on this coming Sunday at 1:00pm in Queenstown. Based on that information, I made a reservation to fly from Queenstown to Auckland at 2:30 pm to catch my 7:15 pm flight from Auckland to Los Angeles. Then when I received my finalized itinerary, the details on that last tour had been altered slightly, but significantly: it was now set to end at "about" 1:30 pm. What did "about 1:30" mean? 1:25? 1:40? I started worrying. I intended to ask Gary about this dilemma while I was staying at the Minaret Lodge, but it kept slipping my mind. I was considering skipping that last tour, much as I hated to do so.

So yesterday, I asked John, my host for the night on Day 28 and Day 29, what he thought I should do. He thought we should get in touch with Gary for advice, and he offered to contact Gary while I was on my all-day trip to Doubtful Sound. By the time I returned from Doubtful Sound, the dilemma had been resolved, and in a most satisfactory way. Today's original itinerary called for me to do nothing other than make a two-hour drive from Te Anau to Queenstown. Gary arranged to move Sunday morning's tour to this afternoon, and all I had to do was make sure to get up at a reasonable hour so I could be in Queenstown by 1:30. With this rearrangement, I would have nothing to do on Sunday but get myself to the airport and head back home. Yay! Dilemma resolved, and I wouldn't have to miss anything! No more worrying! Thank you, Gary!

But I had a few things to take care of before 1:30, so I needed to leave Te Anau around 8:30 am in order to make sure everything was covered. For one thing, I had to return the rental car. I also had plans to visit a winery not far from Queenstown to get a bottle or two of that delicious Amisfield Sauvignon Blanc. Amazingly, the GPS unit even knew about the Amisfield winery, but it actually ended up causing confusion. I was directly across the street from the winery, and the GPS unit should have said something like "arriving at destination". Instead, it told me to turn around and backtrack. I did, and it told me to turn around and backtrack again! WTF? Then I saw the sign right on the corner of the highway in the shade of the trees.

I went into the winery and right into the tasting area; I knew exactly what I wanted, so I didn't need to do a tasting. Except ... the 2011 Sauvignon Blanc, listed on the tasting menu as "Liquid Gold" (an apt name), was not available, not in any quantity. It had been a very popular vintage, and it was no longer being offered at tastings. I asked what my options were, if I could perhaps purchase the wine at a liquor store in Queenstown. The fellow behind the counter agreed that was my best option. But my dismay was so apparent to him (I believe I actually was whimpering because I was so disappointed) he decided to have pity on me. He said, "Let me see what I can do."

He went into the rear of the cellar area, and I heard him moving boxes around for about ten minutes. No exaggeration. He then returned with The Very Last Case of Liquid Gold. He told me they were making more, of course. "It's in the water now," he said. But I had to buy the entire case; he was unwilling to break it up. So I did; I bought a case of the best Sauvignon Blanc I had found in New Zealand, and I had sampled many. Of course I'm not carrying it with me on the plane; it's being shipped home for a handsome fee, and I should receive it some time in February. And so, my friends and readers, now you have a reason to come to Mississippi and visit me, now you have to be nice to me, and I will share some of my Liquid Gold with you. You will find it worth the effort.

Absolutely delighted with my success, I continued on into Queenstown towards my last lodgings for this New Zealand trip. When I arrived, I told the staff I knew I was early and I simply wanted to leave my bags while I returned the rental car. However, Gary Tate already had told them I would be early, and they had a room ready for me, another Room With a View, a room with a commanding view of The Remarkables and Lake Wakatipu. I could enjoy the view for only a moment because I needed to get to the airport and finish my business with the rental car. I filled that tank one last time (thinking of all the Americans who screeched at having to pay $4 a gallon for gasoline, while New Zealanders and most of the rest of the world routinely paid in excess of $9 a gallon), and prayed that my good fortune would hold out for those last few blocks to the rental car return, that I would not have an accident. Success! I had managed to drive "on the wrong side of the road" for a week without having an accident. I did persist in habitually moving towards the left side of the car to get into the driver's seat, but I managed. It's not something I'd care to try to do again any time soon.

I took a taxi back to the B&B and had an entire half hour to spare! I used it to get online and post one of my overdue travel journal entries. Then a guide with Nomad Safaris picked me up, we picked some other folks up, and we headed towards Glenorchy and Mount Aspiring National Park where a fair number of scenes from LotR had been filmed. I've mentioned The Remarkables several times; today I learned that Peter Jackson had used them numerous times in the LotR. They were the snow-covered Misty Mountains seen in the background of the scene of the transit from Edoras to Helm's Deep. They were the Shadow Range Gandalf saw as he looked towards Mordor in his trip to see Saruman after he realized Frodo might have in his possession the One Ring. And they were seen again in the attack of the wargs.

Funny anecdote: an earlier visitor asked our guide if the wargs were indigenous to New Zealand! Our guide stifled his laughter and said that they were a special breed of hyenas that had been imported and bred for viciousness. He then told the visitor the wargs were just a CGI creation. In fact, when the scenes were being filmed, the wargs were represented by workers running around with large balls attached to the ends of sticks. The actors were directed to look very terrified whenever they saw these balls on sticks. It was only when the film was released did they learn what the balls represented. Indigenous species indeed!

We went to the location representing Ithilien where Frodo and Sam saw olyphants for the first time, and the two were then captured by the Rangers. We passed by the setting of the Dead Marshes, which didn't look very threatening in the bright sunshine. I have mentioned Mount Aspiring before (Day 27), but it wasn't until today that I learned Mount Aspiring was used for the snow scenes in The Fellowship of the Ring.

Upper Lake Wakatipu
Upper Lake Wakatipu

We sat in the woods used for Lothlorien, drank hot chocolate and swatted obnoxious sand flies (they bite hard).

Lothlorien Woods
"Lothlorien Woods"

Finally, we reached the mountain range used for the backdrop of Isengard. Speaking of Isengard, I also learned another interesting bit of gossip about casting today. Christopher Lee had expressed interest in playing Gandalf, and he was disappointed when he was not chosen. In Peter Jackson's biography, which has been released recently, he said Christopher Lee looked too frightening, and he wanted Gandalf to be a character children would want to run towards rather than away from. Yes, it was a beautiful day!

Towards Isengard
As we approached the setting for the Dead Marshes,
we saw mysterious forces causing dust to rise and swirl

Our final stop for the day was at Twelve Mile Delta, which was the site used as the setting for Ithilien, where Frodo and Sam first saw an olyphant and were subsequently captured by the Rangers. This photo shows the exact location where Frodo and Sam were lying when they were captured:

Othlilien
Site in "Ithilien" where Frodo and Sam first saw an olyphant

Dusk was approaching as we finished exploring "Ithilien" so our guide returned us to our lodgings, and it was time for dinner. I'm a really lousy vegetarian. Every now and then I get a craving for a burger. I view this as my body trying to tell me it has an unmet nutritional need, and I have learned to respond to these cues. You may call it a gross rationalization if you want, but I do like a burger from time to time!

There's a burger place on Queenstown's main strip called Fergburger that always has a queue. It's open 23 hours a day (its liquor license requires it to close for one hour each day), and it always, always, always has a line of people waiting for a Fergburger! A book recently has been published titled Where Chefs Eat featuring top restaurants around the world that chefs themselves identify as best places to eat. Fergburger is listed. So I decided to have a Fergburger for dinner tonight. It was pretty good (but messy), but it still doesn't meet the standard of my favorite place to get a burger: Bullshead Restaurant in San Francisco. This restaurant uses Angus ground sirloin in its burgers, and I think that's what makes them exceptional. Sorry, Fergburger!

Gold rule

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Last revised: August 27, 2015.

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