The last few days in Queenstown

The Lord of the Rings tour was pretty cool. We saw lots of places where scenes were shot and it's amazing how much was re-used and altered. Many scenes from the movies used pieces of scenery from one area, added to another and then had digitally added bits and pieces. A lot of the scenery was flipped so they could use the same area more than once and also to give the impression of a long journey. Apparently that also meant the actors had to often use their other hand to hold swords, axes, bows etc (so use their left hand if they're right-handed etc). It was all quite interesting.

Part of the tour was a bit of a trek through the snow on top of this mountain. Some of the snow came halfway up to my knee so the new boots I bought were very handy! Got some great scenery shots though.

Yesterday J and I went skiing again. We went to Coronet Peak again, instead of Cardrona. Some of the other guys went to Cardrona and said for the long drive to get there it wasn't really worth it. Mind you a lot of them are snow-boarding rather than skiing and it sounds like Cardrona is more suited for skiiers (though for us it doesn't matter since we'd only use the beginner slopes anyway). So we went to Coronet Peak again and J and I went up and down the beginner areas using the carpet ride. So much easier than trekking up the hill on your own and skiing back down.

I crashed into a few people but got better as the day went on. A couple of collisions weren't really my fault at least. One of them was with a girl who got off the carpet ride and just stopped to pick up snow. At the end of the carpet, there's really a bit of a deep sort of trail (from so many people coming off the end) so I wasn't physically able to just go around her. The guys running the carpet kept telling people to make sure they moved away so I figure it happened a lot.

Main thing is - I didn't get hurt and I didn't hurt anyone either (beginners all go pretty slow so crashes almost seem graceful!).

Last night we had dinner in the Skyline Gondola restaurant. Buffet and the food was amazing! The views over Queenstown were great too.

Today is our last day here and it's raining. Plus J's caught a cold. Time for a relaxing day I think. We're thinking of going to a spa in town and have a half hour in a floatation tank and then a massage. We still have a ski pass we can use and this is one of the places we can hand it in to. Hopefully they'll have an open spot for us.