Glenorchy  is a small settlement at the northern end of Lake Wakatipu.  The local scenery was used as one of the settings in the first of Peter Jackson’s “The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001), the first film in his Lord of the Rings series. Lothlórien, Orthanc, and the scene where Boromir was slain and leant […]

The jewel location of our trip to New Zealand was a cruise tour of the UNESCO World Heritage site , Milford Sound . It is located on the southwest of South Island in Fiordland National Park . The 16 kilometer length from the head of the fiord to the open sea is lined with sheer rock faces that […]

Jayne and I spent many hours on the tour bus seeing a lot of the New Zealand countryside. The following images were taken on the road to the town of Franz Josef . This was taken from a river cruise  near Franz Josef. Boy, did we have fun on this cruise! You can view a quick […]

The prettiest city we visited was Queenstown . The town is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long thin Z-shaped lake formed by glacial processes, and has views of nearby mountains such as The Remarkables, Cecil Peak, Walter Peak and just above the town, Ben Lomond and Queenstown Hill. Water and […]

Tongariro National Park  is the oldest national park in New Zealand, located in the central North Island. It has been acknowledged by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site  of mixed cultural and natural values. The park  was the fourth national park established in the world. The active volcanic mountains Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom!), and Tongariro […]