Today we leave Franz Josef behind. Like so many other places Carmen and I have visited and only at that particular location for one day (and that day was overcast), the next morning usually has better weather - fair and much clearer. Well, the weather here at Franz Josef Glacier is no different. Yesterday, when we got to the glacier the fog bank was descending on the glacier and it was getting very difficult to see and even more difficult to focus a camera. This morning you could see the glacier from the road. Go figure.We are continuing to head south today with Queenstown as our destination. The area we are passing through between here and Haast is rain forest and the weather is living up to it's name sake. We pass back and forth through winding roads with views of the mountains on our left and occasionally views of the ocean on our right.
We make it to Haast where those that want to are taking a jet boat up the river; it is only a one-way trip and we will meet the bus further upstream along the river. The minute we get outside of the bus we are inundated by black flies. Everyone is quickly putting on insect repellent and trying to either go to the bathroom or pay for the jet boat ride. For those that are not going on the jet boat, they will stay in the bus and follow the river by road (we actually see the bus a couple of times along the route, in the beginning the bus goes over the bridge we go under).
We get on the boat, put on our life vests and when everyone is on board, shove off (actually, the driver of the jet boat just pulls back). The jet boat gets up to some pretty good speed and at times it literally is in just inches of water. We stop, in the water, at a couple of waterfalls to get better pictures and allows the driver/guide to tell us more about the river and area.
Apparently there is great fishing for Salmon in this river with sizes ranging up to around 24 pounds. (Not sure if this was a fish story or not, but it seems not to many people fish here. As the driver/guide said, if you see someone, its time to pack up and go somewheres else.) 
We also stop on one section of the river bank. Did I say stop, what I really meant was drive up onto the bank. The rocks here are neat; many are flat, thin, and you can sail them skipping along the water. It is a great ride and the scenery is beautiful. 
We continue our trip up stream and all to soon we reach our destination. We let a couple of people off the boat because they do not want to do a 360 degree spin. Because Carmen is concerned that the spin will cause her sea sickness to flare up (the bus ride is already pretty weavey because of the roads), she is also one of those that gets off the boat. I stayed on the boat and went for a spin with everyone else. After dropping off the people that do not want to do the spin we head back down the river we just came up. We do a spin right away, head down river again at breath taking speeds, do another spin, and then return to our first spin site and do another. We did three spins and they are pretty great. First you have g-force going one way, then the other. I'm up front so it is difficult to get a picture of the spin, especially with a still camera. A video camera would work better, but you do with what you have. I put the camera to take repeated shots and just trip the trigger. All I can say is fantastic.
We get off the jet boat and get back on the bus and continue our journey to Queenstown. We pass the mountain range from the west side of South Island to the East side of the mountains. Again great scenery.
We follow and pass a couple of lakes and make our way through Cromswell and onto Arrowtown a few miles outside of Queenstown.
On the way from Cromwell to Arrowtown, we drive along the Kawarau Gorge and river. This is the site where the fellowship rowed their boats along the river with the cliff sides and then between the Pillars of the Kings. 
There is also a bungee jump here, but we do not have the time to make a jump. Rick, the rapids in this here are proported to be class 6 and they do not let boats go down the rapids; kayaks yes, boats no.Next we stop in Arrowtown, an old small gold mining town.
The Arrow River runs through the town and this is the LOTR film location used as the site for where Frodo was brought across the Ford of Bruinen (in the book by Glorfindel) before the Nazgul caught them. Of course, it is difficult to pin point the exact location, but it is still neat to see where it might have been filmed. You can actually buy a book that has the film locations and descriptions about the filming. The locations are given as coordinates, neat.Queenstown is on a very large lake, in the shape of a "Z". Along this lake and just outside of Queenstown are many of the film locations. The Remarkables where used for Dimril Dale. The town of Closeburn was used for Amon Hen and further along the road the Twelve Mile Delta was used for the filming of the Ithilien Camp. The west end of the lake was used for Paradise Isengard, the golden woods of Lothlorien (on the Dart River), and Amon Hen. The Shotover river (during flooding) in the Skippers Canyon was also used for the Ford of Bruinen.
We get to Queenstown late in the afternoon and go out to get something quick to eat. Other than that it has been a long day. The scenery today has been fantastic and changing every 50 - 100 kilometers (you'll have to figure how many miles that is yourself). The day has really been pretty good.
Until later.
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