Day 9
After another yummy breakfast at the Cathedral Peaks B&B, Janice recommended we go to the Kepler Track bridge before heading out of town. We did and it was worth it. Down a gravel road we came upon a long suspension foot bridge that was across a gorgeous river. At this location, the LOTR’s a fight scene took place here. Janice said they didn’t alter anything in the scene. It was in the first movie I think near the end where they were coming down the river. It was shot thru two trees leaning against each other. I’ll have to watch the movie again, but I think I saw where she was talking about. Anyway, Guy ran on the bridge then shook it back and forth to try and scare me. ☺ It didn’t. It was a really neat place.
We took off down the road and headed back toward Queenstown. We thought we’d make it there about in time for lunch and it worked out perfectly. In the town, the information places will look for hotels for you. We re-booked at the Hermitage again for tonight even tho we had cancelled tonight a few days ago because we thought we were doing the overnight Milford Sound cruise and we wouldn’t be able to make it here in one day. Anyway, we had lunch and ate outside at a café and the food was just so-so, but the view was killer and the weather was perfect, and I mean p-e-r-f-e-c-t. We were so blessed on this trip with weather. After shopping around a bit, we got an icecream and sat in the little park on the rocks and grass next to the crystal clear stream that runs thru the town. After that, we got back in the car and started for Mt. Cook. As we came out of town, we saw this gorgeous blue river with rock cliffs on each side. The water was so gorgeous. Above was a really cool old bridge and low and behold they were bungy jumping from it. So of course we pulled in to watch. They had a viewing area that you could watch all the action from. We saw 4 people jump and they are crazy. They lowered them all the way down and a boat went out to get them. Some people got dunked in the water and others didn’t. I think you had the option. It was really cool and I got some good video I think. This is the location where bungy jumping originated. That is what it said anyway. If so, that is really cool. The nerve of the first guy who dove off that bridge…he must have had a death wish. Anyway, we took off again and as we came around a corner, we could see the traffic backed up. A guy came to our car and said the pass was closed until 2. Well that was only 10 minutes. So like everyone else, we just rolled down the windows, turned off the car and relaxed. Apparently they had some loose rocks above the road and they were trying to clear them off (or so the guy told us). So sure enough, at 2 they had traffic going again. On Friday it is closed for over an hour, so we didn’t know if they were just setting charges or what. Anyway, no rocks fell on our rental, so all was good.
The drive from Queenstown to Mt. Cook was about 3 ½ hours. But you know it really went by so fast because the scenery was so great. The hills and mountains are all so unique and it is always something different. There was not a cloud in the sky and we were thrilled because they say that if clouds are covering the peak of Mt. Cook, you’ll wonder why you drove an hour off the road to see it. As we approached it, the clouds sure enough were covering the peak. No clouds at all on the entire trip until now! (when we flew into Christchurch from Auckland, it was cloudy but you could see just the tip of Mt. Cook peeking thru the clouds) As we drove in, there was this amazing lake that was a blue like I’ve never seen before. It is cloudy and they say it is because all the tiny rocks from the glacier that they call “rock flour” is in it. So we made it to the Hermitage and it is in a beautiful location. Just below Mt. Cook which is the highest mountain in New Zealand. The sky was clearing so I had my camera ready. I sat in our room, which has a view of it and waited for the right moment. Well it came, but I shouldn’t have hurried because it stayed all night! ☺ When we had dinner we had a perfect view of the peak. Dinner was really good. I had the 6 course special where you get to try a little sample of lots of things. So I had a first course of scallops (there were two) with some sort of crème brulee something that wasn’t a dessert, but was still sweetish. I have no idea what it was. Then I had a little bowl of Pumpkin and vanilla soup, then a seafood risotto with scallops, fish, shrimp and muscles. After that came the lemon/orange sorbet “to clear our palates of course) then the entrée which was duck breast in a wonderful sauce, potatoes and poached pears. By this time I was having trouble sitting up because my stomach was no cooperating today and I had felt it coming on about 2 hours earlier in the car, so I came back to the room so I could lay down while Guy finished up and he brought me my dessert to the room that came along with the meal. It was some kind of banana tart and banana icecream.
Tomorrow we have the alarm set for 7am. If the weather is good we are going to take a bus ride closer to Mt. Cook, then a 30 minute walk, then a boat ride out to see the glaciers. They are small boats and you pass chunks of floating glacier ice cubes. ☺ I talked to a woman today that had gone on it and said it was spectacular. Her husband said it was so interesting because the guide explains everything. Should be a great time. She said he does get kinda close to a waterfall and you get wet, but you are given a raincoat type thing to wear. We’ll see what the weather man says in the morning….