A post from Akhil... I'm reading a sign by this computer. It says: "Online discounts for: Bungy, parasailing, skydiving, rafting, 4 wheel driving, jetboating, guided walks". I could add "hiking, biking, camping, tramping, rocket bungy, fly-by-wire, spelunking, kayaking, and beaming yourself to other planets." Ok, so there's lots to do, though I just enjoy the hikes and scenery.

Last night we ate at the Pig and Whistle and I had the greatest burger. The secret seems to be sliced cabbage and beets. Or beetroot as they call it. I wouldn't have thought this would have tasted so good. And then of course bacon - that doesn't hurt. The bacon here tastes a bit more like ham than our bacon does. On this burger, very good. I could talk about food more (maybe the advantages of the New Zealand "flat white" later. For now here's a pic of one from a cafe in Plimmerton. Mmmmm!!!)



Today, after having the stones removed from the brakes of our rental car, (more perhaps on how they pave roads here later, but suffice to say, a great many little stones are involved) we visited some of the film shoot locations for the Lord of the Rings movies. These movies are great, but folks here are unbelievably excited about them. It's a whole new industry here unto itself. Air New Zealand is painting their planes with murals of Liv Tyler, etc. On a hill near Queenstown is a place called Deer Park Heights, where many scences were filmed. (Aragorn fighting wargs, the women and children of Rohan fleeing their kingdom). It was windy something fierce up there - maybe 50 mph? Not exaggerating - hard to stand. Certainly hard to take photos. Or to keep Shannon from flying away. It was obvious that the scenes were filmed there. Strangely, there were also many animals there. Deer, red deer, pig/warthog things in serious need of dental work, highland cattle, goats, himalayan thars (whatever the heck those are), donkeys, ponies and sheep. Of course sheep. There are sheep everywhere (have I mentioned that?) And they were semi-tame and expecting to be fed. Normally, the sheep are, well, sheepish and run away, even from Shannon who seems friendly enough. (Don't ask how we know this). But these sheep ran towards us expecting to be fed. Finally, there's a fake (Korean?) prison built on the top of the hill. It was built for a Disney movie (Rescue) in the '80's. For some reason, they never took it down. So there it sits, a fake prison on the hill. Anyways, a very other-worldly location.