Most of the group went on a helicopter ride today, leaving Dena and I to do some shopping. We picked up some souvenirs and scratched our heads at how the economy here is different. For goods produced here, the price seems to be fairly comparable to back home. For imported goods, however, there can be a wide difference which I can’t completely wrap my mind around. Products that have to be imported from the US, for example, would, should, and do cost more. There are more costs involved in getting those products to market. When the product is being imported from Asia, however, I would expect lower prices, not more, since there is a considerably shorter distance to transport them. “Personal entertainment”, such as books, Cds and DVDs were the most shocking. They seem to, on average, cost at least twice as much here. I couldn’t imagine paying more than I would pay at home for a nice hardcover book for a paperback here.

As we were waking up at the Blue Seas Motel this morning we first heard the news about the capture of Saddam Hussein. It was interesting to see the locals take on the news. It managed a front-page blurb in one of the newspapers, but just barely. It was a short, single column on the bottom of the page.

We made our way up to the port city of Nelson, our final stop on the south island. Another long drive on twisted, narrow mountain roads. We enjoyed the scenery of the ocean along the way. I even spotted two seals sunbathing.

Once we checked in to our rooms in Nelson, we took a walk to the city centre and took a look around. Some of us went off to check email while others, including myself, just looked for a place to eat. Nelson seems to have less of a touristy feel to it than other cities here. Maybe I’m spoiled by how open everything was in Queenstown, but it seemed like most shops in Nelson shut down around five in the evening.

We ended up at an Italian bar/grill place named after some kind of scooter. Afterwards we headed back to the motel, played with the resident cat (some strange mix of Siamese and something that sounded like cougar) and watched Pirates of the Caribbean on the Powerbook. Excitement abound.

The original plan was that half of the group would leave at the crack of dawn to go on a hot air balloon. I wasn’t up for floating through the air with naught but a weaved basket below my feet, but I was going to ride along anyway, to assist the logistics of balancing between two cars. Luckily those plans were washed out (literally) in a steady rain and gusty wind.

With those plans canceled, we started our drive towards Kaikoura. Our final destination wouldn’t be our only one this day. Around lunchtime we stopped in Christchurch, which is a much larger city than I had expected. I may be wrong, but it looked much bigger than Queenstown or any other south island city we’d seen to date. We stopped at a theatre (the name escapes me now) and watched the Two Towers: Extended Edition. With that we have now seen the extended editions of the first two films on the big screen.

Afterwards we continued our drive to Kaikoura, though not as uneventful as we’d have hoped. Somewhere along the way, perhaps halfway to our destination, the lead car in our party braked hard and pulled to the side of the road. It seems a goodly sized rock was propelled off of a passing truck and had its way with the passenger side window. It didn’t actually enter the car but it did a good job of trying. That small hole and spiderweb of cracks delayed us for about an hour as calls were made to Budget rent-a-car to find out what to do. Whoever we had on the phone didn’t know what to do either, besides tell us to call back in the morning. We shifted passengers around so no one had to sit in front of the shattered glass and finished our drive.

The scenery along the way was very lovely. We passed several wineries, including one that we ended up buying wine of from the duty-free shop. In the end we were just relieved to get to Kaikoura. The Blue Seas Motel is set across the street from the Pacific Ocean. It was quiet, clean, and spacious, something we couldn’t count on at some of our previous stops. We settled in for a nice evening of order-out pizza, one of which even tasted like something from home, and some TV.

We left early today and made the longest drive of our trip, some 450km to Mount Potts. Supposedly our lodging for the night was going to be one of the fancier stays of our vacation but I found it lacking. There’s something to say about going on trips with a group and not all of them are good.

We arrived at Mt. Potts Backcountry Lodge in the late afternoon and it became quickly apparent that our expectations had been deceived. Our room, which was supposed to be a double, contained two single beds. The beds themselves were little more than lumpy bits of material that had once been fluffy played on top of a pine board. The door to the room didn’t even lock. We were in the middle of nowhere, but it’s still comforting to have that slight protection against intrusion and/or interruption. There were four units attached, ending with a shared bathroom. Six people sharing one bathroom and a single roll of toilet paper. Not my idea of fancy.

The Lodge that lends itself to the establishment’s name was a bit better. Old but comfortable couches and chairs settled around the open layout and a pool table in the corner. They even had a room for Internet and Email. Unsurprisingly that consisted of an ancient computer and an even more ancient connection. It was enough to check email, but just barely.

The food for our stay was provided – a blessing considering that the nearest store lay some forty minutes away by windy gravel road.

After we settled in, we drove down the road a bit more and saw one of the more apparent filming locations – the horse lord city of Edoras. We hopped the gate of a sheep farm and walked along another gravel road to get a better look at this mound.

Unfortunately there were just too many angry looking cows and streams in our way to get to the top of Edoras. We were also running out of time weather-wise. A fog was moving in, bringing a light rain with it. After the long day of driving, none of us particularly cared to get wet, especially given our sparse accommodations.

Our last day in Queenstown and Dena and I had it all to ourselves. We spent the day walking around town, taking in the sights and doing some Christmas shopping. It was good to have a day to ourselves. The victory of the day was when we found the Dart River Safaris office a mile or so from the hotel. I had overheard it mentioned when we were waiting for our boat yesterday. Their Queenstown office carries the full line of Sideshow/Weta products. Sideshow/Weta produces a number of limited edition collectors pieces. The highlight was a statue of Bilbo’s Stone Trolls from the Hobbit. That piece was too rich for our blood. Instead, we picked up a few smaller pieces. For me, the Arms of Gimli – a plaque featuring all of Gimli’s axes, and a small reproduction of his helm. Dena bought the Arms of the Hobbits – another plaque, this one featuring Sting and Samwise Gamgee’s frying pan. We’ve got a wall in the library decorated with fantasy pieces where these will fit just nicely.

We set out this morning to visit more location sites. We headed to Glenorchy, a 60km drive through the mountains surrounding Queenstown. Along the way we stopped at Twelve Mile Delta (Ithilien Camp).

After a quick bite of lunch we split into two groups – some going horseback riding while the rest of us went to Dart River Safari and prepared for our jet boat ride. Armed with raincoats and life preservers we went out on the Dart River, seeing some of the backdrops used in the film. Somewhere in the area crews were out filming The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I’m looking forward to that movie as much as any other in recent memory. Also, we learned that the recently released movie, The Last Samurai, was also filmed on the South Island.

The jet boat took us halfway to our destination. We were dropped off on shore along the river, where we had a short twenty-minute hike to a 4wd bus that was waiting to take us through the mountains and back to town. Once in Glenorchy, we piled into the car and drove back to the hotel and crashed for the night.

Today is a little more of a relaxed day. We boarded a small plane in Hamilton this morning for the 25 minute flight north to Auckland and now we’re on our way to Queenstown, on the south island. I’m just now catching up on my journal. The last two days have been rather difficult because of this epic battle of microscopic proportions taking place in my lower intestine and the migraine that decided to join in on the fun. Luckily the worst is now past.

Today is the eighth day of our vacation. The time has gone fairly quickly so far, considering we’ve stayed at five different places, flown over 15,000 miles and driven more than 500km. It doesn’t seem like our trip is nearly half over.

We’ll be in Queenstown for four nights. It will be nice to be in one place for a few days again. We need to do laundry and shopping, and I need to finish my postcards. We should have a bit of time to ourselves this week to finish things up.

Tonight we’re heading to a Maori concert and feast, which should be quite interesting. I love experiencing different cultures. It helps to broaden ones view of the world. As many things as I find different here, I find just as many that are similar. We may all be of different races, creeds or cultures but on the grander scale we’re a part of the same family.