April 13, 2009

Nerdland (Queenstown, NZ)

Apparently they filmed a movie in New Zealand. A trilogy to be exact. I’m not a big fan of the fantasy movies, but it’s so big here that I have to talk about them. Ain’t gonna name them though!

They sell maps that tell you which location they filmed what scene in, you see signs here and there on the road, and inevitably you’ll stand in front of a beautiful landscape, and you’ll hear another tourist tell his friend “oh, this is where the dragon kicked the dwarf in the nuts, remember?”.

I have to admit, the scenery often looks unreal here, it’s the perfect location to shoot movies in. I am actually going to sit and waste three times three hours of my life watching the movies, just because I’m curious now.

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One highly popular place in New Zealand is Milford Sound. If like me you wonder what a “sound” is, this is the definition someone gave me: “it’s like a fjord, but different, although Milford Sound is actually a fjord and should have been named Milford Fjord instead of Milford Sound.” So now we know… Regardless, it was amazing.

The last landmark place I visited here was the Abel Tasman Nat’l Park, and I thought it was a bit overrated. Nice place, for sure, but definitely not the best spot in the country. So I didn’t built too much hope for Milford Sound.

Despite all the rain (7 meters per year, 220 days of rain), it’s an amazing location. The boat ride in the sound (that’s actually a fjord) is great, but just the drive there is worth it. And I’m not just saying that because you drive through a mountain in a tunnel named the Homer Tunnel.

I’ll write more when it’ll be the time to put that book together, right now, I’m aiming at going back to a little village called Wanaka, the place that had the barn theatre.

As far as pictures go, click on them to view them in a bigger size, the time format in which they appear doesn’t do justice.

In no particular order:

Hikers crossing swing-bridge in Mt-Cook Nat’l Park
Deer knowing hunting isn’t allowed, near Queenstown
Two photos in Milford Sound and one on the way back from there





4 comments:

  1. nice places
    but, did you kicked a dwarf in the nuts ?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah! ce ton 'tongue in cheek' dans les textes... Je t'aurais entendu dire "It sounds pretty much like a fjord"!

    Au fait, comment dit-on des pieds de vent (les rayons qui sortent des nuages) en anglais?

    Le "dwarf nuts kicking" serait une bonne variante kiwi du rugby; il suffirait d'un peu de marketing!

    V.V.

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  3. what's a dwarf?? Bravo toujours aussi magnifiques et intenses tes photos!
    Bon visionnement des films L.O.T.R. Essaye pas les versions longues tu vas t'endormir.....
    Véro

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  4. man I vote for this one. The sun rays on the lake makes it so AWESOME!

    Armando

    ReplyDelete