2 weeks in...

Okay, found another spare few minutes to pop in and update.Monday 22nd November continued:After the internet cafe, we hit the shops. Yes mum, I have spent far too much and bought far too many things! Then we decided to head for the gondola. Some fat old man got in our car which didn't impress us as he blocked the view! Once up the top we had a look round and took photos then it was onto the chair lift up to the luge! That was fantastic! Absolutely hilarious! We had to have three goes as it was so much fun. The third time I went reeeeeally fast! Then it was back down the gondola - an old couple tried to get in with us, but we blocked their way! Ha! Then it was back to the van and off to Deer Park Heights. They filmed quite a bit of LOTR round there - got to see the locations where Aragorn gets dragged over the cliff (stood on the bit of rock!), the area the Rohan people walk on their way to Helms Deep, where the wargs attacked, the hill where Legolas stood and shot at them - cue silly Legolas poses all round! For the non-LOTR fans, Deer Park Heights is also a great place to see a fantastic view of Queenstown. After Arrowtown we drove and drove and drove. And so too did the rain. We decided to go to Milford Sound. To get there, the road is long. And winding. And you have to drive through a mountain. Freaky! (Edit here!) We didn't go to Arrowtown! D'oh! We drove to Te Anau, were going to stay but then we decided to head on down to Milford Sound. We got there late, parked up and slept. It rained all night.Tuesday 23rd November:Still raining. Experienced my first earthquake! The van was shaking like mad! Don't think we saw Milford Sound in it's best light. Back on the road. Had to wait at the mountain tunnel for a while, sat by the lights, still raining. Finally went through the mountain and came out on the other side to heavy snow! It was really weird! (Another edit!) We actually went to Arrowtown on Tuesday! That was when we jumped across the river to find the Nazgul spot and wandered around to find the place where Isildur met his end! Then we headed for Haast. Wednesday 24th November:Drove to the Fox Glacier first. Got out, walked down to the face and had a gander. Very impressive. Big ice block. Then we went into the township for shopping before heading on to the Franz Josef Glacier. We did the little woodland walk up to a great viewing point. All round here was where they filmed the lighting of the beacons. Wow! Very cool. Then it was into that township for more shopping. Then it was back in the car and we headed for somewhere I can't remember the name of! Had lunch there then drove further up to the place that Sandro recommended - sorry, very tired, brain mush, can't remember names at the moment. It's the place that has the blowholes and pancake rocks. It's really lovely round there and apparently very impressive in a storm. Forgot to mention, it did stop raining by the time we got to the Fox Glacier and was beautiful by the time we got to the pancake rocks. Then we drove along to Arthur's Pass and beyond and stopped in Springfield for the night - no sign of the Simpsons. Thursday 25th November:Had a bit of a lie in this morning, got up at 9.30am. Sorted the van out and headed back to Christchurch. We decided to pop into the Antartica Centre - that is fab! Went on the Haaglund ride - fantastic! Then had a wander round the centre. There is a room that has real snow, that they keep at -5 and they generate storm conditions in there. They give you a jacket as it's sooooooooooo cold! Played around in there for a bit, having a go on the ice slide and such. We spent a couple of hours there and then headed back to the van depot as we were going to return the van that night as we had an early pick up the next day, but instead the very nice man sorted out the paperwork and we packed and he told us to drop it back at 8am the next day. So, we parked up in a nearby holiday park. The weather was looking a bit grey, so we had dinner, shopped and then went to the cinema to see National Treasure - which was great! When we left the cinema it was pouring, so we asked a security guard if he knew a taxi number. He found one and then tried to call them on his mobile for us. But he overheard the guy next to him ordering a taxi so he got him to order two. We stood outside in the cold for 10 minutes waiting for the taxi, no sign. The rain stopped so we walked back. Not liking Christchurch a whole lot!Friday 26th November:Up at 7am this morning. Took the van back and headed over to the Russely Hotel to wait for our tour guide to pick us up. The van turned up at about 9.30am. Our guide for the day was the very lovely Mark. There were four other people on the tour, a german couple and a Japanese couple. We drove across the plains, up to Mt. Somers. Stopped a couple of times for photos. Finally got to Mt.Potts about lunch time. Got out of the van for our first look at Edoras. Wow! So very very impressive! Then it was a bit of 4 wheeling over the land (and water) and up Mt. Sunday. We climbed the last bit and stood right where the Golden Hall had been. Mark pointed out where all the different buildings had been, and where Aragorn had sat on his horse when he was looking at Helms Deep and where Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli had ridden up and where Gandalf had ridden off with Pippin. Lots of photos were taken. Then it was back to the lodge for a champagne lunch - Yum! Then we drove back to Christchurch. Finally got back about 5pm. Then it was a quick rest in the hotel before heading here - the city centre. Going to have a wander round before heading back for an earlyish night. Off to Wellington in the morning! Hurrah!