Phil Vickery

First, we went to the Gondola Hut and took a gondola up the mountainside. At the top, we saw some beautiful views of Queenstown, the mountains and Lake Wakatipu.

Then we went on the luge. We had to go on a chairlift to get to the top of the luge track. Once we got there, it was luge time. We had 3 runs and Ben and Jon went really fast. It was fabulous fun!

After that, we went to see a kiwi birdlife park. While we were there, we saw kiwis being fed, keas, tuatara, tui and a cricket and other birds, lizards and insects including a NZ falcon.

Then it was time for our Lord of the Rings Tour. We got to see where the Oliphants battled in Ithilien, the Dead Marshes, Treebeard and his nephew (Frogmouth), the woods of Lothlorien and Fangorn Forest and lots of other locations from the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies. We also got dressed as hobbits and the boys held real swords that were replicas of the ones used in the movies including Sting and Narsil. We had to be very careful not to hurt anyone!

We also learned the Maori legend about how Lake Wakatipu was formed. A tanifa / monster captured a beautiful princess and took her to the top of the mountain. A brave warrior crept up the mountain and waited til night, when he poured oil all over the monster and it caught fire. The monster fell down the mountain with his knees up in a Z shape and formed the beautiful Lake. They say the tanifa's heart is still beating and that is why the Lake still rises and falls today.

After a fantastic tour, we had Japanese food for dinner and a gelato for dessert. That brought our great day to an end.Read more