Freedom camping

The day after we left Glenorchy we drove a little way north towards Paradise (actual place name) and stopped to do a trek on horses along part of the LOTR film locations.



It wasn't raining but was a little cold so we were provided with warm coats and gloves. Emma was allowed to ride without being lead which was great and Matt got to trot which was exciting but a little sore he said :) After a 2 hour ride we were all a little sore and I still can't cross my legs without wincing 4 days later. I must be very out of shape having not done a jot of exercise for 6 weeks.

We left there and drove to a more remote place called Lake Sylvan where we could freedom camp. Freedom camping basically means a place that you can park and sleep in the campervan overnight without having to be in a campsite. We parked beside a river and all looked very picturesque so we decided to go for a walk in the woods beside where some of Middle Earth was filmed. By the time we got back it had started to rain. The rain steadily got heavier and heavier until it was almost deafening on the campervan roof. We wondered idly about moving the van off the grass in case we got stuck in the morning but thought that it probably wouldn't rain all night and we'd be fine. Well, the rain didn't stop and all night Mick and I were awake listening to a violent thunder and lightning storm fretting about rising river levels while matt and emma slept peacefully. When morning finally came we heard that 30mm of rain had fallen and the river had risen about a foot! Thankfully the campervan made it off the site without problems and we headed bcak to civilisation still in our pjs.
Queenstown and Arrowtown




Unfortunately the weather didn't improve when we were in Queenstown but we thought we'd stay the night and decide where to go to next. Queenstown is a beautiful town and I'm sure it's lovely in hot weather but in the rain it's hard to make the most of it. We left on Monday morning and drove 20 minutes to Arrowtown which is an old gold mining town.

Arrowtown is very pretty with a smart 'oldey worldy' main street. It's what I imagine Avoca Handweavers would design if they were to plan a town. The shops even sell Avoca type products to the many day-trippers that come up from Queenstown. The weather suddenly improved dramatically and was much warmer which made a nice change.
We decided to do some panning for gold as we were assured that there was still gold in 'dem dar hills' but no luck after panning for an hour so we cheated and panned in a 'guaranteed' trough where Matt and Emma each got about 8 flakes of gold. We're thinking of opening a jewellery shop when we get back.

Mick has very bravely decided to do a bungy jump in the original Queenstown bungy on Saturday. He goes a bit white when we talk about it so hopefully he'll go through with it. Matt, Emma and I are going to paraglide together in Queenstown on the same day.