Thursday, 16 Feb. This was a fairly lazy day. I paid prime money to do a jet boat ride, mostly to get to see an area that was in the Lord Of the Rings movie. Jet boats are exciting, but I’ve done exciting.
It was educational. I got to see what is literally a better mousetrap, designed by college students to help cure the NZ problem with possums, which are much smaller than American possums. (Backstory: NZ once actively tried to introduce new animals to encourage game hunting. It did not end well.) The boat ride illustrated the difference between glacier-fed water and snowmelt water. It was amazing how long the two types kept themselves separated in a single river. Also interesting was that the jet boats HAD TO go full speed for planing above the rocks. Doing 360 degree spins in the deeper water was fun for those who haven’t done cooler things, but not spectacular for me. It wasn’t Milford Sound, but it was fun.
I spent some time just walking around. Then crashed. Got up to see the Southern Cross. Ho hum.
I thought it was cheese. Actually it’s lightly cooked eggs.
The little tree. Next to it they built a house. Several months, over a $100,000, five seconds in The Hobbit. Movies.
The trees hollow themselves out, which is in fact a feature in the Lord of the Rings.
Cattle approaching. Even the tour guide didn’t understand why.
Clean snow melt water. Glacier melt is much more cloudy.
