We went to Glenorchy as part of our tour and had lunch before taking off We really just wanted to have Fish and Chips 🙂 When in the UK, Australia and New Zealand – Fish and Chips all you want!  Mom even brought her Malt vinegar in her luggage to make sure she has it with her Fish and Chips.   Codfish and chips at The Lodge Glenorchy . Funny thing was she ordered Ginger Ale and she made a mistake twice of pouring the Ginger Ale instead of the Malt Vinegar!!!  haha Just 45 minutes from Queenstown, Glenorchy is nestled on the northern shores of Lake Wakatipu & is the gateway to hiking trails and Middle-earth magic.
This rustic town is a true outdoor enthusiast’s paradise. Set against a background of native beech forest and towering mountain ranges, Glenorchy’s surrounds are nothing short of awe-inspiring. Lake Wakatipu and the Dart River offer opportunities for jet boating and kayaking, and some of New Zealand’s best hiking trails can be accessed from here. Horse trekking in the area is also highly recommended.

 Braided Streams in Glenorchy and a view from the helicopter tour
When glacial ice melts, the water moves away from the glacial snout in fast flowing streams and rivers. The water transports vast quantities of sediment and larger debris. If the sediment load is very large in relation to the velocity of the stream, the more coarse material may start to block the stream, choking it and forcing it to constantly change it’s course. The stream starts to diverge, splitting into numerous segments which split and join repeatedly. The small islands formed within the stream are called eyots.

Braided streams are typically shallow and wide, surrounded by poorly sorted rock debris. ( http://www.geography-site.co.uk)

I love sheep sceneries – I was trying so hard to take them even when the bus was moving – very hard! :-O    Glenorchy’s spectacular landscapes have become a prime location for film scouts, depicting many scenes from The Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as featuring in the Narnia movies. Twenty kilometres away from Glenorchy, as bucolic farmland gives way to beech forests, lies Paradise. Some say it was christened for its natural charms, others for the paradise ducks that live in the area. Nobody can say for sure how it got its name, but the one thing people agree on is its breathtaking beauty. “This is the Middle-earth I had always pictured,” Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf) said of Paradise. ( http://www.newzealand.com)  Taylor Swift was just in Glenorchy a few months ago to shoot. Lord of the Rings was also filmed in Glenorchy and many others including commercials of Swiss chocolates