Arrowtown

Our trip was almost over, but Chris was not going to just dump us at the airport when we still had a few hours. He took us to Arrowtown for breakfast.

Arrowtown was a gold rush town that saw the population surge and then fall, but it's not a ghost town now. It is now a charming small town with historic value. What we saw of the downtown was very pretty, and there is just a short walk from street parking to look at the remnants of miners' cabins and outbuildings. I think the second picture is of an actual mine entrance, but I am not positive.

The miners' settlement is just a stone's throw from the Arrow River (hence the town's name). It was blocked off so we could not get too close, and I don't really have any pictures of it, but this is where Arwen and Frodo crossed the river before the Nazgul were washed away. I believe it was just a matter of the ground being very soggy and dangerous, in combination with the high waters, so you might be able to go down to the river at a different time of year.

Anyway, we wandered around the settlement, had breakfast at the bakery, and then drove up to a couple of scenic overlook areas. It just gave us a chance to breathe in a bit more of the pure air, and to drink in more of the beauty of the South Island.

But all good things must come to an end. We did need to make our flight, so we did need to say goodbye.

When we were leaving for Australia, we had very short layovers where we were constantly on the run, and yet with the time zone change, we left Thursday and arrived Saturday. This trip was the complete opposite. We had a four hour layover in Auckland, and I think it was seven hours in Los Angeles. Despite that, we left on Tuesday and arrived just a few hours later, in a manner of speaking.

I'll never be a fan of long flights, but it's worth it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrowtown