Scenic Drive to Glenorchy

One of the most scenic drive I had during the recent visit to New Zealand is from Queenstown to Glenorchy. I didn't go to Glenorchy during my visit in 2011, I didn't research about Glenorchy then. But I can't remember who wrote about Glenorchy being beautiful in CARI forum after I came back from that visit.

So this time around, I tried to slot in Glenorchy as part of our destination. It is not far from Queenstown, perhaps about 45 minutes drive along Lake Wakatipu. This place is a very small town, with not many buildings around, but there are some coffee shops for tourists to stop by. But it is popular as the place where they film Lord of The Ring. There's nothing much to do in Glenorchy though, some tracking activities, kayaking, horse riding, Lord of The Ring tour, fishing and such. But I think scenery is what most people are after in Glenorchy - at least for us. We went quite late in the afternoon, so by the time we reached the place it was already about 5pm.  

The picture above is how beautiful Glenorchy is. I really love the contrast between the color of the hills and the shadow from the clouds. It was very cold then, the wind blowing strongly, but I think even my parents enjoyed the scenery. The picture above is on the left side of where we stood, and you know what was on the right side? See the picture below. Imagine we are standing in the middle admiring the hilly scenery vs the sea. Breathtaking indeed.

While I was attending to my parents taking their pictures and visiting the boatshed, my brother and sister-in-law were busy at the wharf. I didn't know what they did at first, tertonggeng-tonggeng, terbalik-balik... my brother siap baring lagi kat the wharf. Rupa-rupanya they had photography session taking the picture of my baby nephew. Kesian budak tu ditiarapkan atas jeti tu, while the father sampai baring-baring trying to capture the best shot. 

But look at the outcome - isn't this beautiful? The first time I saw this picture I thought it looks like a photo taken at a studio. Worth it mama and baba nya tertonggeng-tonggeng dalam keadaan sejuk gedi tu. 

This place is beautiful, really. It is not far from Queenstown, so though there's nothing much to do here, but worth to take a short drive and be there 1-2 hours admiring the scenery. Those who love Lord of The Rings probably can spend some money joining the tour, am not too sure of the fee and what they do during the tour though, but with this kind of place, it must be interesting.