Rob Roy Glacier and Arrowtown

The next day we awoke bright and early and drove back into town to stop at the Department of Conservation (DOC) office to find out about this hike we wanted to do. It was listed in the Lonely Planet as being really great because there was a swing bridge, waterfalls, and glaciers; sounded perfect to me. So we picked up a map and found that it was about an hour away on mostly an unpaved road. This was slightly concerning but we decided to not worry about it.

The drive towards the Rob Roy Valley was beautiful as we drove out of Wanaka and along a wandering river. Up ahead we could see the glacier and along us were heaps (kiwi slang for a lot) of sheep and cows. We were admiring the waterfalls on our left while yelling "SHEEP!" at the sheep on our right when all of a sudden, we heard a pop and the sound of gurgling. Mind you, at this point we were about 40 minutes in with nothing in site for miles. Turns out Bluebird had overheated and her coolant had exploded. We were helped by a couple of men who told us to fill her back up and take her slow until we could get her looked at. I've learned on this trip, no matter how little a man knows about cars, he will undoubtably stop and pretend to know about them for a group of girls.
Us above the Rob Roy Valley

We continued on to the car park for the hike where we had lunch before hitting the trail. There was indeed a pretty fun swing bridge and the hike led upward towards the Rob Roy glacier. We were above the river almost all of the way up and continued to follow it to the lookout point for the glaciers and waterfalls. It was extremely green and reminded me a lot of what its like to hike in hawaii. We finally got to the top which consisted of a valley with a bunch of giant rocks where everyone was enjoying food and the view. It was gorgeous because there was a glacier about 1/3 of the way around the top and everywhere tiny waterfalls from the melting ice.
That white part towards the top is the glacier.

Once we got down we attempted to drive back to Wanaka. Of course Bluebird had other plans and we once again had to stop so she wouldn't overheat. And on cue, two men came over to check her out, but we already had the situation under control. This situation repeated multiple times on the way to Arrowtown and we considered turning around and waiting in Wanaka. Fortunately, the way to Arrowtown was mostly downhill so we finally made it to the mining town of New Zealand. Arrowtown reminded me instantly of Knott's Berry Farm with its store fronts resembling frontier stores. We found the New Orleans Hotel with hot fires and the kitchen still running (despite it being 9:30 pm). I warmed up by the fire with a ham and cheese and enjoyed their comfy couches. Then as the bar closed, we went to find a place off the highway to sleep.

The following morning we had a delicious breakfast at their amazing bakery. I had french toast with berries and enjoyed having a legit breakfast again. Then we dropped Bluebird off at a mechanic. This meant we had the whole day to explore the town. Turns out they had two scenes for LOTR shot here and Lannette wanted to mine for gold. It was convienantly a beautiful day so we spent it relaxing by the river.
We found the exact spot where Isildur is killed and kinda maybe found the spot the black riders ride towards Arwen in the first movie. In general it was nice just to relax and enjoy the beautiful fall trees and the trickling river.
This is exactly where Isildur is attacked in the Prologue.


Heres a link to the trip from the start to Arrowtown! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=173183&id=665896295&l=c875d7d7cf