The sun came out as forecast and we left reasonably early to explore Lord of the Ring (LOTR) sites associated with The Riders of Rohan near Poolburn Dam. First, we took panoramic photos of the rocky terrain surrounding Omakau. (This new terrain is fascinating to us. It's so different than the green, green, green we've seen so far in NZ.) Then, we took pictures of the historic bridge (http://www.visit-centralotago.co.nz/html/ophircentralotago.html) between Omakau and Ophir before checking out the historic buildings in Ophir itself (http://www.historic.org.nz/theregister/registersearch/RegisterResults.aspx?RID=341). Surprisingly, we were able to drive all the way to Poolburn Reservoir – our old (2005) LOTR book said the road was suitable only for 4WD vehicles (I guess the road has been improved in the past 11 years!). It was easy for us to visualize the Rohirrim (http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Rohirrim) crossing the plains on their beloved horses, the Rohirrim village by the lake being burned by The Wild Men, and Orcs coming down from the rocky ridges to attack the Rohirrim as they travelled from Edoras to Helms Deep. We took the winding gravel road down to the Dam, taking LOTS of pictures before taking a quick lunch break and heading back out.
We drove the back road to Alexandra and enjoyed magnificent vistas of the Ida Valley leading up to the Remarkable Mountains surrounding Queenstown. We saw an antique Ford truck across the road from Bonspiel Station (the sheep ranch on the way to Poolburn Reservloir). We buzzed through Alexandra and took the back road through Earnscleugh and then up to Clyde. We stopped at the Three Miners winery and enoyed a lovely glass of reisling. We wandered through the historic buildings in Clyde (http://www.clyde.co.nz/) and explored a lovely gallery where Anna found Judy's birthday present. (Shhhhh! Don't tell Judy!) We drove up to the Clyde Dam before stopping in Alexandra for a few groceries – what a madhouse on New Year's Eve! We were certainly glad to get out of town as quickly as possible!
