"The Dead Marshes"

Trip Start Jan 11, 2009
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Trip End Apr 12, 2009


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Flag of New Zealand  , South Island,
Tuesday, January 27, 2009

We did an inland drive to the south coast, stopping a couple of times along the way, from Te Anua to Intercargill.  Our first stop was near the town of Manapouri, we caught the famous hike called the Kepler Track to some marshlands.  These were used in the filming of the Lord of the Rings scene at "The Dead Marshes".  The hike there took about an hour.   The marshes were just like the movie - minus the dead people in the pools.  Unfortunately, the water level was very low in the marsh, so we didn't get to see it in its prime beauty, but it was still really cool.  B2 had a walking stick and used it to check how deep the muck went - the entire 3.5 foot stick went in!  Pretty damn impressive.  We got to see a bunch of carnivorous plants, all waiting for some tasty flies to land.  There are no rivers which feel this marsh, so it lacks nourishment - hence the plants needing to eat flies to survive.  

We spent the rest of the day driving along the South coast of NZ.  B2 ventured 100 feet into a limestone cave and got to see some more glowworms;  A2 stayed behind because of her foot issue and took more photos of sheep.

One of the fun stops we made was on "Gemstone Beach".  You can hunt for gemstones there - we did this for over two hours - it was a lot of fun. B2 might have found a very small sapphire but we need a gem expert to give us a hand on identifying it. We both got a nice rock collection going - colorful rocks, some with interesting lines/patterns on them.
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