Travel Diary - A River Runs Through It
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 Near Queenstown, New Zealand, a kayak trip on the Dart River explores Tolkien's Middle-Earth.
"We have any accidents, but I always give this speech just to make sure you know what to do if something happens," our guide said as he finished our safety instructions. We were about to begin our five-and-a-half-hour kayak trip down the Dart River near Queenstown, New Zealand. This is Tolkien's Middle-Earth country; The Lord of the Rings was filmed on this river. Glacial rivulets run in many directions and are quite shallow but have a very strong current. It's better not to fall in.
I had joined a group of six Australian couples, one Frenchman, and one Englishman. We had come up on a jet boat and would paddle down to base camp. I had not kayaked before, so I had a steep learning curve, but I soon found myself paddling along with great abandon along the heavily forested banks and noticing the snowcapped mountains that surrounded us.
About half an hour into our trip, everything seemed to be going along swimmingly. That is, until one of the rather robust Australian men decided to sit up on the edge of his kayak to take a photo-and ended up in the water. As the empty kayak skimmed its way downstream and the man scrambled his way to shore, the guide threw a rescue buoy and line to the wife, who had been tossed out into the river, too. Everything that could be rugged or pulled from their bodies-sunglasses, hats, cameras, scarves were lost to the river. And from the wife's glare, it looked like divorce proecedings might be in the works as soon as we reached civilization. We still had another five hours to go, and it was cold enough without being soaking wet and disgruntled.
As for myself, I was mesmerized by the majestic beauty. The forested shoreline gave way to inviting sandy beavhes, and the water was a turquoise blue so intense it looked like it had been specially dyed that color. We slipped through gorges so narrow that I could reaeh out and touch the rough, eraggy walls with my fingertips, and paddled to the base of a waterfall before heading baek out into the open river. For lunch we stopped in a small inlet, pulling our kayaks into a safe doeking pool, and stretehed our legs with a half-hour walk, whieh all of us were ready to do after sirting in the tight confines of the kayaks for hours. (In this wild country, there's one caveat: Wear repellant, as the sand flies bite and it hurts.) The second half of our adventure passed without a hitch. Tired and satisfied, we reached base camp, where a van was waiting to take us to a tiny local pub to celebrate over pints of New Zealand ale before we headed back to Queenstown.
During my two months in New Zealand, Queenstown was my favorite of all the places I visited. It feels like a cosmopolitan yearround Swiss resort and reminded me of Aspen 50 years ago. About three-quarters of the way down the west coast of the South Island, Queenstown was a perfect base from which to adventure. I also hiked the Routeburn Trail, sailed on the TSS Earnslaw steamship, flew on Over The Top Helicopters into Milford Sound, and visited the Kiwi Birdlife Park.
I stayed at Azur, a lodge which felt like home. While I loved seeing the countryside and all the surroundings, I confess I spent one whole day in my room because it was so beautiful, with a 180-degree view overlooking the town and Lake Wakatipu. It had a fireplane and living room, and if it had been equipped with a kitchen, I might never have left the lodge.
Source: Distinction Magazine
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  Beauty Health Fitness FamilyA Kayak Trip on the Dart River
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