Horseback Riding in Glenorchy, New Zealand

October 26

During one of our days in Queenstown, we took the lake-side drive to Glenorchy to go horseback riding through one of the Lord of the Rings scenes.  The drive to Glenorchy is famed at being one of the most scenic drives in the world.  The many shades of blue and green of Lake Wakatipu and the beautiful view of the Remarkables mountains is really breathtaking.

One of the many beautiful views along the drive to Glenorchy

The stables was in this gorgeous valley surrounded by snow covered mountains.  We had a couple of the horses come say hello as soon as we arrived.

TSince Gene was the tallest of all of the riders, he got to ride on the Clydesdale (aka the Budwiser commercial horse).  His name is Drum and he's a local celebrity on race day.  All the kids come out to pet him.

We took the intermediate level ride which promised to ride through several rivers.  Here's a view as we prepared to cross our first river (one of the famous rivers from a couple of Hollywood films - Lord of the Rings and Wolverine).

This is our trail leader testing the depths of the river before allowing the rest of the group to cross.  Apparently the water level has been really deep the past couple of weeks due to heavy rains.

Our scenic shot!  My horse's name is Spencer.  He's an old man, the oldest horse they have in the stable, at 18 years old.

Returning to the stables, we lead the horses right along the main road in Glenorchy.  Cars pulled over to get out of our way.

My horse, Spence.  Such a sweetie!  He rode so well - I got to canter with him along the riverside.

Here's Gene saying his good-byes to Drum.

After our horse ride, we ate lunch and walked around the town of Glenorchy.  This is the western end of Lake Wakatipu where the town of Glenorchy is situated.

On our drive back to Queenstown, we again had the most incredible views.  It was impossible not to stop every 5 minutes to jump out and take a picture.  I loved this one, with the sheep grazing aside the lake and the Remarkables mountains in the background.

Not a bad view along the road!  Especially with the perfect weather we were having that day.  This was our favorite scenic drive through New Zealand (which is saying a lot since so many of the drives here are breath-takingly beautiful!).