Jan
3
Sheep in Narnia
Filed Under Australia/New Zealand 2009/10
Flock Hill Station, New Zealand
January 2, 2010
6:43pm NZT
This morning, after grabbing some brekkie at Starbucks, Joanne and I met our tour group right outside of our hotel. We are traveling with almost a full coach of people, many whom have been touring the North Island, 10 of us who joined today for a seven-day trip around the South Island. Our travel guides are Craig (also the bus driver) and Lana. Craig drove us around the immediate area to point out a few things, and then we had a few hours to explore Christchurch.
A friendly guy from Sweden named Fredrick, who’s in his early 20s, introduced himself to us so we ended up walking around with him and his younger brother Henrik, still in high school and perhaps 17. We strolled over to the free museum in town and spent just over an hour looking around. It’s quite comprehensive, covering subjects from native history and artifacts, an exhibit on area birds, the early expeditions to Antarctica, whales, and so much more. I really enjoyed it and wish I’d had more than just $20- and $50-dollar bills otherwise I would have donated more than just the few NZ coins to my name.
Afterward, we found some lunch and then hopped on the bus with everyone else. It was nice to have the AC on, because it’s quite a beautiful and hot day in Christchurch. I thought it would be much cooler here. Our first destination of the day was Flock Hill Station nestled within the Southern Alps, just a two-hour drive west of Christchurch. Along the way, Craig and Lana told us about our afternoon options and activities for tomorrow as well so that they could call ahead and make reservations.
The area is called Flock Hill because there are a few rock outcroppings that look like a bunch of sheep all flocked together. The station is really beautiful and is set against a backdrop of bare-topped mountains. We unloaded our bags and then set off on a short tour of the place. Heather, one of the workers here, introduced us to a few of the sheep dogs and let them herd a flock of sheep from one pen to another. She showed us the difference between merino sheep and other types. Then she let the dogs herd the group down a road so we could capture pictures of the sheep running. Very amusing. Lastly, she took us into one of the sheep-shearing pens and talked about the process and the differences between wools. Merino is stronger and softer than cross-blends. On the table were a few commercial examples of merino products including my favorite Smartwool socks! Flock Hill Station has about 20,000 sheep on its property. I believe they shear them once a year, plus mothers are shorn right before they give birth so that they are “bare” like their lambs and thus know what kind of temperature the lambs are feeling.
After the tour, we could choose to go horseback riding (which is what Joanne did), walk down to the lake, go on a solo hike, just hang out, or go on a guided hike with Craig. I ended up on the three-hour hike with Craig. Twenty of us hopped back on the bus and drove about five minutes to the trailhead. We went up quite a bit of elevation to where the battle scene of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” was filmed. 
The scenes are on Flock Hill property, so I’m sure the owner was paid a good sum for its use. I took a number of photos, but just like with Alaska, it is nearly impossible to capture the grandeur and depth of the landscape. A few people were courageous/foolish (take your pick) to basically lean over some of the cliff edges to have their photos taken. It was quite windy up there, so I opted out. I’m excited to get home and watch the film again to see the scenery that I’ve now visited.