December
11th December 2004
Today we decided to do go to Arthur's Pass. We left Christchurch around 2:00pm and headed West. Marisa had an old ankle injury that was troubling her so we planned on a leisurely drive rather than any significant walking. We also wanted to see if we could see any shooting on the Flock Hill set of "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe."
Our reason for going to Arthur's Pass was that I wanted to investigate the Arthur's Pass chapel. We had previously had feedback suggesting that we would be 'suprised' if we were to look inside the chapel.
The chapel was built as a joint project between various churches in Christchurch and a number of alpine and outdoor groups. It is a charming little chapel with a small number of seats. The suprise, to anyone who visits, is the large window behind the altar. There is no stained glass, only a magnificent view of a waterfall behind the chapel.
Marisa managed to snap this close up of the waterfall as we took a short walk behind the chapel.
We had lunch at a little cafe in Arthur's Pass and then headed off back towards Christchurch. We reached Cave Stream reserve around 6:00pm. There is little to see here but a carpark and a spectacular, glacier carved view. Beneath the car park is actually a cave with a sizable stream flowing throuigh it.
Intrepid travellers, appropriately equipped can walk through this cave from the stream's exit and eventually climb up through a small hole where the stream enters the cave. Before attempting this you should be aware of the temperature and volume of the water flowing through the cave.
On this occasion we were not interested in the cave but rather a makeshift village built across the valley. This is one of the locations for the filming of "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe". The photo on the left is the village. You can see a couple of helicopters in the larger version of this photo.
The photo on the right is an actual location where we observed the telltale lights of filming in progress. Click on these to see larger versions. Marisa believes that this has got to be the location for the stone table scene.
We watched for a short time and noted no fewer than five helicopters transfering acters and crew from the filming location to the village.
If you don't know about this http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0312/S00475.htm project click to learn more.
--Brook
| <<<Previous |