PM HELEN CLARK EMBARKS ON A
QUEST OF DISCOVERY THROUGH
‘MIDDLE-EARTH’
Prime Minister Helen Clark takes a break from running the
country to traverse New Zealand’s lush rainforests, alpine
peaks and steep canyons in the premiere of Royal Tour: New
Zealand on SKY TV's Discovery Channel, Thursday February
27 at 7.30pm.
As one of the world’s few female leaders, Ms. Clark is accustomed
to defying stereotypes and beating the odds. In this amazing
documentary she also defies gravity and goes off the beaten path
while embarking on an adventure tour through her favourite
destinations around New Zealand accompanied by journalist Peter
Greenberg.
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Many of the locations Ms. Clark visits have been made famous in
Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
trilogy. Orcs pursued Hobbits through Fiordland; the Rings filming
sights of Dimrill Dale and Rivendell were filmed in the Abel
Tasman National Park, and the Waitomo Caves region of Waikato
the richest farmland in New Zealand, is the pastoral home of
Hobbiton. Scenes from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of
the Ring also appears in the programme.
Along the way, Helen Clark explains that risk-taking in the great
outdoors is a kind of “thrill therapy” – a way to combat stress by
courting challenging sporting adventures.
The Prime Minister’s tour begins in New Zealand’s “adventure
capital,” Queenstown, where she takes a hair-raising jet boat ride
on the Shotover Jet - the only boat in the world that can navigate
an ankle-deep river at 96 kilometres per hour. She also meets
Henry Van Asch, the co-inventor of the bungee jump, who
demonstrates his sport by jumping from a 101-year-old bridge 76metres above a glacial river.
Next, Helen Clark treks through Fiordland, a virgin primordial
rainforest that is New Zealand’s largest national park and also a
UNESCO World Heritage Site containing the world’s highest
waterfalls.
She ice climbs 2,743 metres in the Southern Alps and kayaks in
the pristine Abel Tasman National Park. Ms. Clark also ventures
106 metres into a massive sinkhole in the Waitomo Caves, a
primeval-like area known as “The Lost World.”
Although the Prime Minister gives an exclusive tour typically
reserved for visiting monarchs, sitting presidents and celebrities,
each of the sites she visits and all of her activities are accessible to
travellers.
Helen Clark meets Peter at New Zealand’s Parliament building in
the capital, Wellington where they discuss Ms. Clark’s political
journey and the triumphs and trials of one of the world’s few
female heads of state.
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The programme also reveals New Zealand’s intriguing history and
explains its increasing visibility in the public eye through being the
world’s only nuclear-free zone and the current defenders of the
America’s Cup. New Zealand is also building its reputation with
Hollywood – with Taranaki the principal location for Tom Cruise’s
next blockbuster, The Last Samurai and Gwyneth Paltrow currently
filming her latest movie Ted and Sylvia, directed by Kiwi film maker
Christine Jeffs in Dunedin and Northland.
SKY TV's premiere of Royal Tour: New Zealand on Thursday
February 27 at 7.30pm on the Discovery Channel.
-endsFor more information contact:
Andrea Rush
Communications Manager
SKY Television
Ph: 09 579-9999
Email: arush@skytv.co.nz