New Zealand June 2022

A six week journey around Aotearoa with Nic and Amelia. Below are a few photos and comments to remember the trip. It'll be nice to separate my memories of this one from the soon-to-happen round two, when I go over with Abbie for a month. Especially since we'll be visiting a lot of the same places.

Landing in Auckland

Oh boy we were jetlagged. I think we all ended up having an involuntary nap at the hotel once we had checked in.

The city felt very European, with a healthy mix of the old and the new. And arty too - a feeling that I got from all built up areas in the country, with frescoes here and murals there. Very nice.

We took a group tour out to Hobbiton from the city. I'm by no means a morning person, even when jetlagged, but the views made it worth it; the pastures of sheep and rolling hills. I remember the tour guide being a hoot as well.

Sheesh, I forgot how hairy I was!

Hobbiton

Hobbiton was fantastic - definitely one of the highlights of the trip. I was astounded by the sheer amount of detail that went into everything. Everything feels and looks too real (despite a lot of things being fake) to be a movie set. Like surely not even a third of this stuff made it onto the screen. And of that which did, how much was actually noticed?

We were super lucky with the timing and the weather. It was incredibly quiet - hardly any other tourists there and we felt like VIPs with the whole place to ourselves. And on a bright, perfectly still, dew-laden morning too!

The Green Dragon Inn was real fun. Everywhere you looked, every single detail was miticulously placed and crafted to create a building which made you feel like you had stepped out of your own time and into a sleepy Middle Earth.

And check out these hand dryers!

Included in our ticket was a complimentary drink at the inn. I can't remember what it was exactly, but I do remember sneakily dropping the cup into Amelia's bag.

This lake's artificial, I think. We need more of those. Artificial lakes to dot our landscapes.

Glowworms

After Hobbiton we made our way to Waitomo to the glowworm caves. I bought this little souvenir at a farm shop we stopped off at on the way:

We did a guided walking tour of the sandstone caves before being ushered down some stairs (in complete darkness) and onto a wide steel boat in a half submerged tunnel - the one with the worms in. They weren't easy to spot at first but we did see specs of light here and there. The driver¹ of the boat then whacked the side of the boat which demanded a glowing response from the worms. I wonder if they're smaller than the average glowworm, on account from all that energy they're expending on all that glowing as a result of all those loud whacking sounds coming along with every party of eager-eyed tourists floating on below them?

All in all, a cool experience.

And here's my first time seeing a silver fern. Which explains the name of their women's cricket team, and the design of that flag that TOTALLY SHOULD HAVE WON when the country had a flag referendum.

Wellington

To be continued...