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Published: October 20th 2008
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Te Papa Spotlight
Huge satellite floor map of New Zealand at Te Papa Museum in Wellington...
... and Aaron couldn't get enough of it. We've completed our relatively short North Island section of our New Zealand journey. In a nutshell, there are some definite differences between the two islands. North Island is noticeably more populated with people, less populated with sheep, has more "conveniences" (like Subway and McDonalds), but is less dramatic scenically (compared with the awesome west coast of the South Island).
The first day and a half after disembarking the Interislander ferry was spent in Wellington (at a population of 200,000, one of New Zealand's largest cities). After a good sleep, on our second day we tried to take in all of the walkable sights from our downtown hostel (YHA). We started walking along the harborfront toward Te Papa (native Maori language for "Our Place") which is one of New Zealand's best and most popular museums. We were originally going to just give it a look, and if it was cheap we thought we'd poke around for a little. It ended up being free (except for our donations), so we made ourselves at home. It's actually a very well-done museum, much too big for us to completely tackle in one day. The first floor is kind of a natural history museum
Favorite Pastime of Trip
Eight books down and one more to go. On the Interislander Ferry with a lot of displays on NZ nature as well as some interesting displays on natural disaster (complete with a living room in which you can experience a simulated earthquake). We spent an hour and a half roaming the first floor, and never even got around to the other floors which dealt with NZ history and Maori culture and art. We enjoyed it, and were sorry we had to leave, but there was more Wellington to see and not a lot of time.
We slowly made our way to Wellington's beloved cable car which takes passengers uphill at an approximately 35-degree angle from downtown to the suburbs overlooking the city as well as to the gorgeous Botanical Gardens. We spent the ten-minute ride chatting with some other passengers who are native New Zealanders. They wanted to discuss US politics (one of my favorite subjects). They, along with most of the other non-US citizens we've met are supporting "Golden Boy" Obama in the upcoming elections. It has really surprised us throughout our trip how closely the rest of the world pays attention to our elections. We were particularly surprised in NZ, because they have their own national elections this month
InterIslander Comfort
Three hour ferry ride to cross from South Island to North Island. as well, but you still hear more on TV and in the papers about McCain vs. Obama than you do about the NZ candidates.
We made it to the top of the cable car and had a nice view of the city. Then we strolled through the gardens which is acres of beautifully tended parkland, partially forested with flowers, streams, a duck pond and plenty of paved and unpaved walking trails. It made me jealous of the people who live in the surrounding suburbs who can walk and jog these trails and take the cable car to work in the city. Must be a cool way to live.
The next morning, we drove about 7 hours to Rotorua. It was a long and unremarkable drive except for the fact that we passed by "Mordor" itself: Tongoriro National Park, and more specifically Mount Nguruhoe, an snowcapped active volcanoe which played "Mount Doom" in the "Lord of the Ring" trilogy. Unfortunately, Mount Doom was a bit shy that day, and the peak was hidden behind a cloud, but we used our imaginations to drum up a little cinematic magic.
The Rotorua area is known as a "hotbed" of volcanic
and geothermal activity. As we saw in Japan, there are a lot of natural hotsprings, some of which can be bathed in, as well as geysers. When we finallly arrived, after a little searching, we came upon the Pinelands Motel. For just NZ$70 (about US$45) we got a room with a bedroom, bathroom, TV and living room and full kitchen -- a home-away-from-home. We immediately booked for two nights. We felt so at home that, after shopping for groceries for our meals for the next two days, we almost didn't leave the room until we checked out. Not that there isn't anything to see in Rotorua, but after all the hostels, hotels and sightseeing, it was nice to just kick back and play house like our old days in Providence. It must be the first stages of homesickness. We were bummed by the fact that, when we do return to the States, we can't move back to a ready-furnished place, but instead will have to unpack all our furniture and boxes into a new apartment. Ugh ... we dread unpacking!
The other reason it was good to stay indoors in Rotorua is because the geothermal bubblings around Rotorua give
the outdoors a definite and noticeable sulfurous "rotten egg" smell. It didn't make for pleasant walks outside, but at least Cosmina couldn't blame the smell on me, like she usually does.
After an extremely chilled-out and enjoyable day and a half in Rotorua, we drove today to New Zealand's biggest city, Auckland. On the way, however, we felt compelled to stop in the town of Matamata. We had read that the scenes of "The Shire" and Hobbiton from the "Lord of the Rings" movies were filmed on a sheep farm owned by the Alexander Family nearby. For a fee, you get a guided tour of the set (which is mostly still there, though the facades of the homes had been dismantled to just the frameworks) with a lot of interesting stories about how the production people approached the farmers, how they shot the film and set things up. We spent a good hour plus strolling the set (now with sheep wandering around the hobbit holes) and got to take a lot of pictures. We're only casual fans of the films (neither of us have read the books or seen any of the movies more than twice), but a couple
Wanted for ...
Not paying for the parking meter in time. of the people in our group were SERIOUS fans (get out the Spock ears). One guy had a long beard and may have been a wizard himself, and he could quote the movie verbatim. We think he may even be fluent in Elvish, but his knowledge did scare us a little. I think his name was Frodo.
Once we finished the tour of the set, we went back to the family farm where we had a demonstration of how to shear a sheep after which we got to bottle-feed some lambs (which Cosmina especially has been dying to do since we arrived in New Zealand). Throughout our road trip through the countryside, we've seen so many of these little guys bouncing around the pastures, nursing, or lying in the grass, that we couldn't wait to get our hands on one. When we finally did, it was instant love. We may never be able to slather mint sauce on our chops again.
So now we're relaxing in Auckland and fly out to Fiji (only a two-hour flight) tomorrow afternoon. Because we are staying on a pretty remote island on the Fiji archepelago, we probably won't be writing our final
Robot in Wellington
They're Watching our Every Move! blog entry until we are back safe and sound in the USA! See you then!
***There are two pages of pictures, so don't forget to go to "page 2"
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