Too Wet, Slow Down...

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Many things will strike you about New Zealand but we found the following three things really stood out to us.

1) Always give yourself allot more time then you'd imagine to see New Zealand. We spent 19 days there and found ourselves gnashin our teeth in frustration as we wanted to stay longer in many many different places.

2) I haven't done the math yet, but they must have more meat pies per capita then other other nation!! No joking, it's a cornucopica of pies at every stop. They go well beyond the meat, mince, and chicken to give you the following. Wild Pork with Kumara (yam/potatoe) and Green Apple. Hawaiian style Rabbit with Brie. Lamb and Mint. Pumpkin, brie, and Bacon. Etc. Etc.

3) It gets wet in New Zealand. Out of our 19 days in New Zealand every day was either cloudy or rainy... 😞 That part sucked. But all in all it kind of adds to the New Zealand sign we passed "Too Wet, Slow Down." New Zealand struck us as the kind of place that you need to have the time to wait out the storm and rain so you can enjoy some of the crazy beauty.

On the North Island we spent time sea kayaking, going into caves to see glow worms, and hot spring soaking. The glow worms were beynd description as we floated down a raft with the cave ceiling filled with glowing consteallations of glow worms. Actuallly they aren't worms at all but rather maggots, but hey they still look very cool.

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Photos

Ocean Mother Carving
Maori Goddess carving in Abel Tasman area.

Mt. Doom.
The Hobbits tremble in awe as Mt. Doom looms behind them (yup, it's the one from Lord of the Rings.)

Cormandel Area
A very cool spot to start the hobbit voyage.

The Water Crossing
The hobbit Haggus Black Tongue braves the currents of the ocean.

So heavy.
The pressure of the ring begins to wear down the noble hobbitess.

Hot Spring Heaven
The hobbits take a much needed bath in the hot waters of Kerosene Creek. A natural hot spring runs into the creek above the water fall making life just perfect for those lucky enough to find this spot. Gonna have to give this a 9.5 on the Clover and Scott Hot Spring scale.

Hot Spring Heaven 2.
Something very nice about soaking in creek with lush ancient fern trees all around you. Kerosene Creek is just south of Rotorua which is loaded with geothermal activity.

All White's Haka.
The local tribe takes in the weary hobbits and feeds them. In return they are made to dance to delight of all those around. We were taught the cultural Haka dance (Maori war dance that is quite scary) that ended up being a blast.

White Hobbit Flash Dance.
The ring begins to drive the Hobbits into a mad frenzied dance. Not a pretty sight, not at all.

Poi Poi Dance
Clover does the Poi Poi dance (Maori women dance in support of the warriors). Talk about embarrassing. I have to rip my shirt off and leap about making faces in front of strangers, while clover gets to keep her clothes on and plays with a ball on a string. Actually her routine looked kinda tough.

The Giant Kiwi.
And so after being lost for many days, the companions find a great sign. A sign to what or for what, no one is sure. But all agree it's a great giant kiwi sign.

Another Great Sign...
Lo and behold, another great sign! This time a Giant Carrot. Clueless the brave companions decide to rub their bum on it for good luck. Will it work, time will only tell.

Comments

[Jimmy B]

Middle Earth Madness
So glad the ring is still safe. Not sure rubbing your butt on the carrot and not the Kiwi was the right move. Glowing anything has got to be very cool. Just make sure Gollum isn't down there waiting for a chance to steal precious. Thanks for the blogs which is very close to the every scary Balrog.

[Steve Waggoner]

D&D Jungle Death Crawl
So, not only are the lilly white hobbits required to engage in various sundry local customs but also they must now brave the ancient hyboreole jungle complete with deadly snakes, gimpy tree's which incapacitate the unwary and just when they thought it was safe to go into the water...[modified jaws soundtrack with tinkling sound belying the deadly minute size of the irikanji]. I just wonder if they have those microscopic bugs that reverse flow up your wang whenever you pee in the water??? Will they lilly white hobbits survive this jungle death crawl? Stay tuned as we find out if Haggus Black Tongue can ward off a pack of howling monkies flinging dung...or whether his mate will put the ludicris poo poo dance to good use.

[Whiskeyspoke]

I likee.
The Balrog blog, i like that. To bad i didn't think it up first. Probably due to the gallons of sweat i lose every time i go into a non air con internet cafe. Cheers.

[Whiskeyspoke]

Stay Tuned.
More coming soon when the hobbits discover the South Island of New Zealand, lose it to the weather and then go all out parting.