Blogs from North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 16

I spent the last ten days or so with an older couple in their massive house in the woods. I did a lot of painting and some concrete-wheeling for them, but generally, I was just vibing. Two families of wild birds would come visit twice a day, and I Love Them. I really enjoyed staying with them. They both are lovely, and I kind of already miss them. Now I'm headed for Raglan, I guess. I saw some glow-worms today! On the way to Raglan, we made a stop in Waitomo, and I decided to do a cave-tour, because i love rocks for some weird reason. It was a good cave. Saw some rocks. Saw some bones. But also! Glow-worms. They are bio-luminous maggots; the tour included a boat-ride in the complete darkness of the caves ... read more

Leaving Paihia, we dawdled down the beautiful coast back to Auckland. All along the coast are wonderful vistas either at. sea level or from the heights above, and the coast is replete with wide sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters. As in all places in New Zealand, tramping trails abound. We took some time working our way back to Auckland, since we had little desire to do anything there other than see the wonderful museum with its Maori treasures. The Auckland Museum surmounts a hill in the large park called the Auckland Domain, occupying an old volcanic crater. The park includes tree-lined drives, walking trails, and a glass-enclosed botanical garden, and occupies 75 hectares (185 acres) just southeast of the main downtown area of Auckland. The park was established in 1843, and the Auckland War Memorial Museum ... read more

Crusin' and playing the radio With no particular place to go Chuck Berry After leaving Doubtful Sound, we had to make a long drive to the Fox Glacier area. We planned to see the glacier while we were there, but also had hoped to have great views of the Southern Alps from the western side along the way. We were frustrated in both aspirations. In the more southern part of the trip, we saw some beautiful lakes, such as Lake Wakatipu at Queenstown and the side-by-side lakes Wanaka and Hawea. But as you drive along the western coast of the South Island, you are largely in vegetation-covered foothills, and only rarely catch glimpses of the mountains themselves. We frequently crossed wide snow-fed alluvial streams, with the typical shoals of gravel, now barely flowing at the end ... read more

I went to Hobbiton today! It was great. I don't even know what else to say about it; it was hot as all Hell, though. The surrounding farmland was as dry as my humour, but then you entered the Shire and BAM! Some of the most lushest, greenest grass I have ever seen. Our tour-guide was a total sweetheart and was almost certainly related to the most wholesome gardener out there, Samwise Gamgee himself. We took a selfie together. Hobbiton kind of gave me a feeling of coming home, but that could have just been the after-effects of the Lord of the Rings soundtrack they were playing on the entire ride to the set. I hear the gentle sounds of some woodwinds and a string-ensemble and my brain just starts handing out serotonin like the charity-people ... read more

I've had an absolute bitch of a fortnight. A fortnight is, of course, two weeks, but saying that sounds less cool. The job I came to Te Puke for fell through because those asshats didn't deem it necessary to mention little old me would be needing a car. The hostel staff were literal saints, and the manager has reached a level of iconic I can only hope to match someday. He gave me the much valued advise to "tell those fuckers to screw off". A legend in the shape of a man. He also found me another job. I ended up putting in two half-days and one full day there before I was essentially fired for having a sunstroke. I had a sunstroke, which was fun. I had to move out of my tent I had ... read more