Heading to NZ

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My visit to NZ is the culmination of a desire to see the homeland of a dear friend of mine, which started when we were grad students together, almost a decade ago. The fact that LOTR was filmed there doesn't hurt. A friend who recently visited called it a trip of a lifetime. The pressure of such a label is a bit much, and with a total of three weeks, I definitely will only be tasting a slice of what NZ has to offer. A long list of places to visit was made, and I've had to painfully cross things off First week is mostly planned, Matamata, Coromandel, Rotorua, Tongariro crossing, Wellington. Second week is hopefully the south island. Original intentions to go through Christchurch will be let go, but I look forward to directly contributing to whatever aid flows there are in NZ.

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