Just had to put this up. These fans had the trip of a lifetime to see where Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit was made. Welcome to New Zealand – A.K.A. Middle Earth!! 😀
Watch their experience HERE
Gollum, who hangs out in Wellington Airport, New Zealand, these days. 😀
Kereru – New Zealand Wood Pigeon. They’re a handsome beasty, with red eyes, beak and feet, a white breast and the head, throat and wings are a shiny green-purple colour, with a bronze tinge to the feathers. They’re endemic to New Zealand and are unfortunately a threatened species, so it’s pretty fortunate to spot one so close to town.
We have several berry-laden trees around us, and that’s a favourite thing of the Kereru. Sometimes the berries start fermenting and when the kereru eat them they get quite drunk. I saw one in the bush up a mountain once, crash-landing in a tree. They’re quite big birds, around 51 centimetres (20 in) in length and 650 grams (23 oz) in weight, and a drunken kereru throwing himself at a tree with the hope of actually stopping on a perch rather than falling off the other side is quite a sight to behold.
Hopefully we’ll see more of them in the next few days as they feast on the berries. I don’t think our berries are fermenting, but I’ll hide the keys to the car, just in case…
Yes, I’m talking about you. No drinking and driving!
Some say I’m a little hard on my friends, but I honestly wouldn’t do anything to them I wouldn’t first do to myself.
This is my friend Carol. It’s been a while since I cut her face, but she’s healing up nicely now.
She’s still talking to me.
A lot of people gasp with shock when I tell them we have no t.v.
“Did you see blah blah blah last night…?”
“Nope. Haven’t got a television.”
“What??!!”
I do caregiving for a living, so I stay for two days and two nights in a house each week. But even then I’m still not tempted to stare at the goggle-box. Unless there’s a good documentary on, or Bones – about the only drama I like to see regularly, because her autistic-type personality has a train-smash sort of fascination to it, and the other characters make me laugh. The other exception being America’s Next Top Model, but that’s because I like watching the photo shoots that they come up with. In between the shoots (when they’re bitching at each other about who should be doing the dishes or what a cow so-and-so is) I usually wander off and hand out meds or empty catheter bags or something else so much more fascinating.
It’s no hardship though, having no t.v. We do have the internet, after all, which can keep us amused for hours. Any question you can possibly come up with, Google will find an answer to it somewhere. Which is how I know that steam rollers don’t roll steam… Continue reading
Here’s a great blog post written by a young American woman who’s experiencing New Zealand. In this post, she discusses the ‘Kiwi accent’. It’s hilarious to read how we sound to other people.
The North Island of New Zealand (Middle Earth) with directions on where to find stuff.
Mount Taranaki, West Coast, North Island. Also featuring in the foreground, ‘Betsy’, of New Zealand Bovine Models Inc, TM. The Tariki Schoolhouse lives under this mountain.
I have come to realise that I’ve been disgustingly inactive on my blog recently. You can’t blame me though – it’s midsummer here in New Zealand and there are many things to do other than sit at one’s computer writing (or raving, in my case). Like go camping, or socialize, or get into your garden, or socialize. Or go riding around town on your bicycle and break out your Mohawk Riding Helmet (TM). Or socialize… Continue reading
It’s that stuff again, isn’t it…?
After posting the article on catnip today, (read that here) I grabbed my camera and went to visit Moa with a piece of catnip. These were the results: Continue reading
I spent a couple of hours with these guys. Once they realised I wasn’t made of bread they went back to doing their own thing. Continue reading
Te Marama (the moon) was out in many guises tonight. Had to go for a ramble – how could we not? 😀 Continue reading
raveburbleblog 
Mount Ngauruhoe, Central Plateau, North Island, New Zealand. Ngauruhoe erupted 45 times in the 20th century, most recently in 1977. Now you can see why ‘Lord of the Rings’ was made in New Zealand… 🙂
We’re used to seeing ‘road snails’ travelling in our country, and although we’re really pleased to see travellers coming here, it’s common for us locals to heave a sigh when we pull up behind a ‘movan’ on the road. We know our country is beautiful, but you have to know that while you’re bumbling along trying to manoeuvre our twisty, hilly roads and look out the window at our gaspworthy scenery at the same time, it’s very possible we’re stuck behind you, envisioning various scenarios IN WHICH WE STRANGLE YOU and toss you over one of our exquisitely scenic hillsides. You see, you might be on holiday, but we’re trying to get to work, to the hospital, return our late dvds to the video store, or any other number of crucial scenarios that occur in everyday life.
New Zealand roads don’t have a lot of passing lanes, you see. So until they invent cars that have helicopter rotors attached to them, we often have to wait for many slow and laborious minutes before we can pass you and get on with our missions. And if you times that by three or four camper vans per trip, then perhaps you can begin to comprehend our strangling fantasies. It’s nothing personal, you understand, we just want you to MOVE OVER!!
What sparked this post off is that I’m subscribed to a fabulous blog whose author does hilarious cartoons to illustrate her stories, and in one of her recent posts she describes a trip she and some friends took to New Zealand, a post I’m sure travellers to New Zealand will find quite useful. You can read it here:
Renting a campervan in New Zealand: Tips and tricks to avoiding utter chaos
Upon perusing this highly entertaining post, I realised that this gave me an opportunity to pass on what Kiwis want tourists to know when they come over here. Please don’t kill us!! This was my message on her post:
“Kia ora Vy.
Well done for choosing the South Island to go to. All us kiwis ask tourists when we see them – ‘Are you going to the South Island? You HAVE to see the South Island while you’re here, it’s the best of New Zealand scenery!!’
I’m really sorry you got a lemon camper van – this is a good thing to know, so we can advise others ourselves.
A word to tourists heading our way – there is quite a big fuss being made in New Zealand at the moment about tourist drivers. Several have caused accidents lately that have killed New Zealanders, and we’re not very happy about that. Many kiwis are calling for a special driving test for overseas tourists before they can drive on our roads. Because they ARE very twisty and narrow a lot of the time, not what drivers from countries with straight roads and many lanes are used to. There are two things us locals want you to know:
PULL OVER!! If you have three or more cars behind you when you’re driving, pull over as soon as you can do so safely. You may be on holiday, but we’re probably trying to get to work. Not pulling over can cause people to get frustrated and do dangerous overtaking manoeuvres to get where they’re trying to go. Potential accident!
If you’re tired, DON’T DRIVE!! Tiredness can lead to you pulling out into wrong lanes in confusion. Potential accident!
We love having tourists here because we’re very proud of our country and want you to see it. But please don’t come over here and kill us. Thank you, and happy holidaying.
Regards, New Zealand locals. :D”
So that pretty much encapsulates what I’m trying to say here. There are only four million or so of us Kiwis, and it’s pretty sad to think of tourists coming over here to view our gorgeous scenery and bumping off us locals at the same time. So if you’re thinking of coming our way, please try to keep these things in mind – we’d really appreciate it.
Thanks and Welcome to New Zealand. 😀
PS: If you want to learn more about our country, here’s another post of mine that will give you a bit of info. Contains photos of gorgeous scenery. Please pull over before reading…
Beautiful New Zealand – My Middle Earth and a Habitat for Hobbits
One of locals in the midst of a strangulation fantasy…