The Shire and Other Happenings

Really all that's left for me to recount is my amazing journey to see the filming locations of Hobbiton. These farms were located in Matamata, a very low key farming community about 45 minutes West of Rotorua. We stopped here on our way back down south. First impressions: this town didn't mess around in capitalizing on their sudden fame gained from the Lord of the Rings. It was a slightly surreal experience driving 2.5 hours in a fume-spitting car, stopping for gas, buying a snickers bar, and then approaching a small city with a very convincing, Hobbit-like welcome sign: Welcome To Hobbiton. Even the font was fantastical. Matamata didn't seem to have much else going for it in terms of visitor attractions, so they milked it for all it was worth. That's fine, because they filmed THE SHIRE there. They can do whatever they want. Even the visitor's center was dressed like a Hobbit hole, with the opening paragraph of The Hobbit painted above the doorway. We bought our tickets at the visitor's center and grabbed a tour shuttle from there. 

Because it was decently early (10:00 or so), the tour wasn't very large. I ended up going with only one other from my group, as the other three weren't very keen on spending the rather large sum of money for a ticket. You really had to be a diehard fan to want to go on this tour. So me and Annika borded the bus with two others and took off. Aside from a few uncomfortably but slightly hilariously tacky comments (such as an introduction to our bus as "Frodo" and a confession that "the hobbits aren't around their holes today, unfortunately"), our guide actually had a lot of cool things to say about the filming production and logistical aspects of renting out an entire farm for a billion dollar film production over 14 months. Apparently Jackson hired the New Zealand military to construct the roads through the farm for his trucks, as he couldn't risk any accidents with his expensive generators and other equipment. In fact, after being "on the fence" about this lady after her Frodo-the-bus speech, I think I began to accept her as a fellow human being. She had a lot of cool things to say. I began to wonder just how long it took her to memorize all of this information. 

Driving through the farm to the filming location, we passed one of the owners shepparding sheep with his 4 wheel rover. Sort of a futuristic, tech-driven version of our romantic visions of a shepard. Interesting. Soon after, our guide informed us that all the sheep had given birth to their lambs during the last two days. Basically the entire ride to Hobbiton was accompanied by charming visages of sheep hanging out on the hill with their as-yet-undetached umbilical cords hanging out of their uh...yeah. The girls went "awwwwww....". I went "eh". Not my cup of tea, sheep umbilical cords. Different strokes for different folks. However, it was impressive to see the cycle of life and death that these creatures go through play out before my very eyes. So yes, it was disgusting and beautiful at the same time, I suppose.

Along the ride our guide pointed out several unreachable filming locations in the distance, such as Gandalf's entrance scene ("A wizard is never late"). Some of these places took a full day to get all of the necessary filming equipment up to. It really makes you appreciate the hard work put into an epic production like this when you see the wild, untamed nature of the filming location and think of the incredible logistics required to make everything work perfectly. An entire field was reserved for the kitchen and catering services. They had to feed over 200 people every day. I've said it before: lunch ladies are the unspoken real American heroes. 

Turning the corner I caught a glimpse of Bag End. I will not lie, it was very exciting. For someone who is (if you have not already gathered) an immense fan of the book and films, it was a very unforgettable and unique experience to see this location firsthand. After the films were finished, the owners of these farms started getting knocks on their door requesting to view the locations. This gave them the idea to open their own tour business. They requested that New Line halt the deconstruction of the sets, and after a long, lengthly contract negotiation, they attained the rights to show the locations to the public. About half of the hobbit holes had been deconstructed (including Sam's. Bummer), but 17 still remained.

I was a little worried about seeing this place. I know that sometimes (very rarely), I'll watch a "making-of" documentary about a film that actually ends up detracting from my experience of the film because I've seen how it was made in the real world. This takes away from my ability to conceptualize the story as a fictional, fantastical entity. Because of this, I was worried that my seeing these rolling fields in the real world would taint my view of the film scenes, knowing subconsciously that they do NOT exist in Middle Earth but in New Zealand, Planet Earth. I watched The Fellowship of the Ring with my flatmates last week and was very relived to find that it was quite the opposite. My recognition of the landscape (down to specific trees and bushes) actually enhances my ability to place Middle-Earth as a realistic, existing location. The fact that I saw this place in the real world didn't detract from my enjoyment of the film, it actually gave it another unique level of appreciation and enjoyment which can only be obtained by seeing the place in real life.

Now, taking in Hobbiton was very, very chilling (in a good way). Now I'm no freak. I wasn't going there expecting to force myself to believe that it was REALLY "The Shire" and desperately hoping for Hobbits to pop out of the holes. The chills that ran down my body stemmed from the knowledge that right here, on the ground that I stood on, the magic that is The Lord of the Rings came to life. Here was the place that our world and Tolkien's fantastical, mystical and everlasting world intersected and produced a new vision which so many people could love and appreciate. I stood atop Bag End and saw the exact shot in which Gandalf and Bilbo exhale smoke rings and smoke ships as the sun sets. I walked the bridge and saw the places where the children chased after Gandalf, screaming for their fireworks. Off in the distance, pointed out our guide, was the field where Sam summoned his courage to leave home: "If I take one more step, it'll be the farthest from home...I've ever been." I thought of this scene a lot on my trip here, especially sitting on Air New Zealand. I love these stories because I find identification in so many of the characters and their stories. It's hard and sometimes frightening to break the routine and see the world from a different place and a different experience. I didn't feel like I was taking that "one more step" until I got on the plane at Los Angeles leaving for New Zealand. These stories have such longevity  because of their real, dynamic and relatable characters that the viewer/reader can identify with. I think that's the key to everlasting music as well. You have to be able to see yourself in the music, or see in the story a representation of your own struggles or inner demons. It has to relate to you somehow. I'm going off on tangents. Apologies.

One of the greatest parts of my tour was seeing the beginnings of set reconstruction for "The Hobbit". They're filming this multi-part prequel beginning in March, and the planting had already begun. It was very exciting to see the rebuilt shrubbery and shining green grass around Bag End along with newly cemented bridge that Gandalf enters in on his cart. They had also marked out where the new Hobbit holes were to be built. I know, I'm a nerd. But this was really exciting, I'm telling you.

The Party Tree was as large and beautiful as it looks in the film. Don't tell anyone, but I smuggled out an acorn from one of its branches. It's humongous and very beautifully shaped. I spent about an hour walking among the trees and grass and lakes, just trying to clear my mind and appreciate the silence and the beauty of the landscape. It was fun to see the remnants of the Hobbit holes (they were mostly white frames) and to be able to go inside some of them. I was afraid of maybe being underwhelmed when I finally got there given all of my expectations, but it did end up being the special experience I thought it would be. 

Having summed up my favorite parts of the trip, I think I'll just conclude by giving you a public link to my facebook album of my entire journey: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020870&id=1487820100&l=659739d4d. You can check out any photos that I've somehow neglected to squeeze onto the blog on here, including an absolute overabundance of Hobbiton photos. I filled up my camera, it was ridiculous.

I'm in my eighth week of school and will have four weeks of school remaining after this. I just received the dates for my final exams and they worked out quite well. I was worried I might get unlucky and have an exam scheduled the day after I leave (I'm leaving the day before the exam  term officially ends). However, I have a good ten days of nothing before and after my two exams on the 4th and 5th. I'm hoping to take a plane down to Christchurch on the South Island and doing some bungy jumping down there before I head home on November 14th. I have somewhat of a lull this coming week in terms of written work, which will give me time to catch up on my reading. 

I am now decently over halfway done with my time here in New Zealand and will be flying home in less than 2 months. It's strange how fast time goes by, even when sometimes the days seem to drag. I will say that my experience here is much different than I'd expected. There's a tendency to romanticize a study abroad experience in your head (especially when going to New Zealand) and imagine yourself scaling mountains and achieve the ever-elusive "finding of yourself". When I got here I was shocked to discover that Wellington is in fact a real city and that even people in New Zealand wake up and work 9-5. I still had to go to school and do (sometimes not so fun) schoolwork the majority of the week. And most importantly, any problems or vulnerabilities that I had expected to magically be "left behind" traveled here with me. My first month here involved me coming to terms with the fact that the real world exists here as well, and perhaps the escapist fantasies that I had imagined may not have been incredibly realistic. However, getting past this has afforded me an opportunity to build new friendships and create new and exciting experiences for myself that I certainly wouldn't be able to do at home. For example, I'm going penguin hunting this Friday night. Not bad at all. 

One thing that I'm really looking forward to after my New Zealand experience is a newfound appreciation for Rhode Island and the people I've left there. I've come to the conclusion, after coming here, that people seem to be bored and relatively unimpressed with their home no matter where they live. I get the question "Why New Zealand? It's boring" from kiwis quite frequently. I can't believe my ears. Many of them haven't seen much of this tiny, beautiful country outside of their hometown and Wellington. I studied abroad partly because I needed to "get out of here" and "see the world", as if Rhode Island was some boring old rural town where the only job option was to go to work in the mines. This is a sentiment shared by many native Rhode Islanders, particularly those who have stuck around at URI. While it has been an absolutely invaluable experience to see another side of the world, I've also come to appreciate the world that I left behind. Rhode Island is beautiful. There's nothing like the smell of a Rhode Island beach or the sound and sights of colorful autumn in New England. Therefore, I say to the kiwis of New Zealand and to all back home in Rhode Island: Don't let your routine blind you to the unique aspects of the world around you. Appreciate where you are. I'm excited to have a slightly new and fresh perspective on what was far too familiar to me after 5 months of being away.

Quick thoughts: I've just watched a trailer for "This Is It", a concert documentary of the production and rehearsals of Michael Jackson's last, ultimately unperformed tour. They're releasing it in late October. I think it IS a bit shameless that they're capitalizing on Jackson's death so soon, but I must admit that I'm also very interested in the film. He was intriguing in a slightly creepy way, especially in his later years. Also creepy is the fact that the rehearsal footage filmed for this movie was professionally photographed the day that Jackson died. He literally performed this concert, went home, and died. Very weird. 

R.I.P. Patrick Swayze. Nothing more needs to be said.

I'm beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable at the way America is idolized by New Zealanders. People here say things like "I want go to America! I want to see a Wal-Mart!" WHAT?? You don't need to see a Wal-Mart!!! Look at your country! It's beautiful. The large hand of our media reaches too far. I turn on the TV here and I see The Ghost Whisperer. No matter how much people and groups of people like to say that they hate America, they are also far too influenced by it. I don't think we're evil or anything, I just don't like seeing a degradation of one country's culture at the hands of another one thousands of miles away. The kids from Germany download "Friends" on their computers at home and don't watch any German television. Eh, maybe it's just the quality of our programming as compared to other nations. I just don't understand how something like "eating a sloppie Joe" could be someone's overseas dream. And yes, I've heard that as well.

How great is Seinfeld? I've just started getting into this show and I can't believe how smart it is. I'm buying "The Kramer" portrait for my wall when I get home.

Did my font change halfway through this post? I'll never figure out how to use this thing properly.

Finally, here's another album showing a bit of Wellington. I have more, and I'll put those up soon as well. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018314&id=1487820100&l=eed84d1f07

Alright, I'm going to go do some reading. Talk to you soon.

Bill

Beach Camping, Whangarei and a word on Chaos.

Up from Auckland we drove about 2.5 hours until deciding to jump off the road and set up camp at a Department of Conservation campgrounds. It was only 7 bucks a person, which definitely beat the 29ish that we had spent the previous night at the hostel. The site was directly outside of a beach with a spectacular view of the beginning of the Bay of Islands. We met a couple of really cool locals running the place. They were retired and basically just drove their camper down there every couple of weeks to be on the beach and talk to travelers. I strongly suspect that it was the ever-elusive "life" that people refer to when they say "this is the life". Our campgrounds had cold showers and toilets, which was also desirable. So yeah, that night was pretty cool. We were praying for clear skies so that we could start a fire on the beach. The awesome people running the place allowed us to start a really small fire, even though the D.O.C. really didn't want any open flames. I think they swayed their opinion when we accentuated just how important a fire was to us. 

It's interesting trying to make a fire when it's a bit more than just a source of entertainment or "something to do". Most of our food we had on us needed to be cooked and we were getting hungry. Even though the clouds ended up going away and giving us a beautiful, starry clear night, it was still a bit chilly, and so the fire became our only source of heat as well, not to mention light. It added a whole other element to the construction and conservation of the fire. I'm sure people who have been out camping more are very familiar with the *necessity* angle of an outdoor campfire, but I admit I haven't camped much and the feeling was new to me. It once again took quite a long time to start and maintain, but once the wood was dried out we had a pretty decent little rager going. The flames on the bottom even turned blue after a while. We cooked eggs and fish on our pans, and listened to the waves crash for many hours. It was probably our best night, and the feeling of accomplishment after working on the fire for so long coupled with the delicious fish resulting from our accomplishment made me quite satisfied. 

I think I was in a rather "contemplative" state here

One thing that I learned on this trip was the extraordinary versatility of a car on the road. It's uses are limitless. Chief among these newfound roles was the role of sleeping quarters. It's actually amazingly easy and quick to transform: it's simply a matter of reclining the passenger and driver seat to a 180 degree flat angle and laying a pillow and sleeping bag on top of this platform. Unfortunately, my tallness worked against me in this regard, and my toes ended up being in an awkward squished position, forced underneath the driving wheel. I was just a few inches short (or long, in this case) of comfortable. Cost of life on the road, I guess. The road is hard. It's rough, rough stuff. I have to mention the extraordinary deal I got on my sleeping bag. I found a 400 dollar sleeping bag for 69.99 at a buy and sell exchange store. It's really nice and has this expensive material that insulates heat to an amazing extent. It was freezing at night and I was really astounded by how comfortable and warm I was with my bag. One point for me. Steps for waking up and continuing on in the morning entailed raising the seat back up to sitting position and throwing the bag and pillow in the back. Brilliance.

Still sort of feels oddly like sleeping in an airplane

The next morning, I went for a walk along the solitary beach and watched the sun rise. Not bad at all. The entire area was relatively untouched by people, a very different beach than I'm used to (Narragansett Beach isn't exactly known for its lack of humans). I realized I was in desperate need of some hot water to make my oatmeal, and we didn't have the time or patience to start another fire up. After walking up the path to the older couple's camper, I asked the woman if there was any place that I could get some hot water on the premises. She then proceeded to take my water jug and fill it with boiled water from her own stove. While waiting for the water to boil, I ended up sticking around for a bit and talking to the man and women about their life and the Northlands in general. It was one of my favorite parts of the journey, experiencing these people and their laid back, happy and contented lifestyle for even a few minutes. I was struck by the way that these people trusted and aided complete strangers, engaging in such laid back and friendly conversation with us, both parties demonstrating an unspoken mutual trust in their fellow man. While walking away I thanked them one last time for helping us out, and the man said "No worries. That's what it's all about ay?" Yes, I think it is.

I didn't get a picture of them because that would've probably been a bit weird, so just imagine them in your minds. I'm sure you'll do alright.

The site of our fire the morning after. We drove our fire-prodding stick into the ground where the fire once was. We thought it'd look sort of epic. It didn't work out that way.

This is the beach the morning after the fire, with the small islands on the horizon

Big White in its resting state. This is our campground just outside of the beach.

Decently failed attempt at a timed jumping photo just before we left the beach

So, further North to Whangarei. At this point on the map we're at the part where the black line starts up the very Northern peninsula. It's was Friday at this point, I believe. A week goes by fast when you're covering so much area. Too fast for comfort, in fact. Whangarei is about halfway between Auckland and the Northern tip of New Zealand, and is the large settlement of the Northlands. We didn't end up going through the actual city much, but checked out a scenic lookout to take it in front a distance. It was quite beautiful, and I thought it was interesting how the people built an entire city in such a difficult geographic location. It reminded me of Wellington. In many of New Zealand's human settlements, an extraordinary resilience is seen to settle and survive; the citizens demonstrate a very impressive ability to maintain facilities and buildings on such steep hills, curvy valleys and coastal, water-filled areas. The roads reminded me of this resilience as well. They're almost stubbornly made, reflecting the citizens's wish to survive and live here no matter how ridiculous or inventive their living conditions had to become. 

At this point we went a bit further North to check out the scenic waterfalls flowing into the Whangarei river. This was probably the nicest day we had on our trip, and my favorite location. We had been to a couple of waterfalls before, and one might assume that upon our arrival at a THIRD waterfall, the "waterfall awe factor" might be dialed down a bit due to overuse. Not so. It was perfect. 

After sticking around under the falls for a bit, everyone wanted to go into town and get some food. I felt a strong urge to explore the waterfalls and river more, and so opted to take a couple hours to myself to walk the path along the river. It was a fantastic opportunity to enjoy some silence, space and solitude after so much driving, eating and sleeping in such enclosed spaces. The river and its surrounding areas were nothing short of idyllic. There's nothing like the sound of nothing but the trickling of water and exotic bird calls. It was my favorite experience on the trip. At several points along the river there were magnificent hanging trees with pond-jumping ropes hanging from their branches. I was very tempted to sample the ropes, but thought it'd be a bit weird doing it by myself. Here's a bit of a photo gallery of the waterfall and the river path.

The waterfall's bed is also known for its strange levitating properties

Some very exciting and original step structures on the path as well

More cool steps

Best tree ever

This reminded me of the Ewoks for some reason. Just me?

That's the waterfall in the distance. I think this is the most beautiful photo I've ever taken. It looks like a Thomas Kinkade painting. 

After coming back up and going back towards the car, I passed a small crowd of people walking towards the waterfall, two of which were dressed in ceremonial garb. They were both young and looked quite happy and I sensed the man between them was a religious official of some kind. I think they were going to get married under the waterfall. Amazing. I maintained my cool walking past them and then, after they had passed, took a stealth sneak attack photo from behind. Observe.

Let's see...it's Sunday afternoon now and I'm enjoying my last day of doing nothing before my second leg of school starts tomorrow. 6 more weeks and then I'm done with school. Weird feeling, considering most of my friends have started school this week. I banged a couple of essays out this last week so I have a delightful amount of nothing to get done today. Probably just helping the flatmates in preparing our flat for the coming weeks with some extensive cleaning, the sink is looking a bit full. It's funny how you swear to your self that your house will never become the "dirty college house" when you move in, and then after a couple weeks, no matter how hard you try, things just start to get messy. It's like this calculated, inevitable movement toward chaos. There's really no escaping from it. That's why we seize the rare days such as this when nobody has a single thing to do, and we combine our forces to drive Chaos back into a corner, buying us some time to regroup. We try to maintain an illusion of cleanliness as much as we can in these "regrouping stages". 

Midterms went well. When I say "midterms" here, I mean basically the week-long period when a ridiculous amount of essays are due. There's little testing or quizzing here and the grading is based on mostly essay writing. That's fine with me, as writing seems to be one of my strong points. I turned in 3 essays and have gotten one back. I got a "B" on it, which was fantastic for this particular class because it's very much over my head most of the time. It took this sociology class to try something new but I've realized that sociology isn't really for me.  I'm expecting to do better on the other two English essays.

As for right now, I'm just enjoying my leisureliness and listening to the Beatles. I still have to write about the Waitangei treaty grounds and The Shire. It always takes so many more words to write about these things than I anticipate. I guess I never realize how much I have to say until I actually sit down and start writing. I'll probably have another one up in another couple of days once I've eased back into classes. Take care.

----------------------------------------

"I am a pilgrim on the edge. 

On the edge of my perception. 

We are travelers at the edge. 

We are always at the edge of our perception"

-Scott Mutter

A few more photos and anecdotes.

So as I predicted, more photos surfaced on facebook and I thought I'd share them with you.

This was the beach we checked out during hour quick rest stop at Napier. Not the most impressive part of the trip, but still a pretty cool beach. A bit chilly.

Breakfast at the Taupo backpackers. I don't know why the picture looks like we're being attacked by a disembodied spirit. I'm eating oatmeal, which they call porridge, which I find funny. It's catching on though, as most things do eventually. I mostly call it porridge now.

Here are some more photos from Mt. Monganui.

This is the beach at the foot of the mountain where we ate our lunch. I was actually approached by quite an interesting character walking back from the car to our picnic spot. He looked very world-traveled and carried only a backpack and a walking stick with a big grey bushy beard. He stopped me and asked "Are you from New Zealand?" I grew very excited, as world-weary travelers with big beards are exactly the sort of cool people that I want to meet and talk to. No, I'm from America, I said. Rhode Island. Without missing a beat, he said "I've been telling people from Rhode Island for 25 years..." and then proceeded to lay out a solid five minute prediction of the detailed chain of events leading to the apocalypse, starting with "There's gonna be a pope from Belguim...", carrying on through a predicted web of increasingly unfortunate happenings to which I responded with great interest and concern (this was very much a "smile and nod" type situation), and ending with "...Putin pushes the button. Boom." Well sir, said I, I hope you're wrong. "I'm not wrong," said he, "I've been saying it for 25 years. So when a pope from Belguim is elected, get out of the Northern Hemisphere." Fair enough, I said. I will. Thank you. "Would you like to hear about the UFO's?" As much as I'd love to, I said, I've got to eat my sandwich now. And so he walked off into the distance, on his way to god knows where. I like to think he just walks the earth, spreading the word of the coming apocalypse. I didn't get a picture of him, sorry. But yeah, that happened on this beach. 

Here's a few group shots of us on the summit of the mountain. I'm sorry I look like I just killed a man in the first photo. I don't think I was ready.

This photo sums up our relaxing time atop the mountain. The sun was so brilliant it took my sunglasses and my hat to shield myself from it.

Here's us cooking and eating at the Tauranga Backpackers. Pasta and chicken, if I recall.

This photo captures the essence of our experience at the Taupo hot water pools, I made it my mission to make a peanut butter and nutella sandwich and eat it whilst being massaged by water from the earth. Success.

This was our first fire. Not the most successful as we weren't able to get it hot enough to cook food with, but it was impressive for our first time and basically only wet wood at our disposal.

Ah yes, and in other news I just bought tickets to see Roger Daltrey (lead singer for The Who) in November in New York City and am so excited that I had to slip the tour's promotional artwork in here. He's doing a solo tour, using his voice so as to keep it in shape between Who concerts. Awesome. Completely irrelevant to my trip but worthy of mention nonetheless. Love the tour name as well. 

"You're never too old to rock and roll if you're too young to die" - Jethro Tull.

Be back up with more stories and pictures in a few.

Going Mobile

So I'm back, and in complete defiance of the odds, I'm in one piece. My friend Kevin and I collectively drove over 2,000 kilometers in a period of eight days on the opposite side of the road (they drive on the right on France as well.) We rented a mid to late 90's Toyota Caldina hatchback (which from this point forward will be referred to as Big White), which was a fantastic (and very reasonably priced) road trip vehicle and occasional sleeping quarters. More on the logistics of comfortably sleeping in a car later. 

Quick thoughts on driving on the opposite side: It's extremely nerve wracking and slightly nauseating for the first hour or two, to the point that the adrenaline drains nearly all of the energy out of you. I slept very, very well after the first night of driving. Basically every time a car comes around the corner, you feel like it's on a head-on collision with you because your subconscious assumes that it's going to be hurtling down the left side of the road. It's basically a contest of wills between your conscious mind and your subconscious, habit-based reflexes. I think after the first couple of days it became easier. However, once the driving became easier, it became dangerous because you're tempted to let your guard down a bit and stop focusing as much. There emerges an illusion of mastery that is soon shattered when you find yourself (once there is an open, car-less road ahead of you) driving on the right side without even thinking about it.  This happened a couple times and was usually followed by loud shouts of sudden revelation and then some nervous laughter following the correction. I also had to get used to roundabouts, which are really the most ingenius form of traffic flow ever intvented. Forget about stop signs, just remember to yield to the right. It makes things move so much quicker.

First lunch break outside of the Wellington region.

So, A lot of driving for one week. Some might say a bit too much. I think we covered enough locations for a two week trip, and may have spent more time driving than relaxing. However, it's definitely a great accomplishment. I'm going to have more "people pictures" as other people's photos pop up on facebook. I'll be sure to put some put here once I get ahold of them. Here's a map of our route across the North Island. I've highlighted it in black:

The southernmost tip is Wellington, where I live. We took different routes up and down so as to see different parts of the country. Near the middle of the island is Lake Taupo, where our two routes intersect. The path up the east coast and continuing on the east side is our route up, while the track on the west side represents our route back down. We jetted up through the Northlands on the one accessible main highway. Our final destination, way up near the top of the map, was Waitangei. This is the signing site of New Zealand's important founding document, appropriately titled "The Treaty of Waitangei". One thing that I did not take into consideration is the fact that roads in New Zealand are not nearly as efficient or as well-maintained as U.S. highways. There's basically 2 main "superhighways": SH1 and SH2. Most of the time, these are merely 2-lane roads with the occasional passing lane emerging on each side. Most of the roads are curvy and constant road maintenance is prominent. Pretty much the only part of the road system that resembled the size of a U.S. highway was the stretch of road up north through the Auckland area, which was due to the large percentage of commerce and population located in that area (about half the population of New Zealand). This sometimes aggrivatingly inefficient road system coupled with the left side swapping made our driving experience a bit slower than expected, but New Zealand is only an island after all, and we got around in a decent amount of time in the end. Some Road pictures:

Wind Farm on the horizon.

A man outside a local store jamming. That's what it's all about.

The first day was probably the most driving intensive, as we drove straight up from Wellington through Napier to Taupo. Napier is the first location that the black line touches the east coast coming up from Wellington. It's a small city known for its vineyards and its wine country, but we didn't take up too much time there, as Napier is within driving distance for a weekend drive sometime in the future. We took an hour or so break and checked out the beach. We then drove through Napier on to Taupo, the place where all the lines intersect in the middle of the island. The weather in Taupo could've been better, but I can't complain due to the amazing geothermal pools that we found flowing into the river. Taupo has a natural reserve overlooking the river, and downhill through this reserve flows hot water from deep beneath the earth. It's not boiling, but not lukewarm, but really the perfect temperature that you would set a hot bath to. The water comes right out of the earth with force and forms large sandy pools in periodic locations down the hill, surging downwards until it intersects with the Taupo river. We must have spent hours just sitting in these pools, switching to different points (some locations were like calm baths, while others near the point of origin were like a waterjet massage). I know this may sound disgusting, but the main attraction of the hot pools was the level earthly manure that flowed inside of it. Apparently it's very good for your skin. This was a bit off-putting at first, but it's not like you're literally bathing in a pool of feces and I soon got past it. I really started to notice a very soothing, clean feeling during and after my time in the pools. The rocks under the pools were as smooth and frictionless as glass due to the prolonged exposure to the surging waters. I didn't take any pictures of the hot water streams but I'll have some up once someone else's pictures pop up on facebook, haha. During our time at Taupo we also checked out a mighty waterfall further down the river. It was impressive and I'm looking forward to going down and kayaking on the river on some future weekend when the Taupo sun decides to come out, haha. 

This was a good duck. It posed for me.

Our first of three Backpacker stays was in Taupo. It was the most expensive Backpackers and probably the least impressive, but that's not saying it wasn't awesome. Backpackers are really cheap places to stay with communal kitchens and lounges. They're basically a place for like-minded (sometimes very exhausted) travelers to hang out in the same place and just have a good time in a warm, sheltered place. This hostel's lounge had a pool table and some very comfortable couches. Overall I'd give it a 7.5/10. I realized after my first Backpackers stay, however, that I'd prefer to stay in a Backpackers over a hotel any days of the week. It's much more real and the vibe is one of mutual cooperation and friendliness. Everyone says 'hello' to each other and finds mutual understanding in complete strangers, reveling in the excitement of travel and life on the road. The people running the places seem to be much more genuine and authentic about their friendliness as well, much more so than the generic, sterile and pressed hotel employee. 

The next day we drove through Rotorua, and I inhaled the egglike fumes that I had so desperately missed for two months. It was a bit strange seeing all the places I had been for orientation two months later; I couldn't believe so much time had passed. We only stayed here for an hour or so, taking a break from driving and taking a quick look at the hot thermal pools. From Rotorua we drove North another hour to Tauranga and Mt. Monganui. The mountain was described as the coolest place in New Zealand by the kiwi that lives underneath me, so we made it a priority. Scaling the mountain took place on a gorgeous day and the summit overlooked the ocean, rolling forests and a beautiful city all in one. It was about 45 minutes to the top and 30 back down (as it is decidedly much easier walking downhill).We spent a solid three hours just relaxing on top of the mountain and drinking in the scenery and scents of the ocean. In ranking my favorite locations on the trip, I think this comes in a respectable third. Don't let this deceive you, however; choosing my favorite location on this trip is like choosing a favorite child. They're all wonderful. Again, I'll put some more pictures up when they pop up on facebook.

The beginning of the pathway up the mountain from the beach.

I've never been to Ireland, but the mountainside was very close to what I imagine it looks like.

I'm not good at self-picture taking.

From Monganui (the second point touching the NorthWest coast known as the Bay of Plenty), we headed North for Auckland, Whangarei and Waitangei. The area above Auckland is known as The Northlands and is subtropical in climate. It was a solid 3 hours to Auckland and then another 1 hour to our campsite. We took an hour or so to stop and rest in Auckland. This was the second time I've been to New Zealand's version of a big city, and I've come to the decision that I don't really care for it. It's huge and loud, as a cities usually are, but it lacks any sort of defining characteristics that places like Boston or even Wellington count on to be considered a unique and special place. Auckland also lacks any sort of "New Zealand" vibe. The country as a whole is much quieter and laid back than America, and I find that Wellington as a city is wonderfully reflective of that. While definitely more urban than most of the rest of the country, Wellington is an interesting average between a standard "city" and the rural atmosphere of New Zealand. It's nestled right inside a beautiful tree-populated harbor and there isn't a skyscraper to be found. There is really no traffic congestion and it is VERY rare to hear the beep of a horn. These little "New Zealand" traits are the reasons that I find Wellington special, and I don't think that Auckland is reflective any of it's countries unique characteristics. It's just trying to be a big city like New York, Hong Kong or London. Anyways, I got a coke and walked around the harbor and bit, and then pressed further North to Whangarei.

Next ish: Whangarei Waterfalls (also known as the most beautiful place I've ever seen), the Waitangei Treaty signing grounds, and The Shire. What's that? Oh, yeah, I saw The Shire. Stick around, more blogging after these messages.