Middle-Earth goes 'squish'

[lederhosen]

So, we parted from our host at Lake Taupo and caught the bus down to Wellington. We spent the following day doing a LotR bus tour of the area. Lots of locations (Rivendell, Orthanc, Minas Tirith/Helm's Deep, Anduin, the road to Buckleberry Ferry), with lots of "if you look at this still from the movie, you can recognise THIS TREE!" moments.

Which isn't something I go crazy about, but the locations are pretty and the guide really knew her stuff. At one point she mentioned that she'd watched Viggo's nude scenes from Eastern Promises repeatedly in order to see where his Fellowship tattoo was and certainly not for any other reason. Sort of like a red-headed walking commentary track! The tour buses are named "Tiki", "Aragorn", and "Figwit", which latter might give some idea of the levels of concentrated geekiness involved.

There was also a photo-op, but I am not going to talk about that and if Rey has ANY DECENCY she will not post the results. If she does, I ask you all to remember that I was FORCED INTO THAT GET-UP.

We also visited Weta Workshops (apparently a script exists for a Dr. Grordbort movie!) and the Weta Cave (where we exchanged money for shinies), and our guide pointed out Peter Jackson's house as we drove past. Rey spotted him at the kitchen window, washing the dishes, and much squeeing ensued.

Sadly we'd only allowed one day in Wellington - definitely an oversight, will have to come back some time, it looks lovely. Next day we got on the ferry and sailed to Picton, where we checked out the aquarium (rehab penguin! Awwww!) and then drove on to Charleston. Today, we did a very good cave tour with glow-worms and our first live weta, and then drove on to Franz Joseph.

Rainy days so far: 11/11. V. damp.

BTW, is long hair on men less common in NZ? I'm getting "ma'am"-ed about twice a day, which is well above my usual average.

Comments

[17catherines]

I shall email reynardo at once! These photos are clearly required for the greater good of the community.

[lederhosen]

Did I mention that there was another guy on the tour who looked almost exactly like me, but with less dignity?

[17catherines]

... I find this hard to picture ...

(maybe reynardo could post photos of both of you side by side, for the sake of comparison. And public education, of course)

[lederhosen]

*grumble*

I wonder if there was anything in Rey's wedding vows that covered this situation. Something about not forcing one's spouse into the human equivalent of Cat Prin.

[17catherines]

You know, I can't make any useful comment on whether this is appropriate or inappropriate behaviour on Rey's part without seeing the photos, but I'm sure that she would be more grammatical in her captions than the Cat Prin people, and surely that is the greatest offence perpetrated by that particular website...

Let's have some objective, evidence-based science here!

(and really, did you really imagine you could post a remark like that and not have everyone you know clamouring for photographic evidence?)

[trixtah]

Wellington is the best city in the world.

As for the "ma'am"ing - ugh, the frigging "sir" and "ma'am" thing was a recent import and I hate it.

And I haven't been sirred so much as I have been here in Australia (but then I left NZ before those terms became woefully prevalent) - but there certainly aren't any fewer men with long hair back home. Maybe because you've been hanging out in hick towns? (This said with no ire) Did it happen in Wgtn?

As for damp days, yes, end of winter/beginning of spring. Rain happens. :-)

[lederhosen]

Actually, now I think about it, it was more "ladies" than "ma'am". Gender confusion seemed to happen in both small and large towns equally.

We were expecting a bit of rain when we planned the trip, and traded that off against cheaper rooms/smaller crowds for off-season, so it's not so bad. I just enjoy an occasional grumble :-)