Having babbled on at some length as to the virtues of Dunedin, it is now time to turn my attention to my other favourite Kiwi city - which also happens to be the countries capital – the city of Wellington. Wellington is tucked away on the southern tip of the North island, and most travellers will visit, even if only on their way to the ferry. It would be a shame to skip … [Read more...]
The ongoing quest for middle earth
I know I know. It’s starting to become a bit of an obsession. More so than the lighthouses. Even Vera is starting to think I’m getting a bit weird with all this Tolkien searching. But still. Since I’m in New Zealand, and I am a slight Lord of the Rings fan (addicted since I was about five I think, when parts of the book were read out at a class assembly for some reason), it … [Read more...]
What Hobbiton taught me
I recently visited the set of the Lord of the Rings filming location for Hobbiton in New Zealand. Sadly, that is about all I am allowed to actually write about the experience, due to a rather impressive looking piece of legal paper I had to sign that I’m pretty sure gives Peter Jackson the rights to my first born if I tell you any more. So don’t be expecting any lovely … [Read more...]
Carrots, waterfalls and Gollum
I have been doing my homework recently on this whole blogging thing, with particular focus on the mystical world of SEO. SEO, for those of you not in the know (turns out I can rhyme too), is the art of optimising a site so that it is friendly to search engines, and by search engines, I mean Google. The idea is that people go onto the web searching for something, and as a … [Read more...]
A Guide to the Tongariro Crossing and Climbing Mount Doom
Ok, so I know it’s not really called Mount Doom. Hardy hobbits did not trudge many miles bearing the one ring of power and throw it into the fires of this mountain, which dominates the landscape here for miles around. Yes, it’s real name is a Maori word: Ngauruhoe (pronounced, from what I can tell, Nara-ho-ee). But still, you can’t help but peer at it, knowing that … [Read more...]