EVEN IF HE HADN’T BEEN A KIWI, Peter Jackson couldn’t have found a better Middle Earth than New Zealand. It’s time and place of hobbits and heroes, dwarves and elves, orcs and trolls and wizards, both good and evil. It’s a land of misty mountains, enchanted forests, rushing rivers and blue lakes.
Misty Mountains...
Enchanted Forests...
Blue Lakes
We have been sampling the scenery from Lake Wanaka down to Queenstown. The Hobbits et. al. have moved on but we’ve found enough beautiful birds that we hardly miss them.
Australasian Grebe
Greenfinch
Paradise Shellducks
New Zealand isn’t a budget destination but we have found a series of tidy apartments where we can cook our own meals and live comfortably for under $100/day. Our Toyota Yaris has barely enough power to climb the winding mountain roads but it has gotten us where we want to go. And with any kind of luck it will get us back to Christchurch in time for our flight to Hawaii — but not in time for a visit to town. Our loss.
Middle Earth by Tolkein himself
Yes, we are still hopeful that our flights won’t be cancelled. But if worse comes to worst, Middle Earth isn’t a bad place to be stuck. Worst case scenario, just scatter my ashes in Middle Earth.
