by Dustin Kudler | Apr 13, 2015 | Uncategorized
As we made our way south for our first great walk (Tongariro Northern Circuit) Katie and I went to Matamata to visit the Hobbiton Movie Set, which is at the Alexander family farm. As you’ll see in the photos, the set consists of 44 hobbit holes of various sizes to enable the filmmakers to capture the magic and bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s story to life.
The effort put forth by Peter Jackson and his team demonstrates how far filmmakers will go to ensure that no detail is overlooked; nothing was too small to be worthwhile in creating a realistic and believable Hobbiton.
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by Katie | Apr 12, 2015 | Uncategorized
We set off this morning with high hopes. Or rather I had very optimistic expectations, despite the drizzling rain; Dustin was slightly more realistic. The clouds looked much higher than they did yesterday, and I was nearly certain that our hike of the Franz Josef Glacier would go off without a hitch. It looked like there was plenty of visibility for the helicopters to safely take off and land on the glacier, depositing us in an exotic world of ice to explore for several hours.
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by Katie | Apr 1, 2015 | New Zealand
One of the things Dustin and I really wanted to do in New Zealand was some hiking, or tramping as the kiwis call it. There are eight Great Walks and one Great Journey (goes down a river, so it’s not classed as a walk) that are the crowning jewels of the many beautiful walks and hikes in the country. To get us started, we decided to do the Tongariro Northern Circuit, a 40 km, 3 day hike around Tongariro National Park. This decision was largely based on the fact that Mt. Ngauruhoe was used by Peter Jackson for Mount Doom, and the lava fields below for Mordor.
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by Dustin Kudler | Apr 1, 2015 | New Zealand
There’s nothing like a match that’s running into its 9th hour, separated by only 25 runs with less than 5 overs remaining to put you on the edge of your seat, am I right? Unfamiliar with the sport I’m referring to? It’s cricket and as we learned it’s quite entertaining after you figure out the rules of play.
Since we started our trip Katie and I have experienced a bit of Irish luck when it comes to being in the right place at the right time. In this case we just happened to pick an excellent time to be traveling in New Zealand where the the 2015 Cricket World Cup was being hosted. Capitalizing on our good fortune we bought two tickets to the South Africa vs. Pakistan match. Between the two of us we had watched a combined 0 seconds of cricket. Due to our deficit in cricket knowledge we spent the first hour trying to figure out the rules of the play. For those who want a quick overview of the rules, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPXAzgwwo0A
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by Katie | Mar 19, 2015 | New Zealand
Our arrangement with Simon was that we would work three hours in the morning, and then we could stay at the “Hilton.” We needed to provide our own meals, but with our own small kitchen and the bounty of his garden available, it was a pleasure.
Sunset at Onetangi beach
We settled in to our little routine nicely, which went like this:
1) Wake up and make tea, and while watching the birds in Simon’s yard eat breakfast. We still need to figure out what types of birds they were specifically, but there were four primary types that spent the mornings near the pear tree: (more…)
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