More NZ pics

After a few days in Auckland, we also went to Rotorua. And Hobbiton. It was awesome--saw a few museums, saw a Maori show, saw where they filmed the Hobbit -- it was a really, really good time.

(Hobbiton, si. Hobbiton is way out of the way--it's on a sheep farm in the middle of nowhere--but it's actually a lot of fun to walk around and see it. They filmed exterior shots only here--the interiors were done in a studio in Wellington--so the hobbit holes are all exteriors only. What I found super interesting is that there are duplicate hobbit holes of different sizes. It's normal human size for humans, like 3/4s size for Gandalf, who's supposed to be enormously tall, and bizarrely huge in order to make the actors who play the hobbits look small.)

(I took this photo in Rotorua at a thermal village we went to. It was really awesome -- so they make a living doing tours for tourists, but it's a real place that people live. They basically live on top of hot springs. So they have public baths that they swim in, they can cook in the hot springs, you name it. There are all these houses and in between them are thermal vents, mud pools, and so on. Really really interesting. The guide was fantastic, too. I liked this photo because in the front is a Maori style cross on a church and in the back is a western style cross, different church.)

(This is from the thermal village again. Just look at that -- isn't that gorgeous?)

NZ was so much fun. It was a great break and I loved being there with my parents to see everything. I ate delicious food the whole time, saw two movies in theaters, and felt like I was away from Vanuatu. I love Vanuatu, but something about being in NZ ... It was amazing to feel like I was away and super clean and able to do all of these tourist things. I loved it and I would love to go back sometime.

Next update ... VANUATU FOR XMAS.