Hello fellow travellers,
This is part two of my blog, covering my six months journey through the world. Still in New Zealand, we will travel from the bubbling pools of Mordor to the lush green of the Shire and beyond. If you are interested in the other blog posts, you can find them here:
Part 1:
https://steemit.com/travel/@icountedzero/six-months-of-freedom-new-zealand-part1
After finally making peace with the Coromandel Peninsula, we jumped back into our trusty ride, Eduard, and headed Southwest to the small city of Rotorua and their boiling and bubbling mud pools. 2003 a small vulcano errupted near the city center, transforming the once lush city park to a steeming, smoking vulcano wonderland. (Sulfurus "egg smell" included)
"No swimming" signs are posted on every corner. I don't know who the heck wants to swim here anyway.
Sauron has to hide somewhere around here...
Our desire for boiled eggs faded immediately
Two things you get used to traveling New Zealand very fast, are the distinct smell around vulcanos and GERMAN TOURISTS. It seems to be a thing in Germany to go to NZ in your gap year, so all the hostels are FLOODED with german youngsters between the age of 17 and 23. (Once a busdriver asked me, if there were any germans left in germany :) ) Don't get me wrong, we are living in Austria and are very fond of our German neighbours, but the thing is, travelling youngsters seek different expiriences than the average traveller and for most of them it doesn't make a difference if they are partying in Christchurch or in Ko Samui, so sometimes travelling on a low budget can be quite annoying.
Fleeing from Modor we were heading for "The Shire" in the heart of the northern Island. As we are both big LOTR fans, we just couldn't skip this expensive tourist trap. Shame on us. (The ticket was around 70 NZ$ :( ) Looking back i still do not regret going there, as they kept the place in lovely shape (Most of the plants are real) and the tour around the village took around two hours and included lots of insider information and a free beer at "The Green Dragon Inn".
The Shire, including "Bag End" at the top of the hill
Most of the houses are empty, but still there is quite a hands on mentality when it comes to exploring the place
"Bags End" featuring the famous oak at it's top....
...which is one of the few things completely artificial. The tour guide shared the story of Peter Jackson recognizing the plastic leaves beeing the wrong color and having all of the 400.000 repainted by hand just before the filming started. To artificially age the wood around The Shire one person, probably a poor student, was busy for two months smearing the doors and fences with a mixture of yoghurt and moss.
Driving west we were heading for another potential tourist trap, the Waitomo Glowworm caves, we, scared by the price, luckily skipped for a smaller guided tour around private caves. (As you might see in later posts, we found some "wild" glowworm caves too.) These strange creatures are actually non-flying bugs that are producing a sticky string hanging from the ceiling, waiting for an unware victim to fly along -> straight out of a horror movie. They are dwelling near underground rivers and seas.
Sticky glowworm strings, waiting for their prey
Hard to capture on pictures, but you get the idea
Our guide used a classic magnesia latern to flood the impressive caves with brigth light for a few seconds
Now we know why peaple on vintage photos always narrow their eyes to a small slit
In the upcoming posts we are discovering the thermal baths, rainforests and beaches of New Zealand before taking off to Fidji and beyond. If you enjoyed this post and want to support me and my work, feel free to Upvote/Resteem/Follow.
Thank you for reading.
Florian
Awesome photo ;)
Thank you, i am glad you like it!
Deutsche sind echt überall.
Ich mag sie trotzdem.... :) Als ich vor einigen Jahren am Ende der Welt zu Weihnachten in Indonesien auf einer einsamen Insel mit nur drei Schlafplätzen angekommen bin, ist mir schon ein "Hallöchen" entgegenschallmeit, da musste ich doch grinsen.
Bin öfter in Peru. Da passiert mir sowas auch immer. :D
Schade ist nur, dass viele Deutsche ihr Heimatland nicht kennen. Es ist vielleicht nicht hip nach Celle, Helgoland oder auf die Bastei zu fahren, doch finde ich, dass man ZUERST mal zu hause alles abklappern sollte. Oder nicht?
Ich muss ehrlich gestehen, dass ich mir die Reisen die ich mir jetzt antue, mit 60 wahrscheinlich nicht geben kann/will, weswegen ich viele nahe Ziele noch auf der "ToDo" Liste habe. Momentan will ich es noch schwierig und weit weg haben, aber die Zeiten werden sich ändern, und dann erkunde ich die vermeintliche Nähe.
Heide Hetzer mit Mitter 70 im Oldtimer um die Welt.
Schweizer Ehepaar reist mit über 70 noch um die Welt
Alles noch möglich, wenn man sich gut hält ;)
Yes, this is true.
Hello from a fellow traveller! Oh my goodness!!!! At first when you were quoting Lord of the Rings stuff I was thinking that you were making a joke... But you were being serious! And in the later photos I realized that! I had no idea that this place exsisted, and am totally amazed!! You have made me want to travel New Zeland to see all of this <3
I am so in love with this post! Upvoted & Followed!!
Best wishes,
Stephanie
P.S. I look forward to more!!!
Thank you so much for your reply, i am glad i was able to transport the beauty of these places. If you like nature and LOTR you definitely should go to NZ. The movie set is in perfect shape, an although being quite expensive, for me it was totally worth it. The Kiwis (that's what the New Zealandians were calling them selves) are amazingly friendly too, despite seeing millions of tourists every year.
Wow! That is fantastic :D Well you've definitely convinced me that NZ is a place I must see!! I have heard that it is just stunning!! Thanks for the info :D <3
Sehr schöner Beitrag! Neuseeland steht noch auf meiner Bucketlist. Mir ist mal ein deutsches Pärchen welches ich auf einer Reise in Norwegen kennen gelernt habe, Jahre später an einem Strand auf den Philippinen entgegen gekommen.
Für Low-Budget und trotzdem weniger Trubel, kann ich dir den Camino de Santiago im Norden Spaniens empfehlen.
Ja, die Welt ist kleiner als man meinen möchte :)! In Spanien habe ich es bis jetzt nur in den Süden (Sevilla) geschafft (und beruflich nach Alicante). Danke für den Tipp, die ersten Fotos die da im Browser erscheinen sehen vielversprechend aus. Vielen Dank, ich bin immer auf der Suche nach "Geheimtipps".
Bezüglich Neuseeland, ich verrate es ja schon im Post, ist es für mich persönlich, bis jetzt, der schönste Fleck der Erde den ich besuchen durfte. In keinem anderen Land habe ich bis jetzt eine solche unglaubliche Dichte an verschiedenen Landschaften und Klimazonen gesehen.
Do not forget my vote yes, 100% okay
Thank you, there is more coming up soon!
Congratulations @icountedzero, this post is the second most rewarded post (based on pending payouts) in the last 12 hours written by a Dust account holder (accounts that hold between 0 and 0.01 Mega Vests). The total number of posts by Dust account holders during this period was 3825 and the total pending payments to posts in this category was $1204.95. To see the full list of highest paid posts across all accounts categories, click here.
If you do not wish to receive these messages in future, please reply stop to this comment.
can you follow me and upvote my post i geuss no wyh ? cuz you are @icountedzero you dont have a time for me yeah and i have been here and i found nothing i cant make my first dollar i want just a followers and upvotes its easy but i dont know why i cant get the support i write the blogs and hope to get the comment and the upvote but i get nothing guys it so Tired me up but what i can do thank you for redding this shiit i have wrote respect
OMG the first photo is unreal!
Thank you, it really is an unreal scenery, especially because it's in the heart of the city!
that shot is inside a city?? Looks like a forest
Yeah, it's in the center of Rotorua town ->
Thanks for this fantastic view into your world of travel.
Thank you very much for your kind words!
Congratulations @icountedzero! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPWow its amazing how this post get 134$ ?
I honestly have no clue, I am amazed myself, i thought maybe it will do a dollar or two from people who enjoy travelling as much as i do. Thank you so much guys!
Wow awesome post and congrats fro your thats much vote.
Thank you, I am glad you like it!
uploded nice photography
Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed the post.
Scotland and New Zealand are very similar in their landscapes. No wonder they gave those Hobbits a Scottish accent.
It is said the Scottish accent is more mellow for a kids mindset puts them at ease more. You can see it in other films like Shrek and with Mrs Doubtfire too.
I haven't made it to Scotland now, but the cliffs on the southern island (upcoming post), look like i imagine scottland. There was a lot of wind too (i imagine scottland to be very windy, correct me if i am wrong)
Scotland has like gale force winds, rain, hail and a lack of sunshine.
Hopefully I`ll catch that post in my daily feed soon and many thanks too.
i am looking forward to it!
Thank you so much for your appreciation guys. I don't know why this post got so much attention and who made this happen, but it blew my mind! I :)
that's what i called "the art of nature", they looked quiet, stay by ground or where ever they lying to, but much stories can be tell to any people when they're visit n make few great moments there.
Great photography! I'm not used to the Shire 😄 but it looks very funny, just like a surreal rendering from a movie hehe..
Thank you for sharing these gems of impressions!
Thank you very much for your kind words. If you are not into Lord of the rings, you probably won't like The Shire... :)
I like how the photographs you took of 'The Shire' looks right in place in the LOTR films. Excellent video quality.
It was pretty easy because the place is in such a perfect shape, you would expect bilbo to walk around the corner every minute!
LOL, yeah. I half expected a scene where Bilbo opens his door and sees a lady in a 21st century rain coat just standing there. LOL.
yeah, i expected gandalf to appear right around every corner. They told us the scene where Gandalf hit his head inside Bilbos home was actually "real" and not scripted. The actor bumped his head really hard but continued to "act" so the scene made it into the final cut. :)
Nice post! I love LOTR! if you plan to go to Singapur, Vietnam, Burma, Thailand or Cambodia in your 6 months journey, feel free to follow me! there are lots of tips that I can give you!
My best wishes and have fun!
Thank you very much for your offer. I actually have been in all these countries, as you will see in the upcoming posts. If i ever come back i will gladly contact you!
Looks like an amazing journey! I have always wanted to go to New Zealand and see the Shire, it looks so idyllic. You say that most of the houses were empty, could you walk in and see them from the inside? :) And did they film mordor by those sulfur ponds?
Really great post and beautiful pictures!! And you earned back the money for those tickets 😋
Thank you, i am happy i could transport my love for NZ through my pictures. Yes, most of the houses were empty beside some decoration behind the windows, one could see from the outside. I was amazed that we were actually allowed to enter most of the houses (they built some 40+ in the Shire), but there was not much to see inside, besides some wooden floorboards and the occasional gardening tool. :) (We were not allowed to enter "Bag End") (All the indoor scenes were actually shot in a studio anyway)
"Mount Doom" is actually a vulcano in New Zealand, we came across it, as you might see in upcoming posts.
As for the voting. I have no clue were it came from and why it happend. ( Actually I thought people will call me stupid for paying 60€ to see the Shire, but most of the Steemians seem to love LOTR as much as i do.. :) )
Oh, I did not know that the indoor scenes were shot in a studio. But it makes sense that they were.
Looking forward to reading about Mount Doom! I hope it looks as dramatic as it sounds 😋
I think most people love LOTR 😁 I would also pay 60€ to see the shire! Any day!
You've brought back so many memories, from rotten-egg Rotorua to glowworms. Thank you! I also bought into the crazy expensive Hobbiton tour, no regrets. At that time, they were only talking about turning the Green Dragon Inn into a pub, it's cool that they did so.
The Green Dragon Inn was amazing, they had a lit fireplace and hobbit sized furniture (beside "real" sized) They offered a few different craft brews inside, and there was enough room to fit 60 people. The guide told us, in the future people will be able to marry in the garden of the inn... :)
That's so cool! It's obvious they put so much care into the grounds, and now it sounds like in the inn as well.
Congratulations @icountedzero! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPAs a huge LOTR fan myself, i crave to explore New Zealand. Cheers!
NZ is one of the few countrys i can recommend with all of my heart, if you every get the chance to go there, do it!
I will make that happen one day. Seen a lot of the landscape through the making of the LOTR series on Youtube. Funny thing is though, i once met a family from New Zealand in Amsterdam, and they had never seen the LOTR movies or read any of the books lol.
I guess it is a bit similar living in Austria. Everywhere i go, people ask me about "The sound of music", which somehow seems to be popular around the world, specially in Asia. I don't know a single in Austria who has seen the movie... :)
Yeah i guess it's all about the global perception of what a country is famous for. Cheers!
Wow , beautiful photos! You are talented! I follow you!
Thank you, i am glad you like them!
WOW! seems like you had a blast ! Wonderful pictures.
Thank you, we really had!