Is There a Top or a Bottom to One's Bucket List?

When asked what was on my bucket list of travel destinations, New Zealand has always been at the top (or does one seek to get to the bottom of the list?) of mine.  Ever since seeing the first Lord of the Rings movie back in 2001, I have wanted to visit.  I had never been to Australia or New Zealand, and when faced with the reality of just how far away those places are, we were invariably asked "why don't you do both countries at the same time."  I never seriously considered that, and if I asked if I had a preference, New Zealand was always the clear and easy winner.

Traveling as far as the literal other side of the world would demand more than a traditional week-long vacation, and with the reality of the southern hemisphere having reverse seasons, I guess I always knew we'd have to visit during our winter.  Earlier this year, we decided to finally bite the bullet and go "down under" over the Christmas/New Year break.  That would allow Anna to come along -- and she had threatened us with bodily harm if she couldn't go with us -- and also make the fact of missing so much time from work more palatable.

Planning started early in the new year, as I tried to secure award airline tickets the day the booking calendar opened.  Even with that foresight, it was very quickly evident that the holiday weeks are, in fact, the highest of high season for New Zealand, so the reality of finding award tickets quickly dimmed.  I even went against my normal modus operandi, and retained a "booking expert," to track ticket availability.  After weeks of searching, she too admitted that our prospects were all but non-existent.  This was all compounded by the reality that I did not think I could make such a long trip in a coach airline seat.  I dreaded the thought, and we decided that if we were going to go, we were going to make it worth our while and do everything we could to book business-class tickets.

As I continued to search for award tickets, I also tracked revenue fares, and tried every conceivable combination of fares that could be upgraded, or buying multiple tickets, and all kinds of "creative" routings.  I can't recall how I first stumbled onto it, but I found a very attractive round-trip business-class fare on Air China, from New York to Auckland, via Beijing.  While Air China flies non-stop from Dulles, the cost of that routing was about 50% more expensive than the New York routing.  Having decided to pull the trigger on those tickets, an extended period of planning followed.  I wanted to maximize our time, and seeing that it was high season, everything I read emphasized that I had to book as far in advance as possible for hotels and activities.  With the tickets purchased in March 2019, I then spent the next month or so finalizing our itinerary and booking everything I could in advance.  Even with the two weeks we had managed to squeeze in between Anna's end of term and New Years, it was clear we could only see a subset of what New Zealand had to offer.  Our favorite tour company -- Gate 1 -- actually does a two-week trip to New Zealand.  We looked into booking it, and taking out all the guess work, but they did not offer an option for triple rooms, and the trip left a day earlier than we planned.  Having no idea that far out when Anna's final exams might occur, it was too much of a risk to book the earlier date, aside from the prohibitive cost differential.  In the end, I ended up pretty much parroting the Gate 1 itinerary, day for day.  That also allowed us to augment things as we wanted, but also gave me an idea of what was feasible on a day-to-day basis, especially for traveling between towns along the way.

With everything in place and, for all intents and purposes, everything booked in advance by April -- even our Christmas Day dinner -- that left us with eight long months of anticipation.  Even with all that, our ultimate departure was fraught with uncertainty up to the very end.

The Gate 1 Itinerary We Closely Mirrored

No Plan is Foolproof...

With so much time between booking the trip and actually leaving, I began to think we were never going to leave.  It was not until Thanksgiving rolled around that it really started to sink in.  With a shorter-than-usual period between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, the departure date seemed to sneak up on us.  We also had some worrisome time earlier in the fall, while we waited for Anna's schedule for final exams to be published.  As it turned out, exams at GW were not due to end until 19 December, the day AFTER we were to leave.  Forcing ourselves to not try to plan for a contingency were Anna to have a late exam, we were very relieved in early November, when we learned her last exam would be the 17th, giving us a whole day of cushion.

As we counted down and reached the two-week window, fate decided to challenge us.  Exactly two weeks before we were to leave, almost to the hour, K announced that she could not see clearly out of her left eye.  Out of the blue, she had what she described as a veil or spider web across her field of vision.  During an eye exam earlier in the year, her ophthalmologist had noted that the vitreous fluid in K's right eye was contracting (as happens with time), which was causing "sparkles" to appear from time to time.  He told her at the time to contact him if they ever got worse, as it could be a sign of a retinal detachment.  The problems K had just developed, however, were different, and in the other eye.  She elected to go to bed and hope it improved by morning.  It didn't.  In fact, it had worsened.  She elected to go to work while I tried to reach the ophthalmologist.  I called their emergency number, and the doctor immediately called back and said K needed to got to a retinal specialist immediately.  He called to expedite a visit, while I called K from work.  She had driven to the office, but was already regretting it.  She had a very hard time seeing, and the vision was getting worse.  I turned around, left work, and drove to pick her up.  The doctor was located close to her office.  Long story short.  After almost three hours at the doctor's and after multiple tests and exams, they determined that she had had a vitreous hemorrhage; basically, she was bleeding into the inside of the eye, and the expanding blood pool was causing the vision problems.  There was too much blood for them to clearly determine if the retina had torn, separated, or if it was "simply" a burst blood vessel.  The only way to know for sure was to perform a vitrectomy, in which they essentially drain the eye.  That would allow them to see (and repair) a tear, or reattach the retina.  The doctor explained that as part of the surgery, they would inject a bubble of noble gas into the eye.  While that would dissipate over time, it would be impossible to fly with the gas bubble in place, as the change in pressure could lead to blindness.   When we told the doctor we were to leave in less than two weeks, his first statement was, "well, you will to file a claim on your travel insurance, yes?"  He further explained that if the retina was detached, it would be six to eight weeks before the gas dissipated and K could fly.  If there was a tear, it would be three to six weeks.  If it was a burst blood vessel, it would depend on the size of rupture before he could estimate an "all-clear-for-travel" window.  None of that seemed important at the time, and the practice was able to find a surgeon and surgery window for the very next morning, Friday, 6 December.  In the end, the surgery was a complete success and there was no detachment or tear.  The surgeon advised that he added a small gas bubble, and was hopeful it would dissipate before our planned departure.  K left the hospital with a wrist band clearly stating that "the patient" had a bubble of nitrous oxide in their eye, and they weren't to fly or be transported by air ambulance.  It would not be until her follow-up appointment with the doctor, a week later, and five days before we were to leave, that we'd know if the she was cleared for travel.

In the end, the doctor was very pleased with her progress and he pronounced her clear to fly.  I was in Tokyo at the time, and she texted me at around 4:00 am their time with the good news.  We had been in somewhat of suspended animation up until then, but all of sudden it seemed as though we had a lot to do in only a few days.  Work was crazy for us both those last few days, and we also went down to bring Anna home with a lot of summer things she no longer needed at school.  I even had my appointment for my new Invisalign braces the afternoon of the day we left, and Katherine worked a full day at work.  It seemed very rushed in the end, but the hour of departure finally arrived.

A "Short" Hop to New York

DC to JFK

As I mentioned earlier, our flights to Auckland left from New York.  Our outbound flight left from JFK, which is an airport I have successfully avoided for almost three decades.  This time, however, I was excited to return.  Our flight to Beijing was leaving Thursday night.  Planning so far out and not knowing what the winter weather might hold for us, we had contingency plans to get to New York.  I booked a one-way car rental, for us to just drive up, whereas we also had a plane reservation.  In addition to not wanting to risk missing a same-day connection, we elected to go up to New York a night early.  My ulterior motive was for us to stay in the new TWA Hotel, which opened up in the former TWA flight terminal earlier this year.  In fact, I booked our room several months before the hotel even opened.  I had been reading about the multi-year effort to convert the long-abandoned iconic building designed by Eero Saarinen in the early 1960's.  It was famous for, among other things, having no right angles anywhere in the structure.  When TWA went bankrupt, the terminal was left empty.  Being registered on the list of historic structures saved it from the wrecking ball.  A private company elected to restore the building to it's '60's roots and open up as a hotel.  I couldn't resist the chance to stay here, and it made the idea of a return to JFK almost palatable.

Our flight from Dulles to JFK should have been very short.  Check-in was smooth, but as we waited in the lounge, we got an alert from Delta telling us the flight was delayed due to snow in New York.  The plane was inbound from JFK, and we ended up about an hour late.  Though our phone apps said the weather in New York was clear, we did end up arriving in the midst of extended snow squalls.  The snow was heavy as we landed, and we even skidded a little on the runway.  The snow was causing havoc at the airport though, with dozens of delayed flights, which left us sitting on the tarmac for more than 30 minutes just waiting to even get to a gate.  The airline -- Delta -- was also short staffed, so it took another 45 minutes for our bags to come out, by which time it was already after 11:00pm.  None of this was giving us good omens for the coming trip.

It was a relatively short and easy ride on the shuttle train between terminals for us to reach the TWA hotel.   We did have to walk outside in the snow for a ways, but we had luckily brought along winter coats, even though we were destined for a New Zealand summer.

The hotel was beyond beautiful, and felt more like a museum than anything else.  We reached the room close to midnight, and were all ready to go to sleep.

I should mention, too, that we left DC on Anna's 20th birthday.  We had formally celebrated the night before, a day early.  It was also the day that President Trump was impeached.  Anna now says she'll forever remember her 20th as the day we left for New Zealand and the day of Trump's impeachment.

Is Murphy Following Us?

The TWA Hotel at JFK Airport

Our hotel room looked out directly on the tarmac of JFK. When we arrived the night before, we could see out, but the hour and snow made it hard to see too much.  We closed the blackout shutters, and it wasn't until the following morning -- when we opened them -- that we saw just how close we were.  We immediately saw a huge Singapore Airline a-380 taxi right up to the window.

View from Our Room in the Morning

As our flight was not until the afternoon, we were in no hurry to get up early or rush.  We had plenty of time to explore the hotel and prepare for the long trip ahead of us.  As I wrote, the hotel was more like a museum, and we spent more than an hour just exploring the various exhibits on TWA, Howard Hughes, and the architect, Eero Saarinen.  We especially enjoyed the vintage Lockheed Constellation aircraft, which had been restored as a bar and parked outside the hotel.  The folks behind the hotel did a fantastic job with their attention to detail throughout.  I really hope they make it.

TWA Hotels -- "Tubes" With Used To Lead to Jet Bridges 

Heated Infinity Pool on Hotel Roof, Overlooking Runways

Hotel Lobby

Rear of Hotel, with "Connie" (Lockheed Constellation Turned into a Bar)

"Boarding" Connie

Inside Connie

Anna Checks Out the 1963 Chrysler Newport

View to Hotel from "1960's U.S. Living Room"

We checked out at noon and meandered back to the terminal train and made our way to Terminal 1, which houses most of the international airlines at JFK.  It is also notoriously one of the busiest and most challenging for security screening.  TSA does not even operate TSA precheck there, which has been our savior on other trips at other airports.  Several months before we left, I read of a new service which had just opened up at Terminal 1, called "VIP One."  I secured a special introductory price and signed us up for expedited screening, with no clear idea of what that entailed.

The Air China check-in queue was long by the time we arrived.  Check-in for Business Class, however, was empty, and we walked right up.  The check-in agent was very friendly and was going through all our paperwork thoroughly.  A few weeks earlier, New Zealand had launched a new visa-like program for tourists.  While they still don't require formal travel visas for most foreign visitors, they did put into place a new "eTA" program -- or "electronic travel approval."  Anyone transiting or visiting New Zealand has to apply in advance and pay a modest fee.  All of the money goes to support environmental efforts, to hopefully offset the impact from tourists.  The travel requests have to be approved and in place before you can board a flight to New Zealand; it is not possible to get the visas upon arrival.  Luckily I had read about the program, and I had copies of a previously approved visas with me.  I handed them to the agent, and then things ground to a halt.  Everything was computerized, and the system was not letting her check us in for the flight from Beijing to Auckland.  I showed her the print out of the visas, along with the electronic ones, in the nifty app for the program.  She called over her supervisor, and I watched as that women typed a mile a minute into the computer.  She talked to herself as she worked.  After about 10 minutes, she announced that she was able to check-in myself and Anna, but not Katherine.  She left to go talk to the "New Zealand person," who was sitting somewhere else in the terminal.  No one was in line behind us, which was a relief, as we had already been there for more than 20 minutes.  The agent returned and pointed out that on the printed form, the initials "KKM" appeared in the middle of Katherine's name.  She asked me if I had noticed that before; I had not.  I showed her the original application, on the app, which did not have the extraneous characters.   She smiled, asked to borrow my phone, and again disappeared to visit the wizard behind the proverbial curtain.  She came back about five minutes later, handed me my phone, and started typing furiously again.  All of a sudden she stopped, and handed us our six boarding passes.  Everything had worked.  She later explained that as New Zealand only launched the program earlier that month, they had been going through all kinds of growing pains with all the airlines flying into the country.  She apologized profusely, even though they were at the mercy of a computer server sitting somewhere in Auckland.

Relieved that we'd made it that far, we made our way to the security queue.  We could hear the line before we saw it, and it snaked all the way to the main terminal door.  I had my "VIP One" reservation in my hand and had to ask three workers where to find the VIP screening entrance before someone knew what I was talking about.  They, too, had only opened up a few weeks earlier.  We walked up a person at a podium, like a maitre de, and gave them our name.  She scanned a print out, found us, and then "invited" us into the lounge; which was, in reality, a room set up like a living room, with couches and chairs.  We were the only people.  There were security bins there, too, and we were told to put our shoes, bags, coats, etc, into the bins, just like we were in the TSA screening line.  We did that, and then she opened a side door which led directly to the front of the screening queue -- right where the agent was checking ID's and boarding cards.  The woman had all our paperwork and walked us past the TSA agent.  She then deftly cut right in front of the man next in line at the x-ray machine.  He, along with many others in line, raised confused faces, and even looked a little mad, as we essentially were cut right in front of him.  I felt self-conscious, but when I looked back at the line from where we were, I knew we had just saved at least 45 minutes of waiting.

The woman was on the other side of the x-ray machine, where she handed us our passports and boarding passes, and then wished us a good trip and merry Christmas.  Things were definitely looking up.

We were to wait in the Lufthansa lounge, as Air China is a Star Alliance partner with them.  We ended up with about an hour there, which was just enough time to eat and relax.

Anna Waiting in the Lufthansa Lounge

Our flight to Beijing was on a 747-8, which is the biggest Boeing aircraft, and smaller only to the Airbus a-380.  As such, the gate was very full when we made our way there, just as boarding started.  We were some of the first ones to board, and our seats were in the nose of the plane, which I had arranged, and forward to which I had been looking.  Having never flown, needless to say, Air China, I was dubious as to what kind of service or product we would be getting.  That question was answered as soon as we sat down.  We were greeted with a welcome drink, and then the flight attendant unwrapped slippers for each of us, and even put them on our feet for us.  That was a first for me.

Our Plane to Beijing

Katherine and I were next to each other, with Anna seated in the window seat directly ahead of us.  We had lots of room, and the seats and service were excellent.  A very nice surprise.  Each of us took an Ambien after the first meal service, lowered our seats into beds, and we all slept about seven/eight hours, waking up for the meal right before landing in Beijing.  The 13-hour flight went by relatively quickly, and we all felt good when we arrived in China.  We left New York at 3:50 pm on Thursday the 19th, and arrived in Beijing at 6:30 pm on Friday the 20th.

Enjoying her Welcome Drink

Waiting in Line Is Not My Forte

First Leg of Travel Complete!

Our next flight for Auckland was not scheduled to leave until 1:00am, so we had a layover of more than six hours.  Air China, however, provides a hotel for business class passengers for such instances.  China offers free transit visas for up to 144 hours, which can be secured in the airport, rather than getting -- and paying for -- a regular tourist visa, which involves a lot of paperwork and several hundred dollars.  We'd talked about maybe going into town for dinner with this time, but in the end, elected to avail ourselves of the layover hotel.  We weren't exactly sure what we were doing, but we were among the first people in the line for transit visas.  We filled out the short forms in line, but they only had one immigration officer working, so the line moved very slowly.  After 20 minutes or so, we each had a visa and then went to join the very long immigration line for foreigners.  They only had three agents working this line, and it moved even slower.  As the time ticked by, we wondered if it was even worth it.  Still, we persevered, got admitted, and then rode the shuttle train to the main terminal.  We found the transit hotel desk; they found our names immediately and called for a car to come pick us up and take us to the Crowne Plaza.  I looked at my watch, however, and saw that it was already after 8:30 pm.  I asked the man when we'd have to be back at the airport from the hotel, and he said 10:00 pm.  We looked at each other and decided on the spot that it wasn't worth it for such a short period of time.  We elected, instead, to reverse everything we had just done.  We reboarded the train, went back through immigration and security, and then slowly made our way to the lounge.  The lounge itself was very nice and relatively empty.  We enjoyed some dim sum dumplings, and basically read for about an hour and half before heading to the gate for our Auckland flight.

The Lounge in Beijing Capital Airport

Beijing Airport Lounge

It was VERY cold in Beijing, and we could feel the cold air sneaking through the floor-to-ceiling windows.  As before, we were among the first to board this flight, which was on a smaller Boeing 787.  This time Anna and Katherine sat side-by-side, and I was across the aisle from them.   We were prepared this time, for having slippers placed on our feet.  As before, we each took a sleeping aid with our first meal, and then slept through until the second meal right before arrival.  The flight from Beijing to Auckland was a little shorter than the first one.  It did not pass as quickly as the first however, probably owing to our growing excitement.

Our Flight to Auckland

Don't Even Think of Asking Me What Time it Is

Our flight from Beijing landed in Auckland around 6:30pm on Saturday the 21st.  So, we left New York on Thursday afternoon and arrived in New Zealand on Saturday evening.  We quickly calculated that New Zealand was 18 hours ahead of Washington.  We leaned we could calculate the time back home by flipping the am or pm in New Zealand, and then subtracting six.  The descent into Auckland was beautiful, and the airport was surprisingly compact.  Immigration was completely electronic, and we never spoke to or saw an immigration or customs officer.  We went to a kiosk, scanned our passport, and that opened up a small gate.  We then individually stepped into a little vestibule, where our face was scanned.  After a few seconds, a green light went off, a little gate opened, and we stepped through.  It was imminently civilized.

Suitcases from our flight were already coming out when we reached the baggage claim area.  We each had a suitcase, as well as our trusty wine suitcase from previous travels to South Africa and California.  We had pre-booked a transfer, and our driver was waiting right outside arrivals.  Very quickly we were in a van and headed on the 20-minute drive to central Auckland, where we were spending the night.  Our hotel -- another Crowne Plaza, ironically -- was directly adjacent to the iconic Sky Tower, which dominates Auckland's skyline.

Our Hotel in Auckland

View From our Room

It was probably around 8:00pm by the time we reached our room.  We really weren't hungry, but I went out to explore and visit a grocery store for a few snacks, should anyone wake up at a weird hour of the night and their stomach not know the time.  It was a Saturday night in the heart of Auckland, and I quickly realized how many tourists were in town, and how many of them were young people.  New Zealand is known for attracting young Westerners, for both leisure travel, but also large numbers who backpack and/or work for months at a time.  Two of my German cousins, in fact, had done this very thing, each spending upwards of a year living/working there.  I found a nice grocery store, bought a few things, and by the time I was back in the room, we were all ready for bed. Arriving at night was good thing, and though the sun wasn't setting in New Zealand until almost 11:00pm, we had blackout curtains, which helped us all fall asleep, and which also masked the sun the next morning, which rose before 5:00am.

Christmas Decorations in Downtown Auckland

Kia Ora, New Zealand!

Our Route for the Day

Surprisingly, we all pretty much slept through the night, which was a pleasant surprise for us all.  We were up by 7:00 am, and made our way to a great little American-themed diner around the corner from our hotel.  While the decor was vintage Americana, the food was "Kiwi chic."  We still remark that we had some of the best coffee of our lives in this little place.  I'd like to think it didn't taste so good simply because my body craved it.  This morning, too, we also quickly learned that New Zealanders really do use the term "Kia Ora" as part of their daily lingo.  It is a Maori word similar to aloha, in that it means everything from hello to excuse me to good luck, and onward.

Morning in Auckland

Our Americana-Themed Breakfast Joint

After breakfast, we walked a couple of blocks to the Hertz office, where we were to pick up the first of three rental cars during our trip down under.  Things could not have been smoother for pick-up.  I brought along our GPS unit, for which I had purchased New Zealand maps, and into which I had pre-programmed all of our hotels and attractions for the coming two weeks.  As it turned out, our car had Android Auto, so I set up the GPS unit and my phone, set to Waze, as we left the rental agency.  It was a Sunday morning and traffic was nonexistent, which helped ease me back into driving on the left side of the road.  Anna sat up front and had the job to occasionally remind me, "kept left."  We got back to the hotel easily, parked the car, and then went to get our luggage and check-out.  Everything fit well in the car, and I punched our first destination into the GPS and headed out.

We drove a few blocks before I realized that I was not able to turn at the places the GPS was telling me to turn.  At one point, I turned down a dead-end street, which -- according to the GPS -- was a through street.  We then realized that the GPS was not synched to the streets, and we were off by several blocks.  Anna worked with my phone while I drove, got Waze up and running, and entered our first stop.  She led me to the highway, which led us south out of Auckland.  About an hour after we left Auckland, our GPS finally synched itself, and worked flawlessly for the rest of the trip, which was a godsend, particularly as the car we were to have on the south island didn't have Android Auto, so the GPS was our only navigation tool.

Our first stop was to visit the Glowworm Caves at Waitopo, which was about a two-hour drive from Auckland.  Most of the drive was through farm land.  We had expected, too, to immediately see large concentrations of sheep, but instead we saw field after field with cows.  In fact, while we did see more sheep on the south island, all in all, I believe we saw more cows in total during our trip.  We later heard that the size of New Zealand's sheep population has gone down by 40% over the past decade (due to over supply and lower demand), while the dairy industry has skyrocketed.  Powdered milk, evidently, is a huge cash industry for the country.

As we drove over the rolling low hills, we occasionally caught glimpse of a snow-capped mountain in the distance, which we later learned was Mt. Taranaki, which is often mistaken (and used in movies as a substitute) for Mt. Fuji in Japan.  Evidently it is much cheaper and easier to film in New Zealand than Japan, and Mt. Fuji is usually overrun by hikers and tourists.

The glowworm caves are just that -- caves in which millions of glowworms live.  No pictures were allowed, but the tour consisted of a walk down into multiple large chambers of a cave system, while the guide explained that a certain type of moth (I can't remember its name), while it is in a larvae stage, attaches itself to cave ceilings and oozes down a long string of mucus.  They emit a glow, similar to fireflies, which appear like stars in the night sky.  A river run through the caves, and insects that are drawn downstream fly upward, attempting to reach what they think is the night sky, and are instead trapped in the strands, which the larvae then essentially suck up and consume the insects.  In reality, they are glow maggots, but glowworm sounds much more marketable.  The tour ended with us boarding a boat which sailed us through the cave in total darkness, save for the sparkle of the glowworms on the ceiling.  I have to admit it was something to see.

Walking to the Entrance of the Glowworm Caves

No Pictures Inside!

Emerging From the Cave

We continued the journey south, but took a turn eastward, toward the center of the north island.  I should have pointed out that Auckland was a far north as we would get during the entire trip.  We would be spending the next two nights in the resort town of Rotorua,  It sits on the shores of the lake of the same name, and had a definite beach town feel to it.  It draws tourists thanks to lots of outside activities, a heavy concentration of geysers and thermal fields, and it is also the primary center for Maori (the native New Zealand people from Polynesia).  A small island in the center of Lake Rotorua is considered the most sacred Maori site in the country.

Before checking into our hotel, we went to the Wai-O-Tapu thermal park, which is essentially a miniature Yellowstone, in terms of geysers and hot mud pools.  Rotorua is also known as "sulphur city," thanks to the almost ever-present sulphur smells, which were in clear abundance at Wai-O-Tapu.  While we knew it was going to be summer when we visited New Zealand, in checking the weather forecasts before leaving, we had all packed for temperatures in the 40's-60's.  On this afternoon, the temps were in the upper 70's, and were all a little hot during our walk through the park, over a series of trails and elevated walkways.  We all lamented not packing shorts and worried that we'd be hot for the rest of our trip.  Rest assured, aside from this day and the next, this was not a concern for the remainder of our trip, and in hindsight, we all packed appropriately.

Many of the places we stayed during this trip were geared toward long-term vacation goers, meaning that they usually had kitchens, and some even had washers and dryers in the units.  They were also usually very large.  We had a two-story villa booked for our two-night stay in Rotorua.  When I went in to collect the keys however, I noted how stifling hot the reception room was.  The woman there walked me over to our unit, and as soon as the door was opened, I saw several fans set up.  I asked about the air conditioning and was told that the hotel sat in the "sulpher zone" of the city, meaning that they could not have A/C units.  Evidently the sulphur concentrations are high enough in this zone that the HVAC coils deteriorate in six months or less.  I was, however, less interested in the science than worried about sleeping in the heat.  We opened all the windows we could, went to dinner, and hoped things would cool down after sunset.  Did I mention that the sun did not set until almost 11:00 pm?

Our Hotel, but Only for One Night It Turned Out

Ever since we had left Waitopu, my nose had been running incessantly.  I felt fine, but I just could not stop my nose from running.  I concluded I had an allergy to something, but I didn't know what.  As we had every conceivable over-the-counter drug with us, I loaded up on allergy medicine, which helped a little, but certainly not fully.  Oddly enough, it persisted through the next day, but ended -- not to return -- the day after that, once we got to the ocean, at Napier.  I still don't know what allergen it could have been.

After dinner, we explored the town and drove through the Government Gardens complex.  It was a bit cooler when we got back to the hotel, but with the windows open, the unit smelled strongly of sulphur.  Our beds were located upstairs in a loft.  With all the fans going, we were able to get some sleep, but I was especially bothered by the heat and smell, and resigned during the night to try and find a solution for the next night.

Down by the Lake, After Dinner

Lake Rotorua

Government Gardens in Rotorua

Hobbits and Haka

I was up early, and did a lot of reading about A/C units and sulphur.  I also sought out a hotel in an area of the town outside the sulphur zone.  Compounding the challenge of my search was the reality that we were in the height of tourist season, and most every form of accommodation was booked.  I lucked out and stumbled upon a cancellation for a triple apartment at a Best Western on the outskirts of town.   Before snagging the just-appeared vacancy, I called the hotel to confirm the A/C situation.  I was told, "Oh yes, love, we've got the air conditioning something wonderful."  That was all I needed to snag the room.  We had already paid for our second night in the villa, but we decided a good night's sleep for us all was worth the added expense.

After breakfast in our unit, we backtracked a little of our journey from the previous day, and then headed back north toward the tiny, tiny town of Matamata, which is probably only on the map because it is where the farm on which the Hobbiton set for the Lord of the Rings (LotR) and Hobbit movies was built, and where it is maintained as a museum-like tourist attraction.  We had pre-booked our tour months prior and I knew they were since booked solid, so I was surprised when we seemed to be the only car on the road during the hour or so drive to Matamata.  We made one final turn down a true country lane, and as we crested a hill we saw a tour bus turning into a large parking lot, across the road from a pastoral farm with hundreds of sheep.  The parking lot was full, including many buses and camper vans of all sizes.  We were definitely in the right place.  It appeared, however, as though everyone had driven down from Auckland or gone up from Rotorua on an excursion bus.

Our timing was near perfect, and we only had to wait a few minutes (enough time to visit the obligatory gift shop, with every conceivable piece of LotR and Hobbit-themed merchandise).  Seeing that, and the full parking lot, had given me trepidation that we had walked into a huge tourist trip.  We joined the queue for our set tour time, and then boarded a bus, which then drove us across the lane, through a fence and into the sheep farm.  We learned this was the working sheep and dairy farm for the family which Peter Jackson (the native New Zealand film maker for LotR and Hobbit) paid to construct the village of Hobbiton, in the mythical Shire.  While scouting for the film by helicopter, Jackson flew over the farm and said it appeared perfect.  He approached the owners, asked them to sign a confidentiality agreement, and then asked to rent part of the farm to built the Hobbiton set.  The owner and his wife had never read any of the Tolkien books and had no context, but their savvy son was there, was a fan, and urged his father to sign with no further questions.  That was certainly the right thing to do, as the family enjoys a very healthy portion of the profits from the current attraction.  They still run the sheep and dairy farm, but I am certain money is no longer a concern for anyone in that family.

Our tour guide was an American professor on sabbatical from the University of Indiana.  He explained the history while we watched a short welcome video from Peter Jackson on the bus, which later deposited us at the entrance.  After walking through a cut in the hillside, we emerged into the complete village, which has dozens of "Hobbit holes" constructed into the hillside.  The vegetation and flora were amazing, and we learned there are seven full-time gardeners and nearly as many landscapers on staff, just to maintain everything.  The holes, too, are built either to human scale or Hobbit scale, based on how large things needed to appear in the movie.  The weather was perfect and everything was in bloom.  It was almost like walking through a botanical garden.  It was interesting to learn, too, that Hobbiton was built for the three LoftR films, and then dismantled.  Several years later, when Jackson finally secured the rights to make the Hobbit -- with large credit due to Harvey Weinstein of all people -- he realized he needed to recreate it.  Everything was rebuilt to exact specs, but this time the decision was made to maintain and preserve the set, as it currently remains.  That was due to the already proven success of the LotR movies.  I lost all thought of a tourist trap during the tour, and instead we all just loved our time there.  We all listed it among the highlights of the trip overall.

Bag End.  Home to Bilbo Baggins

Home of Samwise Gamgee, from last scene of the final movie.

Back on Rotorua, we had a traditional New Zealand lunch, with fish and chips, huge freshwater mussels, and roasted pork belly.  We checked into our new hotel, and our room was just perfect, and not only because of the well-functioning air conditioning.  We had a hot tub on the back porch, which itself looked out over a small trout stream.  We did some shopping in town, gathered out stuff from the original hotel, and had just enough time to make it over for an "indigenous evening" activity we had booked.  As I noted earlier, Lake Rotorua is the center of Maori culture in the country, and several main tribes still control large traditional land enclaves.  We went to Te Puia, which encompasses a large thermal/geyser field (including the highest-spraying geyser in the southern hemisphere), and where the Te Awara tribe has built a school to teach and maintain tribal arts.  They also built a traditional Marae, or gathering house.  It was here, too, that we got to catch a glimpse of the nocturnal Kiwi bird.  They are the symbol of New Zealand, but are nearly extinct in the wild.  They evolved as a flightless bird -- as did countless other species in New Zealand -- as there were no natural predators.  When English settlers arrived, they inadvertently introduced rats (from their ships), as well as dogs.  They quickly decimated the defenseless birds (actually, they went after the eggs).  The tribe had a Kiwi house erected, where they flip the day/night cycle, so tourists can go through the darkened exhibit during the day and hope to catch a glimpse of a bird in the dark.  We were successful, but many people are not.

After a tour of the thermal park, we attended a tribal exhibit, including the famous Haka dance.  This elaborate ceremony was designed to scare potential foes, and is now synonymous with the New Zealand national rugby team, the All Blacks, who perform it before every match.  After the outside Haka, we all went inside, and watched a dance and singing show, all of which was followed by a large dinner banquet.  It included traditional Hangi, which is a meal cooked inside clay-lined pits erected over thermal vents, which provide the heat for the meal, which included lamb, fish, and various vegetables.  We were supposed to stay until after dark, and then return to the thermal field to watch the geysers under special night lights, but we were all too tired, and -- as now often mentioned -- the sun wouldn't go down until nearly 11:00pm.  Plus, at least I was very much looking forward to a good-night's sleep in our new air-conditioned hotel.

Inside the school for artisans

Our "Hangi" dinner; cooked in pit over natural geothermal vent 

Traditional "Marae" House