There and back again
Trip Start
Sep 10, 2006
1
26
53
Trip End
Mar 10, 2007
Wellington,
New Zealand
Sunday, December 10, 2006
I went on a lord of the Rings Tour yesterday, it really hadn't occurred to me to sign up for one until a couple of people asked if I had and were surprised when I said no, so as the weather forecast was bad thought a day on a coach might be the way forward. And well it was ok, but think more for the die hard fanatic generally, I didn't really enjoy the forced re-create a scene from the movie bits, although when the guide dressed up as an elf it was hilarious (he played one in the film you know!) although I seemed to be the only one laughing, 2 Japanese girls started screaming as they thought he looked just like Orlando Bloom!
I went to the Welsh pub yesterday (formerly the public toilets, opposite the hostel) and was forced to sign the flag and guestbook, unfortunately they had just ran out of Brains so settled for the local brew; it was quite good in there
Edith and Bruce Campbell, hosts extrordinaire,
. The owners are from Swansea and immediately find out where you are from and then introduce you to everyone in there, so had quite a good night...Today I revisited Te Papa, had lunch with the Campbells and shopped. Tomorrow I meet the long lost cousins (llewellyn and Betty) before flying to Melbourne. NZ seems to have flown by, wish I had longer here, think I will definitely be back at some point.
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Anyway I have 5 minutes of internet to use up before I leave the hostel so thought I would tell you my fave NZ anecdote that I got told whilst here. Shrek the sheep was found last spring, after hiding out in a cave for an estimated 6 or 7 years, cleverly avoiding shearing time. When a shepherd eventually found him he was so pleased to see another living creature that he marched right up to her, pretty unusual for a sheep. His fleece weighed over 20kilo's; he could harldly see/hear/walk because of it. Anyway because of his impressive fleece and friendliness he became a national celebratory. Loads of people came to watch the first shearing, he had his own calender, appeared on chat shows etc.
This year the farmer that owns him took him to an iceberg (he had his own special shoes) to shear him, which again got a load of press attention as you can imagine.
What this says about New Zealand, the nature of celebratory (did Andy Warhol mean to include animals in his 15 minutes of fame?) and the state of the world in general I'll leave to you to ponder....but he is a very cute sheep.
Soz still cant upload any photos.
