The Majestic Clouds of Mt. Ngauruhoe aka Mount Doom

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was the view from our hotel room at Whakapapa Village in Tongariro National Park.  Mt. Ngauruhoe was Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings.  They filmed quite a lot of the Mount Doom scenes in Lord of the Rings, such as Sam carrying Frodo up the cliffs. It is a conical, single-vent volcano with perfectly symmetrical slopes.  Due to rainy weather and approaching storms, the clouds would eventually cover Mt. Ngauruhoe with their hues of pink and golden fingers.

 

Mount Doom From Lord of the Rings

 



Orakei Korako 'The Hidden Valley' and the Mudcake Cafe'

 

 

 

 

 

 

Orakei Korako 'The Hidden Valley'  is a highly active geothermal area most notable for its series of fault-stepped sinter terraces, located in a valley north of Taupo on the banks of the Waikato River. It was an extraordinary spectrum of rainbow colors, gushing geysers, and bubbling mud pools.  My friend Nancy and I ate at the Mudcake Cafe' which has stunning views of the Waikato River. One of the reasons we selected to visit the park because it is located off the beaten track between Taupo and Rotorua and there were very few tourist or local visitors there.  No crowds and the country drive was enjoyable. I felt like this was the real New Zealand.
The park has had some famous visitors. The Hobbit cast including Director Peter Jackson, Actors  Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, Richard Armitage and Sir Ian McKellen visited the park during the filming of The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey.

An Advanture of Glow Worms and a Maori Powhiri Ceremony

 

 

 

At the Mitai Maori Village we got to experience a natural bush setting, and see warriors in traditional dress paddle an ancient warrior canoe (waka) down the Wai-o-whiro stream. We also saw glow worms in their natural habitat.

The Maori Village is a 15 minutes drive from Rotorua.  It was about a 4 hour tour and dinner. We saw a performance from the warriors of the ancient Maori and experience the powhiri (welcome ceremony).  They did a powerful display of haka song and dance before we dine on a traditional hangi feast, where the food was cooked slowly beneath the ground in earth ovens. It was a very interesting and enjoyable experience.

Story of Hinemoa and Tutanekai at Mokoia Island

 Sir George Grey's ‘Polynesian Mythology’, first published in 1855.

Story of Hinemoa and Tutanekai

"Hinemoa was the daughter of a great chief who lived at Owhata, on the shore of Lake Rotorua. She was very beautiful, and because of her beauty and her high rank, many young men desired her as a wife. One of these was Tutanekai, but he knew that though he was of good birth, his rank was not high enough for Hinemoa's father to accept him as his daughter's suitor.
So for a long time Tutanekai hid his love. He saw Hinemoa only when there were great meetings of the tribe, for his home was far across the water, at Mokoia Island in the middle of the lake. When the people gathered together he would content himself with gazing at Hinemoa from a distance, and yet it seemed to him that sometimes she would return his looks. But he thought to himself, ‘There are many other young men more worthy than I of winning Hinemoa's heart. If I approach her to declare my love, perhaps she will be displeased.’
Now Hinemoa did love Tutanekai, but she too hid her love, thinking, ‘If I send a message to Tutanekai, perhaps he will not care for me’.
At last, after many meetings at which their eyes only had spoken, Tutanekai sent a messenger to Hinemoa, and when she had heard him, Hinemoa cried joyfully, ‘Have we each then loved alike?’ Then Tutanekai asked Hinemoa to leave her home and come to him, and to this she agreed.
‘At night’, he said, ‘when you hear the sound of a flute across the water, it is I; come in your canoe’.
Every night Tutanekai sat on a high hill and played his flute, and the wind bore his music far across the lake to Hinemoa's home. But Hinemoa did not come. Her people had suspected her intention, and they had pulled all the canoes high up on the shore. Every night Hinemoa heard the sound of her lover's flute, and wept because she could not go to him. Then she thought at last, ‘Would it be possible to swim?’ She looked at the wide water and her heart failed her; but then she heard the flute again and knew that she must go.
continue Story
It is believed that their descendants are living at Rotorua to this day.

Sights and Smells of Te Kauanga

Along the Rotoura Walkway is the sights and smells of Te Kauanga.  The area has a smell from sulphurous gases belched from the depths of the earth.  The yellow and black colors in the rocks are sulphur crystals formed from rising hydrogen sulphide gas.  The gas was very active and people were not allowed to walk off the trail.  The Grey colored rock was formed from silica, deposited by alkaline spring water that flowed over this area when the lake level was high.  Green and brown algae grow in some of the warm, shallow waters.

I Wander Lonely As a Cloud

 

 

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

 

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

 

by William Wordsworth

Sulphur Bay Wildlife Refuge

The Rotorua Walkway included a walk through Sulphur Bay Wildlife Refuge.  I never seen so many birds in one place.

Rotorua Walkway New Zealand

This is some of the scenery from the Rotorua Walkway on Lake Rotorua.  These pictures were taken in February 2014 at summertime.

Hobbits like to eat "Cabbage" and so do Rabbits

Hobbits and Rabbits have several things in common and eating cabbage is one of them. Of course J.R.R. Tolkien made a distinction that Hobbits dwell "...in very well-appointed holes (none of your wet, smelly rabbit holes, mind you)."  Hobbits do have the long rabbit looking feet but the similarity ends there.  Hobbits are distantly related to humans and resemble humans in their dress, mannerisms, gardening and so forth.  There was one rabbit from a different childhood tale, Peter Rabbit who ate like a Hobbit!

"Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were--Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter ... Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, who  were good little bunnies, went down  the lane to gather blackberries; But Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor's garden, and squeezed under the gate! First he ate some lettuces and some  French beans; and then he ate some radishes And then, feeling rather sick, he  went to look for some parsley. But round the end of a cucumber frame, whom should he meet but Mr.  McGregor!.."
Quote from "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" by Helen Potter (1866 - 1943).



Helen Beatrix Potter was born in 1866, in South Kensington, London. She was an English Victorian artist and author of children's stories, creator of such winsome and nattily attired characters as Benjamin Bunny, Squirrel Nutkin, and of course Peter Rabbit. Her father was a wealthy investor. Potter lived a secure childhood at home, with her younger brother Bertram. She wrote "The Tale of Peter Rabbit".

Ah, Sunflowers in Middle Earth's Garden

 

I took these pictures in February 2014 at The Shire from The Hobbit film set.  It is summer time in New Zealand. Sunflowers were planted in most of the gardens and in front of some of the Hobbit holes.  The sun was shinning bright and blue clouds set a picturesque backdrop.  The gardens were fresh, green, and bright with an array of colorful flowers. The sunflowers were the tallest and most appealing with their black eyes.





Ah! Sun-flower

By William Blake 1757–1827 

Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,

Who countest the steps of the Sun:

Seeking after that sweet golden clime

Where the travellers journey is done. 

Where the Youth pined away with desire,

And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow: 

Arise from their graves and aspire, 

Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.

"Hanging Out the Wash" at The Shire

Hobbits did not have washing machines and clothes dryers so you will see clothes lines all over The Shire.  Some had a clothes line across the windows or on top of their hobbit dwelling. The top picture shows the clothes hanging on the grassy roof not too far from the chimney. As a small child, my mother washed and hung out the clothes to dry. My grandmother had an old washing machine that you had to place the clothes through a roller to squeeze out the water.  At age 4, my hand got stuck in that roller and I still have a scare on my left hand where the roller ripped off the skin. She dried the clothes by hanging them out on a line in the sun.  It is rare to see that now days.

Children's Express Theatre Performs at Allegro

 The Children's  Express Theatre performed 'Lost Treasure of Shipwreck Bay' for the residents of Allegro in St. Augustine, Florida.  It was a full house with people lined up outside the doors trying to watch.  The audience loved the play and thoroughly enjoyed meeting the children and youth.  This is the third performance the Express Theatre has performed at Allegro within the past 12 months.  Last September, the Express Theatre performed "That Dastardly Dirty Darlene".  It was about the town of Dirt Clod and the town's bully "Dirty Darlene". 

 

At Christmas 2013, the Children's Express Theatre performed "Charlie Browns Christmas" and it brought back memories for many of the audience since Charlie Brown comic strips have been in newspaper comics for 52 years. 



In September, we will start rehearsing for a new Christmas play and will be returning to Allegro to celebrate another Christmas season with them.