"...fly me to the moon...and let me play among the stars..."

This photo was taken in the early hours of our trip to return to Tasmania. Only hour number six. Now I am in a airline lounge, hour number 42.  Our flight leg from Dubai to Melbourne was re-routed to Adelaide due to weather and a lack of fuel. Two hours on the ground, in the plane, we finally returned to Melbourne. Here we had to get our luggage, have our passports checked, and the contents of our bags for quarantine. Lastly, getting to check in again, on the earliest available flight, six hours later. Bringing our door-to-door travel time somewhere around the 42 hour mark.

Australia can feel very, very, far away.

My brain is mushy. Also my perception is skewed, because after so many hours in a plane, the airport feels light, bright and fresh.

"It's Paris, the Eiffel Tower, the sexiest building left..."

That tower it sure does get around.

(I would like to add here that while Teddy and Coco lounged about, drinking wine, Teddy told Coco "It is all so wonderful the oohing and ahhhing"  Coco thought "Ah the punters" and then as the lights started to sparkle she had the loudest exclamation for miles.)

"you got me huffing and puffing like a choo-choo train..."

For lack of other inspiration, Zok and I took his niece on some bush walks.
She lives in Victoria, in a suburb- where there is not an abundance of these types of walks in her neighborhood.
I was feeling appropriately appreciative of Tasmania under this revelation.
I of course mostly think of 'Australia' as 'Tasmania' but Tasmania is an exception to many of the generalizations one can make about Australia.

I noticed today that I had set out nineteen pairs of shoes to take to Sweden.
Obviously my want versus the weight restrictions of the airlines are going to have to line up. I am expecting this to be a painful process.

"Little sister on your rollerskates, its Friday night and you've got a date."

Friday? Really? How did Monday through today slip by me? I vaguely remember 'library lock down' to get an assignment posted by the end of Monday, and I know there was a day that I coached Roller Derby, and two committee meetings, and new assignments...Okay, the picture is becoming clear to me.
Believe me when I tell you that I want to be the person who stays home, in her routine, sleeping, reading, and listening to records. Yet, tomorrow after I coach I am flying to Melbourne and going to Geelong. I bought the ticket on the cheap months ago and although Jetstar allows changes, the change fee is more than the original cost of the ticket.
I think I can use the tune up of skating with Geelong, because the longer I am away, the more I feel as if I am just playing make-believe as opposed to actually helping to create a sports team. By being there I can soak up some new skills, and reaffirm to myself that I know the ones I have well enough to be imparting them to others.
Our Convict City Roller League is poised on the brink of making things happen. We now have numbers showing up to practice, and there is a gleam of hope in even the most tired of us. Dot Dash has organized a fundraiser, happening this Sunday to off set the costs of the skaters that are going to Adelaide for the Southern Slam.
http://greatsouthernslam.com.au/

This event will give the skaters here a chance to see Roller Derby in action and actually be part of the action.
Partially in preparation for the big Adelaide event; Riff Raff Saff, and Ref Fink were my house guests and the leagues guest coaches over the weekend. The rapt attention they were given by our group was commendable but also showed me that I need to step up and try to command some of that attention for my own coaching sessions.
They were great coaches and great house guests, and I even got a present! G.R.D.L. sent me a jacket for guest skating in the two bouts. I now have three items with 'Sookie Smackhouse' and my number printed on them. Hopefully when I am in America no other Sookie's will try and steal it from me. I check my email daily for a response from the fan club of Charlaine Harris regarding the 'saga of the Sookies', but so far I have met only the disappointment of no response. Perhaps not everyone wants their intellectual property turned into a Roller Derby moniker...

Small bits of history

I must admit I came to New Zealand without researching the country at all. I also held a small minded impression that New Zealand would be essentially just like Australia. This of course is not true, and as I continue into this new calendar year, I tell myself that I will strive to be more conscious, more present, and take more care with my opinions.

All that soapbox speaking aside though, the human brain loves to create patterns, categories to make sense of our surroundings. The unfamiliar, is common in my life, from constantly moving to constantly being in a situation that I hadn't been in before so I excel at comparison.

While the townships here have reminded me of Tasmania, with the hobby farms, and the carelessly hand made signs propped up on the roadside to advertise all manner of attractions, the tourist trade in general is very like the Hawaiin islands. Many places are free if you are a resident which is also true of Hawaii, which makes sense because everything costs money, as anything that can monetized, is. Compared to America and also Australia everywhere there are signs of the indigenous people recovering, promoting, and continuing their culture even while all cultures seem destined to collide together.

The Maori tribes (over five hundred chiefs were noted as signing the treaty with the British) have a treaty for all New Zealand with the British Commonwealth.
The treaty was signed in 1840 in Waitangi which is now 506 hectares of national trust land. The photos are from the property.
There are artifacts on the property, a bit of reconstruction, and the 'Te Whare Runanga' treaty house built for the Centenary Celebrations of the treaty signing in 1940, and a 'Waka' or canoe. I will have to do some research on my own as I am intrigued now about the details of what led the British to accept a treaty.

"...for they loved peace and quiet and good tilled earth..."

I went on a face book date! I don't mean to say that I went internet dating, I mean I met up with an old friend who I have not seen in over a decade.
For the younger generation this might seem implausible that friends could lose contact, but before email, before socializing networks, and the rampant use of cell phones, and skype phones, people were pretty easy to lose.

John and I met in Seattle, he is a musician and I had a crush on his music.
When I found out he was a good guy so much the better!
He is marrying into a great family, and their set up is admirable, with some similarities to my own so I felt a bit of kinship, indeed by the end of our visit I felt as if I had new neighbors.
The North Island of New Zealand isn't exactly local, but still this is the feeling I left with.

Zok and I got to take a spectacular drive to their place. We stopped at a funny roadside place on the way back, and the scenery was finally what my minds eye had envisioned New Zealand to be.
John and I having common ground, gave me the chance to have a conversation were I felt understood, and completely normal in my thought process.
I do believe as the two of us talked about our adventures of home owning in the southern hemisphere, that both our partners were rolling their eyes slightly but they are from this hemisphere so that is expected.

Also John has gone through many a process in the music industry, and although he seems mostly unscathed, I believe he had similar heartbreaks.
Working in the industry, can be a great job on many levels, but for those of us who went in with ideals about this world, the place is just plain hazardous.
Today Zok is starting work, so we are making our way to Auckland, which so far I have only driven by, the place is really large considering how quickly one transitions to small towns and open land.

"The Gathering of the Clouds".

Zok and I were unsure about going on the 'Hobbiton' tour, which is a guided tour of the some 16 acres of the Alexander family farm used to create the set of 'The Shire' in the Peter Jackson, Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Zok and I both individually and collectively shy away from 'group tours'.
The last one we did was the only way in which to see the royal palace in Kyoto, Japan. We tried to sneak out more than once only to be herded back to the group; politely.

I have gone to many a movie location, houses and parks used by the BBC for adaptations of Jane Austen or one of the Bronte novels.
I was a bit wary of this excursion as it was both a tour and a set.
Set being the key word, set for me implies looking behind the curtain, as there is a thing I believe in, called 'movie magic'. I need to keep my ability to suspend belief and really get into the experience of the movies I watch.

Mostly, though in this ongoing age of DVD extras, and enough media to reach even the farthest edges of the planet, I knew mostly what to expect. I knew that the interiors of the 'The Green Dragon' and Frodo's hobbit hole would have been shot on a set elsewhere.

I was pleasantly surprised, the still working sheep farm has done a nice set up, from the cafe (wood beams, iron hinges and door handles), baby lambs scattered about the picnic area as one waits for the tour to begin. I think after the town of Rotorua, the attention by the farm to detail was pleasing.

Our guide told us that this location was picked mostly the tree near the lake (the party tree for Bilbo's birthday party). The tree was one area that was untouched. The army was hired to build the road which was used for the film crew, and now the tours. Movie magic was indeed accessed for touches such as bringing in trees described in the book, the best being an Oak tree bought from a neighbor, cut into pieces, thousands of itemized pieces, which were then reconstructed, with the touch of individually wiring, perfect, fake leaves onto this tree.

The set is also unique for the fact that the set remains at all, due to weather, the crew was unable to get all the facades down, and asked for a grace period, during that time, so many people showed up on the farms doorstep, they petitioned for permission to run tours, and gaining this permission were able to keep the unadorned remaining hobbit holes.

The hedges and fruit trees are new additions for the proposed start of filming for 'The Hobbit'. I, for one am quite excited by the prospect.
The farm itself really is lovely, no power lines and from the area of the lake there is quiet, no planes over head or street noise, the rolling hills seem to go on if not for miles then definitely chapters.

"Look Lorax," I said, "There's no cause for alarm. I chopped just one tree, I am doing no harm."

Zok is not amused that I think Rotorua looks like Sacramento, California, but trust me that the township does indeed look and feel like Sacramento...

Indeed there is a redwood forest within the city limits. The two types of redwood are all that flourished from the many types of hardwood transplanted here to see if any would grow. The two hardwoods are the ones that survived, they are the young siblings of the Californian giants. Planted in 1899, many now stand quite large, but small in comparison, if, indeed you had the reference to compare them.

Rotorua is known for the continued volcanic activity, thermal pools and volcanic mud.
There are puffs of steam at every turn. We did soak in some mud and a thermally heated sulpher pool.

The N.Z. is wise to the way of the traveler and the internet is not free...
Tomorrow we head out even further North, here on the North island, and I may be without a connection until we get to Auckland.

Tomorrow, Hobbiton (which is apparently now being transformed for the next movie, The Hobbit).
I am in doubt that much will be done yet, but I do love a movie location...

Lava smoke blackening out the stars

Zok and I spent the day going from beach spot to beach spot, the best of the lot being a large thermal pool in front of the ocean heated by thermal energy coming from the active volcano.
We haven't been in a thermal pool since our last trip to Iceland and I wanted to stay in for hours.

After dark we drove to see the lava flowing, only to be disappointed by high winds blowing into the viewing site so the park was closed.
I looked up to the sky for the big dipper (which due to poor viewing nights I actually haven't gotten to see) and most of the horizon was blacked out by a huge black cloud formation. Eerie but beautiful.

Today rain is pouring down, but we are going to forge ahead to the park to see the active Volcano.

"he broke my heart but I love him just the same"

There is a great classic rock station here on the big island and this is something that always sways my opinion of a place.
We are staying at a very sweet B&B, Zok and I don't really agree on what comprises a good accommodation.
This place is my pick, Zok got to decide on all the others, well except for the wonderful hospitality of my friends.
The B&B is called:
www.rainforestretreat.com

We are in a small free standing hexagon one room structure with a kitchen area and toilet. There is an outdoor shower with a Japanese deep hot tub, called an "o'furo".

I love it.

Zok loves that there is a wireless signal and that he can fit in the tub.

This is soon to be the end of Zok's first Hawaiin experience.
I do believe Zok now with hindsight, realizes he should have listened to my opinions about how to plan our trip. If we were to come back we would skip Honolulu, take earlier flights to get more time from each travel day, and go to visit just the Tobin/Augerot clan with a side trip to Maui.

We are now going in search of active lava flow.

The day after tomorrow I will only have access to a signal by chance or luck.

"stories from the city, stories from the sea"

I am constantly saying good-bye
I am constantly yet futilely trying to hold images in a way that will last
I am constantly selling myself on the next place
I am constantly trying to express to friends in a way that will bring up the understanding I mean to impart
I am constantly stealing and trying to re-create
I am constantly forgetting to do so
Hello-Goodbye