I'm back in Taipei, after having spent 10 days in New Zealand. What amazingly gorgeous scenery! There are no words...
It was pretty cool taking great pictures based on no photographic skill whatsoever; everything is so lovely that any random snapshot comes out looking good. I'll post a couple when I get a chance.
Having seen the first two Lord of the Rings movies, I guess I'd had an inkling of what we would see, but I'd figured everything was CG enhanced. I'm still pretty impressed with Peter Jackson and the LOTR crew, but it certainly didn't look like they would've had to do much to get those beautiful panoramic landscape shots. Speaking of LOTR, I got to see Return of the King on our last full day in Auckland. How cool is that?
Sitting on the plane today, I was trying to decide what the trip highlights were. My conclusions:
- the drive to Glenorchy (and the hike we did there), definitely the most scenic day of the whole trip
- the entire sheep farm trip: the ride over on the TSS Earnslaw, getting to feed all the animals, and the very yummy afternoon tea (especially the cheese and onion scones) in the lovely garden
- jet boating on the Shotover River
- whale watching at Kaikoura (5 whales!)
- getting to drive from Christchurch to Picton, and again from Taupo to Auckland
I bet I'll look at my pictures and come up with more, but those were the ones that were foremost in my mind.
On a completely different note, I'm the champion of our fantasy football league! Woo-hoo! I'm counting that as a birthday present, and a most excellent one. My team MVPs were Holmes, Lewis, Holt, McNair, and my free agent pickup of the year, Domanick Davis. I'm tempted to retire from fantasy football altogether, on this high note.
Vancouver Richmond Nightmarket
6 years ago
