Denial (n) A refusal to accept or believe something.
Yep.
That pretty much sums it up. I refuse to count my remaining days. I'm going to enjoy every second of my remaining time and I don't want to spend it frowning about having to leave. Besides! It's almost Christmas and I'll be with my family (well most of them) soon!
I finished my one-week-whirlwind-tour of the North Island. I rented a car and drove over to Napier and Cape Kidnappers and visited the Gannet Colony. Funny little birds! Their take-offs crack me up! They spread their wings, shake their tail feathers (literally), hop to or three times and then they're off. It's hilarious! As Cole put it: "They do the macarena."
I went through Taupo - saw the giant crater-lake, formed a long time ago when a volcano went *KABOOM* a long, long time ago. Big honkin lake with some islands and a backdrop of beautiful mountains and another volcano - Ruapehu. Drove around it and it was steaming on one side. Don't know how people can live near those things - they're creepy.
Spent a couple of days in Rotorua - well known for it's Maori culture and Geothermal activity. Their city park - in the middle of town - has mud pools and steaming ponds. Uhm yeah... seemed very strange to me, but they live with it everyday. Walked through the park and went to a couple of hotspots outside town, checked out some of the local lakes, took the gondola up one of the mountains, and went to a Maroi concert and hangi feast (where they cook the food in the ground) YUM!
Drove up north a bit to Whakatane and over to Tauranga and down to Matamata where I checked out Hobbiton. I hadn't done anything specifically related to LOTR and I've been here almost 4 1/2 months :) I figured I should do something LOTR-y before I left. It was kind of neat. New Line rented this section of farm land from 3 brothers and their father who are sheep ranchers. The studio promised to return the land to it's natural condition and after filming they started tearing down the set. Weather turned icky and they told the brothers they'd be back in 6 months to finish. During that time people started stopping by asking to see it and I guess the familiy saw dollar signs - contacted the studio - and made arrangements. So what you see isn't the full set, but the lake and the party tree and the field are there - MASSIVE old oak tree, probably 120 years old, and I have a picture of me hugging it so you can see how big it is. Bilbo/Frodo's home is still there and so is Sam's first house - along with several other hobbit holes. Was funny to see the sheepies running around Hobbiton - Hobbiton's newest inhabitants!
I drove over to the west coast and saw Mt. Taranaki - CRAZY mountain! Sharp peak - just zooms right out of the land. Hard to describe, but very cool.
Had fun, even if it was a quick trip :)