Through stargate to "Middle Earth"

12/12/12 - what a date to arrive in "Middle Earth". The day of the world premiere of the first part of the Hobbit trilogy. Probably not only whole New Zealand stands still, but Tolkien fans around the world too. Already my arrival with Air New Zealand gave me a first impression of the importance the buzz around the Hobbits created: the safety trailer on board - that received by now 23 million clicks, five times the population of "Middle Earth" - is presented in "Hobbit" style, as eventually most of local advertisements refer to the new trade mark "Land of Middle Earth". I guess the "Aussies" - usually making mostly bad jokes like "Last week I wanted to visit New Zealand, but it was closed" - seem worried and jealous about the new proudness and self-confidence of their "small" neighbours. I only still have some difficulties to distinguish between the Hobbits and Santa Clauses on my first warm and sunny afternoon at Queen Street. I guess the white-beard guys are the latter, as they also have funny red suites ; )

The rest is as I expected. In economic terms it is the backyard of Australia. Products and prices are the same, the only difference for a visitor is the lower exchange rate, making a stay overall more reasonable. Even the lucrative backpacker business is in Aussie hands. Brand names for accommodation, transport and adventure travel are the same, it's like with all the other franchise business. Still, from the first welcome at the city express bus to the oldfashioned Queenstreet Backpacker, it feels better, be it the relaxed and friendly way, be it the less modern and less posh urban skyline of Auckland. I will get around with it quite well. Still this afternoon I hopefully will know if I start tomorrow my road trip, either joining a person or in my own car that I will check and maybe buy: an old, but hopefully reliable Toyota Corolla. As gentleman I won't mention the make, nor price - but it reminds me the time of my first Renault R16 and consequently "forced" daily visits of my best friend: (though not necessarily) a mechanic.

Latest news on 12/12/12: I just bought the car. Amazing, from meeting the vendor in front of the Mary Poppins Theater at Queen Street, viewing the car, changing ownership and regististration at a downtown post office, as well as exchanging money to pay the amount of about 1000 USD it took a bit more than one hour. Two hours later I was already driving north on the highway N1 to reach just with the sunset a campground nicely settled along a long, empty beach. Well, it's not the posh camper trailer, but the small one, lefthand on the picture above. However, what dynamic first 24 hours to put Australia behind. And for sure, I know why I feel more comfortable, maybe even "home" in "Middle Earth": the first 100 km seaside on winding roads over soft, green hills along one bay after another during the golden sunset time gave me that feeling of joy I was missing the last weeks touring through "Down Under".

Awesome, for the next two months I am mobile. Mobile in terms of the freedom and flexibility for my journey ahead. It's different from travelling by bus, though New Zealand has a good network on both islands for budget travellers. The green Kiwi-bus was already famous during my visit 20 years ago: hop on, hop off, as you like. But somehow it reflects the "A to B" type of travelling, so I am glad to continue my road trip like "surfing on the wave" by intutively setting the turns in harmony with my surroundig environment.

Like this - not even a day into my road trip - I ended up hiking Mount Manaia right at the end of Whangarei Heads peninsula, with a spectacular 360° view over the sea, green hills spotted with cattle and sheeps, and the magnificent narrow bays harbouring hundereds of yachts. Late afternoon I just followed the glow worms, entering the dark world hidden deep in "Middle Earth" ...

ps: My on-board movie selection to "Middle Earth" was in style: Prometheus - what a great SciFi movie that reminds me of some of the awesome visual effects of "2001 - Odysee in Space" and "Alien".

ps2: Up the cost to the Bay of Islands I passed by at Kawakawa, the place Friedensreich Hundertwasser chose to live near for 25 years (because he felt it had a soul). Well, his final creation was something very basic - the public toilets of Kawakawa.

Hundertwasser´s toilet in Kawakawa