Report 20

The saga continues as we tour with the kids. Susie and I had visited Rotorua earlier. It’s known for its thermal and volcanic activity and is a major holiday area. The place literally stinks, as Susie and Mandi are showing. (Susie—of all the pictures taken of these two beauties, this was the best HE could include !!)

This time our Rotorua goal was adventuring. Paul, Jeff, and I “Zorbed,” which means we were strapped into a large rubber ball and rolled down a hill. That was cool. Don’t know if zorbing is done in US. Proprietor said insurance was pretty high, even though NZ is much less litigious than the US. Then, all of us “luged,” which is much like riding an Alpine Slide at some US ski areas.

We also attended to our cultural sides by going to a sheep show and a Maori meal and concert (separate events). Learned about 19 breeds of sheep raised in New Zealand and saw sheep sheared and sheepdogs work (say that five times quickly). Most amazing part was seeing these 19 sheep standing serenely on stage while several barking dogs ran merrily across their backs. Here’s two guys getting friendly with two sheep.

Which reminds me: When in Hamilton a few weeks ago I asked about the phrase, “rattle your dags,” provided by friend Shirley Smith. The phrase refers to the clumps of dried manure hanging on to the south end of a northbound sheep. Found out the phrase means, Get a move on. Hustle. Rattle your dags! Get the picture? Look for opportunities to tell someone this.

Saturday was return to Auckland day for Jeff to catch an evening flight home. Plan was to visit, en route, the site of the “Shire” in Lord of the Rings – where the Hobbits live. Found out, though, that the movie location was on private land, could only be viewed by taking two-hour tour, we were too late, and we weren’t really interested enough to have paid the fare if we had been on time. Primarily, this quest was motivated by Paul’s nephews, Ring fans. We did drive some of the back roads in the area where the Shire was shot and took some pictures that we are sure the nephews will accept as bona fide Hobbit country.

Sunday (Mother’s Day) was R&R day for the rest of us, highlighted by Mandi treating her Mum, and Paul and me, to brunch at a very pleasant café overlooking the Auckland Rose Garden, which is walking distance from our townhouse. Then Monday the Venables left, so it was back to “normal.”

(Susie: a portion of our entertainment was the commentary from the three travelers about spending 12 hours and 45 minutes on an airplane. Mandi said that they had five movies, three sitcoms, a safety video, two meals and snacks and they still weren’t here. Good news is that the return flight is just 11 hours.)

We did finish the week with one more Kiwi Kulture event – a rugby match. There’s a Super12 league made up of teams from NZ, Australia, and South Africa and it was semifinal time: the Auckland Blues hosting the Brumbies from (boo, hiss) Canberra, Australia. At Michigan we learned to holler, Go Blue!, so it was an easy transition to Go Blues!. We were fortunate to sit next to a friendly, talkative fan who explained a lot of what we were seeing. This bloke had spent 11 years in Canada, doing work that included telecasts of American and Canadian football games. The Blues won and host the Finals this week against the defending champs from Christchurch. We won’t be there because of another engagement and because tickets sold out in two hours the other day. The stadium seats 45,000 and is a very pleasant venue. We think we could make a fortune by selling nachos there, though. On the other hand, the fish and chips were wonderful. (Susie: the “drill team” could use a little fine tuning, however. We get the feeling regularly that the Kiwis want to be known for their own innovative ways but Americanization rears its ugly head occasionally…….Ex.: At the beginning of the match the announcer blared out, “Are you ready to rumble????” Now, really, where do you think this INNOVATIVE phrase originated? Old politically correct Rob often tones me down by saying, “Susie, we are guests in their country.” Whatever! )

We’ll be in touch.

Rob and Susie

NEXT

T OF C