Just over a year ago we were in Wellington, New Zealand as part of a big holiday. We toured around the North Island seeing the sights. One of the local attractions is being the location for the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies and the airport has some massive models of the eagles and Gollum.
During the recent earthquake one of the eagles fell down. Luckily nobody was badly hurt, but there was a lot of damage. That part of the world is a little unstable. You can see some of the geological forces at work in places like Rotorua. There's a Maori village there with hot pools and steam vents all over the place, but they are used to the smell. We also saw the results of various landslips on the mountain roads.
It's an amazing country that I'd love to explore more.
