My mission

Should I choose to accept it:

I am currently one third of the way through my three week holiday over the Christmas/New Year period in New Zealand.


So far it has been most enjoyable, however my main reason for not posting until now is that I can't seem to think of this country in terms that don't include the recent Lord of the Rings trilogy, that was famously filmed here, effectively putting New Zealand on the map. (Well, for the Americans really, and doesn't the world revolve around them and their lofty opinions anyway?). Which is silly really, considering the country has been around and renowned for many years before Tolkien even picked up a pen!

Ahem, back to my main point. Considering that the Lord of the Rings trilogy* did do such amazing justice to the fantastic geography of this beautiful country, I have been finding it extremely difficult to describe said landscape without referencing the great grandfather of fantasy** or his erstwhile grandson's*** visual interpretations.

Therefore, I am making it my mission, in my forthcoming posts of What I Did On My Holidays not to mention the Lord of the Rings. At all.

Wish me luck.

*I have recently come across a swathe of the population who believe the recent film adaptation of the books was rubbish. I beg to differ. While I salute Mr Tolkien and his bold explorations into the fantastical, making his tomes a foundation for every single fantasy novel since, reading them was like trying to run through waist deep water. Therefore, while some inevitable artistic license was taken for the films, I loved them, every one, and believe that Peter Jackson did extremely well. Considering the possible criticism from day one would have been akin to him announcing that he was making a film interpretation of the Holy Bible.
**John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (the guy who wrote the books, more usually known as J R R Tolkien).
***Peter Jackson (the guy who made the films of the books).