We Flee the Shire
The ongoing adventures in New Zealand! Or, "Who Signed My T-shirt?"
Authentic signed t-shirt in the Redcliff Cafe in Te Anau. I like how several of the cast added their character names because they were sure nobody would know who they were. :)
But now, back to our story.
Maggie, Merry, Frodo, Peachy and I set out from the Shire, intending to retrace our footsteps and complete the healing Frodo and Merry so desperately need.
Merry packs a nutricious lunch for the journey.
This completely accidental arrangement of produce reminded me of the sculpture Maggie and I saw in the Denver airport. This was our first picture of the trip. The artist had titled it "Praying Mantis". Right. ;) It didn't even fool the airport authorities for long; Maggie reports this work of art has since been removed.
Back in the Shire, our hobbit friends provide the other essential foods for the trip.
We started in the direction Sam and Frodo had originally gone. Between these two trees is the distant cornfield that marked Sam's last footstep from the Shire.
We enter the gorgeous rolling hills of Tookland, Green Hills country.
Suddenly Mariole is afraid to take one more step. What danger is lurking?
Panic-stricken, we all fall down a random cliff.
Now Mariole's companions feel the fear as well.
Mariole cowers. "It's the Witch King!" she whispers. All the natives had been mentioning the "Wiki". It was on our trail!!!!
To our embarrassment, it turned out they were warning us about something that only sounds like "Wiki". The natives were in fact saying "Weka", which is a local flightless bird. Their accent makes it sound like "wiki" (really, that part is true!).
We wanted to cross the Brandywine on a boat, but the Maoris had turned it into a bird feeder.
We therefore went across the Swinging Bridge, officially leaving the Shire.
Heh, we are such swingers!
We enter a wilder country. Barrow Downs are in the distance.
Oh, no! Old Man Willow is still awake! Without any care for our insurance coverage, he attacks our rental vehicle, just like the Whomping Willow in Harry Potter did! Oh, the dismay!
That willow is one big puppy.
We stop to catch our breath.
We are rescued by a flighted bird, which pecks my boot to get our attention.
We follow the bird to the House of Tom Bombadil.
Now, this turned out to be a lovely place, but we don't have time to say anything further about it in this narrative, so it's cut out of this NZ retelling, as it was from the movie, and the BBC production, and just about every other reproduction of LOTR that we can think of.
But the house offered us a chance for rest, which was much appreciated.
More about our glorious adventure in the next exciting installment, From Bree to the Ford!
Click here for a complete list of our NZ adventures.
Authentic signed t-shirt in the Redcliff Cafe in Te Anau. I like how several of the cast added their character names because they were sure nobody would know who they were. :)
But now, back to our story.
Maggie, Merry, Frodo, Peachy and I set out from the Shire, intending to retrace our footsteps and complete the healing Frodo and Merry so desperately need.
Merry packs a nutricious lunch for the journey.
This completely accidental arrangement of produce reminded me of the sculpture Maggie and I saw in the Denver airport. This was our first picture of the trip. The artist had titled it "Praying Mantis". Right. ;) It didn't even fool the airport authorities for long; Maggie reports this work of art has since been removed.
Back in the Shire, our hobbit friends provide the other essential foods for the trip.
We started in the direction Sam and Frodo had originally gone. Between these two trees is the distant cornfield that marked Sam's last footstep from the Shire.
We enter the gorgeous rolling hills of Tookland, Green Hills country.
Suddenly Mariole is afraid to take one more step. What danger is lurking?
Panic-stricken, we all fall down a random cliff.
Now Mariole's companions feel the fear as well.
Mariole cowers. "It's the Witch King!" she whispers. All the natives had been mentioning the "Wiki". It was on our trail!!!!
To our embarrassment, it turned out they were warning us about something that only sounds like "Wiki". The natives were in fact saying "Weka", which is a local flightless bird. Their accent makes it sound like "wiki" (really, that part is true!).
We wanted to cross the Brandywine on a boat, but the Maoris had turned it into a bird feeder.
We therefore went across the Swinging Bridge, officially leaving the Shire.
Heh, we are such swingers!
We enter a wilder country. Barrow Downs are in the distance.
Oh, no! Old Man Willow is still awake! Without any care for our insurance coverage, he attacks our rental vehicle, just like the Whomping Willow in Harry Potter did! Oh, the dismay!
That willow is one big puppy.
We stop to catch our breath.
We are rescued by a flighted bird, which pecks my boot to get our attention.
We follow the bird to the House of Tom Bombadil.
Now, this turned out to be a lovely place, but we don't have time to say anything further about it in this narrative, so it's cut out of this NZ retelling, as it was from the movie, and the BBC production, and just about every other reproduction of LOTR that we can think of.
But the house offered us a chance for rest, which was much appreciated.
More about our glorious adventure in the next exciting installment, From Bree to the Ford!
Click here for a complete list of our NZ adventures.