Merry Christmas!

"Frosty the Snowman"... "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas"... "It's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together"... "I'll be home for Christmas"...

All these sound incredibly strange when you're wearing shorts in 90-100 degree weather and several thousand miles from home.  Despite seeing a few Christmas lights here and there and people wishing us a Merry Christmas, it did not feel anything like it.  It felt more like the 4th of July.  Nevertheless, we had a GREAT Christmas this year and we hope you did too!

Andy and I attended a luncheon hosted by a couple from our church.  We had a great time!  The food was good, as was the company.  And despite being far from home, we felt like we were with family.  There were about 15 people in attendance including 5 or so kids running around.  Activities included swimming, tons of good food and desserts, and a few games of Clue.

Goodies from the Christmas luncheon

It was definitely unlike any other Christmas we've had, but it was one of the most memorable (and for sure the warmest)!

Tomorrow marks the start of the annual week-long Youth Festival at the camp, which Andy and I have signed up for.  Since we will be incredibly busy working 12-hour days (and without internet), it may be awhile before we post again... so we hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Abel Tasman National Park

We finally made it to our destination for this trip! Abel Tasman National Park is New Zealand's smallest (and only coastal) national park, known for its golden beaches, granite cliffs, and turquoise water. It has three entrances: one in the south near Kaiteriteri Beach and the other two in the north by Golden Bay. Since we wanted to see Golden Bay as well, we figured we would kill two birds with one stone by heading to Totaranui on the northern end.

The drive to Totaranui

Totaranui Beach, right next to our campsite:

Kayaking is a popular way to explore the area, as well as hiking (or as the kiwis call it, “tramping”) the Abel Tasman Coastal Track, which is what we decided to do. Considered one of New Zealand's “Great Walks,” this track takes about 3-5 days to complete and follows the coastline through some amazing landscapes and incredible scenery. Since we weren't quite so ambitious, we just picked a small section of it and hiked a little ways and back, which took us about three hours. It was far more intense than we expected, with a lot of uphill/downhill climbing, but so picturesque! Starting with a field surrounded by tropical-looking trees (which reminded us of Jurassic Park), the track took us along cliffs, through forests, and over a number of beautiful golden beaches. Here are a just a few of the pictures we took from our hike:

Cool rock formations at Anapai Beach:

We have since returned to Nelson (completely rejuvenated and with a nice tan to boot!) and are eagerly awaiting Christmas, as well as the Youth Festival shortly thereafter. Things are going to get very busy around here real soon!

Picture of the Day: MOO!

These cows were just off the trail from Payne's Ford. It felt not too unlike a petting zoo exhibit.

Like my experiences with sheep, this did not turn me into a vegetarian.

It made me hungry for a burger.

Te Waikoropupu Springs (a.k.a. Pupu Springs)

Initially, Pupu Springs wasn't even on our itinerary for this trip. However, while waiting out the rain one day before reaching the national park, we had a free afternoon when the skies finally cleared, and we noticed the springs on our map. It wasn't far from the town we were in (Takaka) and I had heard a little bit about it, so we figured, why not?

We are SO glad we went. Pupu Springs is Australasia's largest springs and the world's clearest fresh water (the only other place known to have water of greater clarity being under the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica)! Since the water was so clear, you could see everything beneath the surface and the blues and greens were just breathtaking:

A nearby sign read:

“Te Waikoropupu Springs are a taonga (treasure) and waahi tapu (a sacred place) for Maori, both locally and nationally. The legends of Te Waikoropupu are told in the stories of Huriawa, its taniwha (guardian spirit). In Maori tradition the springs are waiora, (the purest form of water) which is the wairua (spiritual) and physical source of life. The Springs provide water for healing, and in the past were a place of ceremonial blessings at times of birth and death and the leaving and returning of travellers.”

With that, it requested that visitors respect the springs which means, of course, no contact whatsoever allowed. However, the water was just so tempting. I wanted to drink a cup of it and Andy wanted to dive in it. But don't worry, we restrained ourselves...

Instead, Andy acted on his impulse at our next stop at Payne's Ford:

Canaan Downs

Getting back to our Abel Tasman trip...

We left Kaiteriteri Beach and headed to Canaan Downs for the night. As Jasmine mentioned in her last post, it was in the same area that parts of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were filmed. On top of Takaka Hill, Canaan Downs is a picturesque meadow 35 minutes down a gravel road through rocky hills and ominous looking forests:

We discovered our clothes were still damp from the last time we had done laundry and decided to hang them out overnight so they would be ready to dry the next morning. Since it is now summer, we did not take into account the elevation in terms of temperature. When we woke up we were quite surprised to find our clothes were frozen stiff.

It didn't take long for things to warm up and once our clothes were dry we were on our way again.

The Hobbit: A Not-So-Unexpected Movie Review

So a couple of days ago, Andy and I went to the downtown cinema in Nelson for the 10:30 showing of the Hobbit, which we had booked a week in advance.  Due to unforeseen events, we ended up at the 12:30 showing instead (as Andy detailed here).  As a result of technical difficulties, we ended up watching the regular 3D version instead of the 48fps version we had originally signed up for.  In a way, I was glad that our first viewing of the movie was in the original mainstream format so that I could give it a fair review based on its merit, without the influence of visual distractions (whether for good or for bad.)

Anyway, I had read some reviews for The Hobbit ahead of time out of curiosity, but was determined not to let the mixed reviews affect my own opinion, as much as that can be helped.  I figured, if you came into the theater expecting something as epic as The Lord of the Rings, you are setting yourself up for a major letdown.  So I prepared myself on that front.  I also knew that The Hobbit would have a lighter tone and lack the gravity of the previous trilogy.  After all, it was a kids book that Tolkien had written for his own children.  It wasn’t meant to be as serious as LOTR.  This is one of the reasons I have reservations about Peter Jackson turning it into a trilogy, but I digress…  Lastly, Andy and I had read The Hobbit together earlier this year or last year and knew it would be tricky to put on the big screen for a multitude of reasons, which I will explain later in my review.

But with all the mental preparations I had coming into the theater, I left the movie thinking it was… okay.  As expected, it wasn’t as great as LOTR.  But it wasn’t horrible either.

The Pros:  The number one pro on my list is Martin Freeman as Bilbo.  He was casted perfectly!  I didn’t know how I’d feel about the newcomer, but I loved the way he portrayed Bilbo.  His comedic timing is spot on and he brings a human quality to the whole film, which is refreshing when you’re surrounded by the constant silliness of 13 dwarves.  I also loved the subtle mannerisms and facial expressions that he had, which reminded me of Pippin from LOTR.  Secondly, I liked the character of Thorin, which I expected I would (considering Aragorn was my favorite character from LOTR).  Like Bilbo, he helps the film stay grounded and provides the element of seriousness it needs to make us care about their quest.  Thirdly, when Gollum appeared on the screen, a wave of nostalgia came over me.  It was like greeting a long lost friend.  Strangely enough, I didn’t feel that way when Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, Saruman, or even Frodo made an appearance (probably because the scenes with the latter four seemed rather unnecessary).  But the scenes with Gollum and his interactions with Bilbo were well done and one of the highlights of the movie.  In concluding my pro list, I enjoyed many of the battle scenes, particularly towards the end of the film.  Every time I saw one of the characters in trouble and a whole horde of dwarves come to the rescue, I got a rush of adrenaline.  Those scenes made the movie fun, but I wish there had been more of them!

The Cons:  Now for the cons…  I guess the number one con (which if I think about it, would have been very difficult to turn into a pro, so nothing against Peter Jackson) is the lack of character development in the 13 dwarves.  Out of the 13, I can honestly only recognize 6 of them: Thorin (obviously), Dwalin (since he was the first one introduced), Balin (Thorin’s right hand man), Bombur (the big one that eats all the time), and Fili & Kili (since they also had a formal introduction.)  That’s it.  What about Bifor, Bofur, Gloin, Oin, etc… I don’t even remember all their names.  They probably only had one line or less and you never got to know them at all.  Therefore, it was hard to care much for them.  There were a number of points in the movie where the dwarves were in trouble and I wouldn’t have minded if a couple of them fell off a cliff or got eaten by a warg just so I wouldn’t have to keep track of them all.  Again, nothing against Peter Jackson- I am aware that it would’ve been very difficult to give all the dwarves the appropriate screen time they needed in one movie (maybe in the next movie… or perhaps the extended edition?)  The second con on my list is the pacing of the film.  This ties in to the strange fact that Peter Jackson decided to turn The Hobbit into a trilogy.  The whole first half of this movie dragged quite a bit (especially the scene in Rivendell with Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, and Saruman.)  Towards the end of the movie, right when the action starts to pick up, it just ends.  Was hoping for a bit more, but they are clearly setting up for movie 2.

So those are my pros and cons.  One more pro for us personally was being able to recognize some of the locations in the film- Hobbiton being an obvious one and many more that seemed “familiar.”  Actually, if you have been following our blog at all, our next stop on our way out to Abel Tasman National Park just  happened to be at a filming location for both Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit!  Canaan Downs up on Takaka Hill, where we camped for a night, definitely looks like Middle Earth.  See for yourself!

So in conclusion, the film was not bad, but not great.  Considering I was a HUGE Lord of the Rings fanatic back in the day, but tried to watch this movie with an open mind and an objective stance, take my review as you will.  Generally speaking, though, I do usually like movies better the second time around and will probably see it next in 48fps.  So maybe, my opinion will change…

If you do go and see this film, I would love to hear what you think and whether or not you agree with my viewpoints!

Note: Now that we have completed our Hobbit interruption, we will now return to updating you all on our Abel Tasman mini-trip last week!

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Run-a-Round

We are back in Nelson after our trip out to Abel Tasman National Park and had the chance yesterday to see Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Jasmine and I wanted to post our reviews as quickly as possible, after which we will go over the rest of our trip.

For me, An Unexpected Journey was the most anticipated film of the past five years. Films don’t garner much anticipation in my mind so that isn’t saying much. Still, being in New Zealand and getting to see it before the people back home sparked cherished memories of going to the midnight release of Star Wars Episode III oh so long ago. That movie had low expectations that were met if not slightly exceeded. That being said, my expectations going into The Hobbit may have been a bit unreasonable.

On the fourth of December as we were beginning our trip out to Abel Tasman, we stopped in a small town to get our Internet fix at the local library. I decided it would be a good time to look into getting tickets for The Hobbit, only to find that the midnight showing back in Nelson had been sold out. The online booking system for this theater has you reserve your seat rather than having general admission. The good seats were going fast and we quickly booked our tickets for the next showing at 10:30am.

After securing our tickets I consoled myself that at least we would still be seeing it on opening day. I then noticed that the theater in Nelson, State Cinema, also had theaters in other areas in the Tasman District (Nelson is to the Tasman District as Bellingham is to Whatcom County). Out of curiosity I looked at the other theaters and according to their website they had showings for The Hobbit on December 5th, the very next day, in a town we had passed about a half hour earlier...

I tried calling the box office several times to inquire about the next day’s showing, during what should have been business hours, only to be forwarded to a voice-mail box. In my excitement to see what I believed to be an advanced screening, I didn’t see the first clear red flag that something was amiss. I figured that we could wait all night in the parking lot and get the best seats to an early showing of a movie that was a part of one of my favorite movie franchises from my late childhood. With these stars in my eyes I convinced my highly skeptical wife that it would be well worth the detour.

On pulling into the theater complex I had high hopes. There were a fair number of cars in the parking lot, but not too many, and the icing on the cake was a figure of Gollum perched on the roof reaching for The Ring just out of grasp. As fate would have it, it was the perfect symbolism for what was to happen next. We parked and went in. We found an empty concession stand that doubled as the box office. After a moment the clerk came out of the side office and told us he didn’t know why the website said that there were showings tomorrow and that they had just started booking tickets for the midnight showing on the 12th. Having already purchased our tickets for that day we turned away in disappointment. Deceived, the experience I had longed for was as far out of reach as the ring from Gollum’s outstretched hand.

Close, but not close enough. We continued on our way and before we knew it, a week had gone by and we were off to see the film in Nelson, only to find that our trials and tribulations had not yet come to an end.

We arrived 15 minutes early. From our experience from movies back home this felt like being 15 minutes late. The automatic box office for online bookings was broken. There was a large line for the concessions/tickets but it thankfully moved quickly. We finally got our tickets only to find that there was a malfunction for the high frame rate version we had tickets for. We were being herded into a showing for the regular 3D version (the glasses for which were sold separately) with general admission and we thought it was probably too late to get good seats. We ended up getting our tickets exchanged for a later (non high frame rate) showing with good seats and the hope that the movie would make things all better.

It was too high a standard to put on any movie. Some of the liberties Jackson took with the story-line troubled me significantly and I left the movie wondering how I felt about it. I had expected to be super excited after seeing it but I didn’t feel that way. I asked myself if that lack of excitement made it a flop. I wasn’t ready to call it that and looking back, I feel the experience is much the same as the way I felt about The Empire Strikes Back.

At first Empire was my least favorite of the Star Wars movies but now it is one of my favorites. I think, now that I have recognized the issues I had going into the film, I can set them aside and will be able to fully enjoy the movie next time I go and see it. All that being said, if you are not much of a Tolkien purist (i.e. you haven’t studied the appendices from Return of the King too closely) you will probably enjoy the movie a great deal.

We will continue with our ‘regularly scheduled blogging’ soon after Jasmine posts her more thorough review of the movie.

Kaiteriteri Beach

After stopping by Jester House, we got our first taste of the golden beaches that Abel Tasman National Park is known for. Kaiteriteri Beach is just south of the national park and we decided to make a quick stop and soak up some sun!


Tomorrow we are going to see The Hobbit and we will interrupt our quasi-'regularly scheduled programming'  for an update on the experience.

I hope you enjoyed the pics!