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New Zealand Part II, Braaiiinnnss
Oct. 20th, 2022 06:14 amThe next leg of the tour involved a trip to the very pretty site known as Hobbiton. It's been a few years since I've been and it's still a guided tour rather than a freeform adventure, but that's perfectly fine for now. The number of Hobbit-holes has increased since the release of the various films of The Hobbit (I still don't know how they did a trilogy out of that), and the level of interactive elements has improved, and hopefully, it will increase further. After Hobbiton made our way cross-country to Rotarua to stay at the beautiful nouveau-deco hotel Princes' Gate Hotel (which comes with its own ghost stories) across from the Government Gardens (alas the famous museum of Edwardian baths is undergoing renovations).
Due to an ironically unnecessary accommodation disagreement, I am now travelling solo and have arrived in Wellington earlier than planned. I feel rather surprised and disappointed by the turn of events but will not elaborate here. The trip to Wellington basically took up a day, and involved stops at Taupo (nice lake, fascinating geology, boring town), Flat Hills (reminds me of "The Flat Mountains" of "Bored of the Rings"), and Palmerston North (nice central park and a few deco buildings), and provided rather good views of the snow-laden peaks of the active volcano, Mount Ruapehu. Of course, if I hadn't seen this trip several times already I'd be quite agog at the landscape, but by now it's all as expected. As is my want, I'm staying at my old favourite the late art deco Waterloo Hotel (which has a far more interesting history than its rather plain website explains).
The bus trip afforded the opportunity to finish "The Britannica Guide to the Brain". The writing is a bit clunky, and it's already out-of-date (2008), but it does provide a solid and wide overview of the subject. It will serve as a handy introduction to the next unit in my psychology degree, "The Behaving Brain", which is basically principles of cognitive science and neurology. I already get the sense that the course is going to provide a factual grounding in geography and processes for why all people are at least somewhat irrational, why their perceptions are distorted, and what can be done about it.
Due to an ironically unnecessary accommodation disagreement, I am now travelling solo and have arrived in Wellington earlier than planned. I feel rather surprised and disappointed by the turn of events but will not elaborate here. The trip to Wellington basically took up a day, and involved stops at Taupo (nice lake, fascinating geology, boring town), Flat Hills (reminds me of "The Flat Mountains" of "Bored of the Rings"), and Palmerston North (nice central park and a few deco buildings), and provided rather good views of the snow-laden peaks of the active volcano, Mount Ruapehu. Of course, if I hadn't seen this trip several times already I'd be quite agog at the landscape, but by now it's all as expected. As is my want, I'm staying at my old favourite the late art deco Waterloo Hotel (which has a far more interesting history than its rather plain website explains).
The bus trip afforded the opportunity to finish "The Britannica Guide to the Brain". The writing is a bit clunky, and it's already out-of-date (2008), but it does provide a solid and wide overview of the subject. It will serve as a handy introduction to the next unit in my psychology degree, "The Behaving Brain", which is basically principles of cognitive science and neurology. I already get the sense that the course is going to provide a factual grounding in geography and processes for why all people are at least somewhat irrational, why their perceptions are distorted, and what can be done about it.
