We're back in Taiwan, back to listening to continuous CNN reports and surfing the Internet on broadband, after 20-some days in Middle Earth. It all seems like a dream now, when we were in Auckland just hours ago.

Before we went, we thought we might see a fjord, swim with the dolphins and go whale watching, have helicopter rides on glaciers, ride the Alpine Tranz train, and trek by horse. We wanted to see glow worms, penguins, gannet colonies, albatrosses, and of course parrots. We wanted kakapos and moas, Lord of the Rings country. We downscaled drastically.

NZ is a small country compared to Australia, but it's still awfully big. It took us hours by car to get from point A to point B, which meant that though we had a relatively long holiday, we couldn't really visit as many of the sights as we had expected to, or even try out all of the activities on offer at any one place. We did do quite a bit, and it was all good - New Zealanders must be disappointed quite often when they visit other countries when nothing can compare to their beautiful weather, scenery, people, and food. "You are so lucky," they say when something good happens, but they are the luckiest of all.

Some of the highlights of our trip included the kelp forests of the freezing waters at Tutukaka (New Zealanders just say the water's 'fresh'), glow worms in the Kawiti Caves in Whangarei, seeing the geysers blow at the pancake rocks at Punakaiki, a helicopter snow landing at Fox glacier, traversing across the islands by ferry, staying overnight at Milford Sound and watching dolphins frolic around the boat, and rolling down a hill together in a Zorb at Rotorua. We lolled about the thermal pools at Hanmer Springs and Rotorua, and saw active mud pools and geysers. We attended a Maori cultural show ('kia ora!', pronounced more like 'kee-ola') and hangi. We went to Rivendell, or rather, where it had been filmed. We drove through the Waikato region (Hobbiton), near Lake Taupo (Mordor, Emyn Muil), past the Kapiti Coast (East Road), Upper Hutt (River Anduin). We went through Nelson and Queenstown, Takaka and Wanaka, Te Anau and Wellington, all LOTR locations as mentioned by www.jasons.com.

Keas, the size of small chickens, came and rubbed their heads against us at Staglands Wildlife Park. We watched yellow-eyed penguins emerge from the surf in Oamaru, and blue penguins return at dusk with food for greedy babies.

We stayed in backpackers and motels, which often came with in-room cooking facilities, and ate at little cafes in small towns along the highways. We'll always remember the steamed mussels and seafood chowder. The salads. The apricots and peaches. The curries, soft cheeses, pates, and smoked salmon. The coffees, which ran the gamut from cappuccinos, flat whites and long blacks, to lattes. The wealth of food available was lovely, and the food in small towns especially outstanding.

But what made NZ truly real for us were the wonderful people we met. Solveig and Phillip with their African grey Phaedrus in Auckland, who warned us that we had to book early for the interisland ferry, and checked facts for us off the 'Net; Mel and Ed with Nicnic in Whangarei, who knew exactly where to buy a CD player and our Vodafone prepaid cards on a Sunday; and Jennifer with daughter Shannen and mom Linda, not forgetting Dino, with whom we went all-out sightseeing in Upper Hutt near Wellington. Jennifer and Linda also introduced us to Dennis, the New Zealand bird whisperer, as well as to other bird people. We even said hi to an elf from LOTR, who masqueraded as Dennis' nephew in another life.

We didn't have the time to swim with the dolphins or go on the train, trek by horse, feed tame eels, or visit gannets. But that's no problem. "You'll just have to come back again," smiled every New Zealander we complained to. We know exactly what they mean.

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This is NZ.

The best-looking men in the world. More tourists than locals. Differently-pronounced vowels. "We're not silly." Air-conditioned summer days. Summer at the end of the year, when there's daylight till 9 pm. Very strong sun. Panoramic views. Information centres at every town with free brochures and maps and booking services.

Mountains mountains mountains: Snowcapped, green, dry brown, covered in evergreen trees, bush. Views views views. Clear rivers and springs. Pebble beaches, crunching as the surf rolls in. Thermal pools. Glaciers and geysers. Sandflies. Multisyllabic Maori place names, often starting with 'w'or 'k'. "Wh" that's pronounced "f".

Plastic banknotes: pristine red hundreds, ubiquitous green twenties, rare blue tens, grungy brown fives. Two-dollar coins. Swedish rounding. EFTPOS facilities everywhere, even at McDonalds. Using a PIN for credit card authentication.

Motels and B&Bs with helpful "no/vacancy" signs outside. Signs saying "If no one is at reception please ring bell." Real milk at check in, with a choice of full-cream or low-fat in the nicer establishments. Pots and pans and crockery provided in-room. Half flush buttons on the loo. Electric blankets and towel heaters. Extra comfy chairs and beds. Extra pillows. Standard checkout times at 10 am. Fireplaces using real wood.

Lovingly landscaped gardens. Mazes. Roses roses roses, in every hue, in big bunches, and in perfect bloom. Globes of agapanthus, the lily of the Nile, mostly purple ones, big clumps of rhododendrons in blue, pink, and mauve, graceful bright orange montbretia. Imported gorse and bracken against native tussock grass. Ponga ferns, the underside of which has become the fern symbol of the All Blacks rugby team.

Pick your own asparagus. Strawberries, blueberries, boysenberries, raspberries, blackberries, plums, peaches, apricots, nectarines, cherries, apples. Hook your own salmon and rainbow trout. Drink straight from clear springs.

Witty licence plates: B42OLD on a sports car, O4ABUS on a sedan. Colourful police cars. CamperVans. Steam-powered trains. Sealed and unsealed roads. Deathly drink-driving and speeding warnings on the highways. Possum and hedgehog roadkill. Free parking after 5, after Saturday afternoons, Sundays and public holidays. Free two-hour parking (P 120). Giant statues of ordinary things: takahe (Te Anau); fruit (Cromwell); rubber duckies, fish, kiwis.

Falcons and mynahs feeding on roadkill. Squawking seagulls that will take food right out of your outstretched hand. Moreporks, tuis and kakarikis. Keas and kiwis. Penguins. Glow worms. Wetas. Bumblebees. Tame eels. Grazing sheep, cows, horses, with a sprinkle of goats and alpacas. Dolphins. Seals.

Four Square supermarkets. Foodtown, Countdown, New World, Pak N Save. The Warehouse. Books at Take Note and WH Smith and Whitcoulls. Liquor stores. Early closing hours. Clean public toilets with loads of toilet paper in them.

Al fresco dining. Menus broken into starters, entrees and mains, even in Chinese and Indian restaurants. Artistically arranged food decorated with herbs or sprinkles of paprika. Wine with everything. Expensive food: sandwiches and coffees start from NZ$3. World-class food. Gigantic portions for any dish that priced above NZ$10. Sauces sold separately. Kitchens closing after lunch time and reopening for dinner. Paua shells as ashtrays. Black barbies. Griffins Toffee pops. Licorice lollies (candy). Unfamiliar Cadburys flavours, like Biscotti, Caramello and Crunch. Spaghetti on toast for breakfast. Little packets of Vegemite, marmalade, honey, butter and assorted jams in a basket accompanying toast. Delicious salads, and I don't even like raw veggies. Melt-in-the-mouth pavlova for dessert. Also moist muffins, rich cheesecakes, and slices. Carrot cake and mud pie with yoghurt. Triple cream camembert the texture of butter and blue brie cheese with smoked salmon. Wine. Steamed mussels. Chai lattes. Flat whites and long blacks. Self-serve water (free).

Kouru and kiwi and tiki motifs in jewellery. Paua and bone and greenstone. Pink mussel and ruby stone.

Rollup cigarettes. Gossipy women's mags. Barefoot people who don't even wince on hot, sharp gravel. Hardy children. Possum merino gloves when the possum is endangered in Australia. Peter Jackson and LOTR. AJ Hackett's bungy jumping. Hangi and haka.

More pictures at http://community.webshots.com/user/shimmertje