Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 170

Mystery Plane

I won’t say where in my travels I encountered this, but it’s a most unusual aircraft.

What do we see here?

Beware My Wrath, Mortals!

I visitthe Tongariro volcano, and within 24 hours THIS happens!

If I don’t get over this cold, I’m gonna get all Armageddon on this place.

Welcome to Mt Doom

Behold Mount Doom, or as it’s known locally, Mount Ngauruhoe. This, wreathed ominously in cloud, was the (still active) volcano used by Peter Jackson to stand in for Orodruin in The Return of the King.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of interaction with the local geology for the last few days.

Kathy was down with a cold yesterday, so I left her in the capable hands of Ann, the owner of the Big Bird B&B in Waitomo, and promptly dived underground.

First up was “blackwater rafting,” which is to say raf...

Things You Can Learn From New Zealand Road Signs

Roads in New Zealand are so dangerous that the right and left wheels of your car can spontaneously change places!

Trees in New Zealand are so rare that each is marked by its own individual sign!

Hobbitses

So our first day off the boat and we ended up in Middle-Earth. Specifically Hobbiton, the set built by Peter Jackson for his Tolkien-based epics.

Hobbiton is near a town called Matimati, which is remodeling its information center to resemble a twee hobbit house. The Maori carvings inside are now eclipsed by a statue of Gollum and official WETA scale models of Bag End. Poor old Maoris.

It costs $75 for an adult to visit Hobbiton, which is about what y0u’d pay for a day at Disneyland, and at Disn...

Exploding

We have left the Plague Ship of Death, though not without cost (we both have colds). The ship has a few more days of incubating viruses before landing in Sidney— if I were Australia, I’d consider evacuating the east coast.

We are now in New Zealand, which has, umm, really active geology.

Three Firsts

I’ve experienced three firsts in a twenty-four-hour period. I’ve seen the Green Flash, I’ve passed through the debris of an underwater volcano, and I’ve seen a total eclipse (from a ship).

It’s the 24 hours I signed up for, so I’m pretty happy.

The Green Flash first. I’d always heard about it, but never seen it. But now, on a ship full of astronomers, I had a better idea what to look for— I’d been expecting the whole horizon to light up, which does in fact happen rarely, but normally it’s only...

Miss Sadie Thompson, and Others

Greetings from the southernmost town in the United States of America. Which is to say, Pago Pago in American Samoa. Which is in a whole other hemisphere from the rest of the USA, but there you go.
I have had a day ashore, into which I flung myself like one of those starving mariners washed up on an inhabited island.
Do you all remember the Sixties TV show, The Prisoner? Being on a cruise ship is sort of like being a guest in the Village. It’s pleasant and all, but you just . . . can’t . . . lea...

Lava Lava Lava

Lava on the slopes of Mauna Loa, as seen from the sea.

Smoldering

Behold! The smoldering crater at Halema’uma’u on Mauna Loa, which has been in continual eruption for something like thirty years. During the day it produces poison gasses; by night a scarlet glow.
I was taken from Honolulu to the Big Island by the Celebrity cruise ship Millennium, which is now carrying me farther south along with a couple thousand other people.
Walter on a cruise ship? I hear you asking. What in the world is Walter doing on a cruise ship?
My friends have heard me denouncing the...