Doom

From the redwoods, I traveled southwest to Lake Taupo.
This Māori artwork reminded me of some other things I learned from the Maiti tribe.  The tā moko facial markings were originally scars, not tattoos.  Grooves were carved with three different knives so that it would scar splayed open in order to resemble lines carved into wood.

In the distant clouds across the lake — past that spit of land — you can almost see Mount Ngauruhoe which served as Mount Doom in The Lord of the Rings.As I was taking these pictures, a cool guy on a mountain bike rode by and yelled “Nerrrrd!”  I, of course, assumed he was talking to me.  But he wasn’t.  He was talking to a girl he obviously knew, sitting nearby, looking at her cell phone.  She looked up, laughed, and yelled back, “Oh, like you’re not doing the same thing!”  And that’s how I learned that Pokemon Go had been released in New Zealand.