A vacation in New Zealand is mainly why I have not posted here in 2+ weeks. My wife and I did a 14-day escorted tour of the north and south islands. NZ has lots of beautiful scenery, about 4.5 million human inhabitants, 6 million cows, and 56 million sheep. There are 19 breeds of sheep.
We heard about common brushtail possums. Like the link says, NZ has about 30 million of them (about 70 million several years ago), they aren't native but were introduced there, where they have no natural predators (e.g. coyotes). They differ from the Virginia or North American possums in the USA. Many people in NZ regard them as destructive pests. Some blend their fur with merino wool to make very warm and expensive clothing of incomparable quality and durability.
We heard a lot about rugby, the favorite sport in NZ, and the Maori people. We rode a JetBoat. We saw a few places where scenes from the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Hobbit movies were filmed, including Hobbiton. We saw glowworms.
A visit to Rutherford's Den was not part of the tour, but we chanced upon this delightful place walking during free time in Christchurch. Ernest Rutherford was born and grew up in New Zealand.
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