Green: "Further up and further in"

We have miles and miles of this kind of GREEN in all directions from our home in New Zealand.  This is what much of the North Island looks like.  

I snapped these pictures from our car as we drove 4 hours from our home in New Plymouth to Rotorua.  

There are not very many people or buildings.  From our house in New Plymouth, we drive 3 hours through Green in any direction to reach another big town.  

 We drove all the way to the northern tip of the North Island once (11 hour drive), and the Green was still surrounding us on every side. 

It was memorable to drive through the Green while listening to "The Last Battle" by C.S.Lewis, in which all the true friends of Narnia find themselves traveling deeper and deeper into layers of Narnia, each new Narnia becoming more real. 

"The difference between the old Narnia and the new Narnia was like that.  The new one was a deeper country:  every rock and flower and blade of grass looked as if it meant more." (213)

"Further up and further in!" (the Narnians urge themselves deeper and deeper into the new Narnia)

Another favorite quote from this book:  "No warrior scolds.  Courteous words or else hard knocks are his only language." (152)

Too bad that traveling in glorious places doesn't actually make us into glorious people.  Just hours after finishing this glorious drive, listening to the glorious conclusion of "The Last Battle" in the car, I felt and acted like my worst self in a grocery store in Rotorua.  =sigh=

We enjoyed seeing a new color of green during our visit to Rotorua:

This is a close-up photo of the sulphur lake in Rotorua.

Mercy and Sage in front of the sulphur lake

 A couple of pictures for the grandparents...

Joyce's boots match our wisteria.