Storms, Storytelling, and the Magic Between the Rain

When I traveled to New Zealand, I arrived with a picture already formed in my mind.

I imagined warmth, sunshine, tropical beauty, and carefree adventure. Even though I had been warned we were heading into their cooler season, I still held onto that sunny version of the trip in my imagination.

Instead, I was greeted by something else entirely.

Rain. Wind. Cold days. Flooding. And a cyclone named Vaianu threatening many of the plans we had carefully made before arriving.

At first, I’ll admit it—I was disappointed.

I freeze easily, and while I had packed warm clothes, I had not packed the right expectations.

But sometimes the greatest journeys are not the ones that unfold exactly as planned.

Sometimes they are the ones that ask us to adjust.

When the Weather Changes the Story

Several tours had been booked in advance, including a Bay of Islands excursion that was eventually canceled due to the cyclone.

We reshuffled plans, hoped for the best, and stayed flexible.

And that became one of the greatest lessons of the trip.

The weather changed the schedule.

But it never diminished the experience.

Walking Into Magic at Hobbiton

One place I deeply hoped to see was Hobbiton.

As someone who grew up loving stories filled with wonder, imagination, and hidden worlds, standing in a place where fiction had been brought to life was unforgettable.

It reminded me that stories do not have to stay on the page.

They can become places people walk through.

That realization meant something special to me as an author currently building worlds of my own.

It made me think differently about setting, atmosphere, detail, and how imagination can become something tangible.

The Kauri Forest and Tane Mahuta

Another meaningful part of the journey was visiting the Kauri Forest and seeing Tane Mahuta—the great tree known as the Lord of the Forest.

There are places in the world that feel ancient, wise, and almost impossible to fully describe.

This was one of them.

As a writer, moments like that matter.

They remind you that wonder already exists in the real world. We simply borrow from it when we create.

A Train Ride I’ll Never Forget

We also took the Great Northerner train from Auckland to Wellington.

I expected beautiful scenery.

What I didn’t expect was to spend nearly the entire journey staring out the window in awe.

Rolling green hills. Valleys. Rivers. Endless changing landscapes.

Every turn revealed something new.

I had planned to write during the ride.

Instead, I simply watched.

Sometimes inspiration asks us to stop producing and start noticing.

WETA and the Craft of Story

Another highlight was visiting WETA Workshop, where costumes, creatures, sets, and cinematic worlds are brought to life.

Seeing the craftsmanship behind beloved stories was inspiring.

It reminded me that imagination may begin with one person—but it often grows through many hands, many skills, and many hearts working together. That’s true for books too.

The Magic Between the Rain

Here is what I’ll remember most:

Whenever we had something outdoors that truly mattered… the rain seemed to pause.

Not always sunshine.

But enough of a pause.

Enough stillness for us to enjoy the moment.

Enough space to let the memory happen.

It felt magical.

What This Taught Me as an Author

This trip changed how I think about storytelling.

Not only in terms of imagination—but in terms of experience.

If one day my stories become spaces people can walk through, I now think differently about pathways, shelter, weather, atmosphere, flow, comfort, and how to preserve magic in real-world conditions.

How do you create wonder in wind, rain, snow, or cold?

How do you make something feel true to the story while still welcoming people into it? Those are questions I now carry home with me.

Final Reflection

Cyclone Vaianu and the floods near Wellington changed the trip.

But they did not take away the wonder.

If anything, they deepened it.

Perfect weather gives you postcards.

Unexpected weather gives you stories.

And stories are what I’ll carry forward into every world I build.

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