The Little Mail Carriers are back on the move with postcrossers Maret (aka Cerres) and Andry (aka andry1961)— and this time, their island-hopping adventure brings them to New Zealand! After their stop in Wallis and Futuna, our tiny postal duo crossed a big stretch of the Pacific and landed in Auckland. Naturally, they went looking for mailboxes, postcards and some nice postmarks — with a detour to some rather famous postboxes along the way.
We landed in Auckland (in New Zealand’s North Island) on the first of September. The history of sending post in New Zealand dates back to 1830, initially without regulation, but by 1860, the first private mailboxes had already appeared.
We set out to explore what’s happening directly inside at least some of the NZ mailboxes. We chose the Hobbiton mailboxes as our destination (in the Shire!). It appeared that they had just been emptied. Bilbo Baggins was still busy preparing for his birthday, as there was a sign on the gate that read 'No Admittance Except on Party Business.'
Although we didn’t encounter any hobbits themselves, it seemed like they would return very soon, but we couldn’t wait, so we rushed on.
Auckland’s antipode is Setenil de las Bodegas in Andalusia, Spain, which means we were almost on the other side of the Earth from our home in Portugal. So, we were about as far away as one can get. Naturally, we set out to find a place to send postcards.
We chose a Post Shop where we had the opportunity to hand-cancel postage stamps. We were assisted by the lovely lady Wendy, who was very excited to hear about Postcrossing. Turns out, it’s no easy task to obtain hand-stamped cancellations on postcards from New Zealand!
That’s all we had time for in this visit, but this wasn’t our first time in New Zealand — check out our previous adventures here! Ok, time for another jump on a flight to another exotic nation in the Pacific… Can you guess our next destination? 😉
41 comments so far
Lovely story, thanks for sharing! I do envy the little mail carriers sometimes!
I am from new Zealand, I hadn't heard about hand cancelling, will have to Google it. I hope you enjoyed your time here
Oh wow, I wish they would have taken me with!! Hand stamping my own mail would be cool. Thanks for another great adventure!
I always enjoy reading about your adventures! 😊🇺🇸
Love this story - thank you! The only time I have done the Travel Mode thing, it was for my 3 week trip to New Zealand. I was so excited to send a dozen cards and I still enjoy seeing the "NZ-" in my sent cards.
I visited the Hobbiton set and it was much better than I had expected. Great day trip, especially for Tolkien fans.
Speaking of that, I was so excited to find that New Zealand has a number of Hobbit and LotR (Lord of the Rings) themed stamps, too. I sent myself a postcard back with a Gollum stamp on it. I wanted very badly to get my hands on the 40c Aragorn/Eowyn stamp, because my usernare "Wynnie" is a derivative of the name Eowyn - she is my alter-ego. But my touring schedule didn't leave time.
Thanks for the charming blog post!
An interesting and magical journey!
That is so cool! Such an adventure. Perhaps, the Cook Islands will be the next stop? Can’t wait to find out.
Thanks for sharing. What a great adventure!
I try to guess your next destination : Papua New Guinea.
I hope it is right, isn' it?
Nice story. Are you going to New Caledonia?
that's so cute! Thank you for sharing your adventures with us.
This is something new for me. Would like to know more about Little Mail, Hand cancelled postage stamps, Gollum stamps, Aragorn/Eowyn stamp etc. I will do the Google search. But would love to hear about those things from members of postcrossing. Will wait for messages.
I always love seeing the adventures of the Little Mail Carriers, and as a Tolkien fan this was even more special! Thank you! :)
I would love to go there one day!
Kia ora from the Shire! It was such a lovely surprise to see our little town featured here! Hobbiton is a special place and it’s wonderful to see the Little Mail Carriers enjoying it :)
I'm from Ohope Beach and it doesn't seem to matter how far and wide I ask about hand canceled postcards. Sadly it's not done anymore. If anyone else kiwi can let me know if they've successfully got any hand canceled postcards here in NZ I'd be most obliged.
I had the chance to accompany the Little Mail Carriers in Hobbiton — such a lovely experience!
Regarding hand canceling, we visited quite a few NZ Post locations. Based on our experience, we couldn’t get a hand cancel at places marked as NZ Post Centre on Google Maps. However, at NZ Post Shop locations it was sometimes possible to get a hand cancel if we asked.
Love to learn these adventures. I fell jalous, must confess, and at same time glad that world presents always plenty of nice things to be discovered.
next stop? Fiji islands?
What a fun trip! Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to your next adventure!
I bet that Wendy is now a postcrosser, too!
Wow! Bilbo Baggins' mailbox! 😊 This new adventure is causing me "Fernweh", the ache to travel to faraway places. 🌏🧳Thank you very much for sharing!
Hello, little friends!
Its really cool, nice to see this adventure!
Oh my Gosh how wonderful is this?!
What magical little adventures!
A visit to The Shire! Beyond Amazing.
Thats so cool, i have get the pleasure to send a card to New Zealand.
Hello Little Mail Carriers! Is your next stop the Cook Islands? I visited there a long time ago! :)
Thanks for sharing....this is wonderful to see and enjoy.
I just returned from New Zealand and visited both Aukland and Hobiton -the shire! Which was magical! How fun to hand cancel your stamps I didn't know you could do that. Safe travels!
Thank you and I love to read your travels, keep going.
Maybe Saint Lucia or Vanuatu?
I love reading the Little Mail Carrier adventure. I wish we have an official Postcrossing masscot like them that us,who love to travel can take with us on it's own adventure as well.
it's so good to see Little Mail Carriers visiting the Hobbits Home of Shire!
Thanks for the story - I've visited Hobbiton and being a proud Kiwi, I'm extremely thrilled when I hear of other people's adventures in our beautiful Islands. I get so many people absolutely ecstatic about receiving one of my cards from way down here in NZ. Because of the algorithm, majority of my cards go mainly to about four destinations so I too get thrilled when I can send a card to a different country or when I receive one from a country I haven't had one from previously. Go Little Mail Carriers and I will have to explore hand cancelling????
As a matter of interest, the Lord of the Rings stamps are no longer being printed by NZ Post - I have about five $3.30 ones to send and will only use them on my postcards when someone's profile states they are a LoTR fan!!
Wonderful blog post! My daughter's friend was married in Hobbiton - so festive and magical.
Interesting journey of LMC.When do they visit India?
What a wonderful coincidence! My niece and her fiancé were just there a couple of weeks ago and sent me a beautiful Hobbiton post card! I love hearing about everyone's unique travel experiences when they've visited the same place! Thank you for sharing!
"Apples for walking, and a pipe for sitting!"
Hope that LMC followed Sam's advice :)
Nice story & news from your booth, our dearest LMC's
xoxo
Happy Postcrossing!
Very cool! My son is looking forward to possibly traveling to New Zealand this year. I'll be sure to ask him to send some postcards! Also, I want to see if I can find the little Lego letter carriers. I wouldn't mind having a set of those!
So lovely! Welcome to New Zealand :)
I'm so excited that now when I live in New Zealand (I'm originally from Ukraine), I can send so beautiful and unique postcards from one of the most beautiful countries in the world!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful adventures with us!
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