Flora, Fauna and Hobbitses

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Our last few days in New Zealand have been pretty chilled. Yesterday Emily and Lydia came with us to Katikati (what a fab name for a town!) bird park and Karangahake Gorge.

The bird park was in a really lovely setting and we were given some bird food to take round with us. The first birds we saw were ducks so we fed them enthusiastically! This was a mistake as they followed us round the round the rest of the park. We found a really quiet spot with a bird table and decided it would be a good idea to put some of the bird food on the table to attract some of the birds - we did so and sat quietly but it wasn't long before the ducks waddled along and spoiled the peace. We then had to pass a really angry looking goose with feathers hanging out of its bottom and because Emily is scared of Geese Karen and Lydia had to offer it some food to distract it whilst Emily ran round the other way. We saw some chickens that looked like they had been dipped in glue and then cotton wool - very funny! There was a 25 year old cockatoo called Charlie who got a bit grumpy with us and squawked very loudly. Emily managed to sweet talk him into saying 'hello darling' and 'ta ta' and then proceeded to tell us that she wanted to marry him. We had a really nice lunch in the cafe (Lydia had a sandwich the size of her head) and a play on the see-saw before heading to the gorge.

We did a circular walk at Karangahake Gorge that took us through a 1km long tunnel through a big hill that used to be a railway line. It was really dark and Emily didn't like the tunnel very much - we kept her mind occupied by singing very loudly. When we were almost back at the car park we were told that the footpath had been temporarily closed as some trees that had been damaged in a storm were being blown up! There was a very very loud bang which echoed through the whole valley - it was very exciting! We were eventually allowed to go back to the car.

Last night Rob and Jim won the pub quiz (again) while Karen, Lynne, Lydia and Emily went back to Fernland Spa for another soak in the thermal pool.

Today the six of us have all been out together. Our first stop was the very rocky McLaren Falls... for mountaineering excercise, well Jim and Lydia went for it!! Karen and Rob kind of went for it... and Lynne and Emily watched from the top!! Next stop was for a picnic at McLaren falls park which is a bit like Cragside but free! We made friends with some ducks and a black swan who finished off our sausage sandwiches.

This afternoon we went to Matamata for a tour of the Hobbiton set from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It was really interesting. The people of Matamata had no idea that LOTR was being filmed there and were told that it was a military exercise. It was really easy to see why so much was spent on the films - $750,000,000. They imported 2,500 artificial oak leaves from Taiwan and attached them one by one to a dead tree to create an oak tree behind Bagend which was only on screen for 11 seconds. The hobbit holes are still owned by New Line Cinema and they send people across every six months to maintain them. The owners of the farm are currently in negotiation about using the location for the The Hobbit. Matamata has done really well from the tours and now has a McDonalds (wooo hoooo!!!!!) and 15 cafes. There was only 4 before LOTR was filmed there. There is a statue of Golem in the town centre which has been vandalised twice by some of the older locals who don't like the fact that their town is referred to as Hobbiton - Golem now has cameras in his eyes!! As the set is on a working sheep farm we got to see a shearing demonstration and bottle feed some lambs too! So cute!

We are all going out for a farewell meal tonight as we are heading up to Auckland tomorrow before flying to Sydney on Sunday. We are sad to be leaving the Bennetts but looking forward to seeing what Auckland, Sydney and Singapore have to offer!

TTFN

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Comments

[Jen]

Aww wow! It looks fab! How cute is that lamb :) It looks really fun! Enjoy :)

[Beryl]

what a beautiful place this is - you lucky people! Happy travelling to your next stopping place

[Carol E]

You all look fab and having a great time. Totally jealous!!!!!