Driving on the wrong side of the road has been a strain but gets easier. The roads are good, signs and lines clear, and the GPS box a treasure with Google maps a help.
Kauri Lodge Farmstay has been wonderful. Restful, clean air, wellbehaved animals and gracious hosts. The apartment is huge and well appointed. Maybe Brita misses a dishwasher but at the price it's a steal. I took lots of pictures of the sunset view from Kauri Lodge and the nearby woods that dear Libby led us to, telling us all kinds of interesting facts and stories.
NZ shops are tempting things, suitcases stuffed and I'm ready for december 1st!
Waitomo caves was our first tourist target. The glowing worms were highly recommended by several friends, thanks you! It was really wonderful. Photography forbidden, so just green-screen montage pictures here, but it really looked like that except more and better.
On the way back we stopped at Otorhanga Kiwi House, nice little place and we really did see a Kiwi (yay!) of this kind in the Night house - the Little Spotted Kiwi is nocturnal. Closer to a duck in size than a Canada goose, moved very differently. Can't fly. The picture is from a postcard.
Hobbiton was scary, because expectations. It's film props and no real hobbit holes, was it going to be tacky, was the banquet something we could eat, was there ok souvenirs, would we learn anything new, would it be swarmed with people?
I'm glad we went, it was really neat. Orderly place with lots of Hobbit doors of all sizes. Knowledgeable guides with humor and passion, telling numerous stories from the filming, probably mostly true :) Not too many people in there at once, so we could get at least some pictures un-bombed. Banquet ok, lots and lots of food of course. Happy hobbit fans from all over the world, yep the Americans were audibly there. The props were done in stronger materials with the Hobbit films, it's been kept up very nicely, and fake stuff was smilingly pointed out. It all worked (lots of pictures). If anything disappointed it was the souvenir shop, I'd expected even more different things, more T-shirt motives, and more available sizes. Bought a T-shirt, just had to! It rained a lot, paths are mud, was glad to have washable shoes. Want to re-read the books and re-watch the film. Worth it.
Having fun making these blog entries, sorting through pictures and adding comments. What I'm missing is a comment or two from you readers, or questions. I'll still make more anyhow :) Really happy I brought the PC, handling the pictures with Ipad and slow Wifi would have been too annoying.
Dropped out of Wordfeud league, will restart in 9th sometime, still playing with a few regular opponents. Level 50 of Seeker's Notes on my Ipad, and level 37 on my PC. Reading the last of the Chalion books by Bujold.
Continue writing. I just love reading about your adventures😄. Waitomo caves are just awesome.
ReplyDeleteWill do! 😊
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