Well hello there!

So where did I leave you? Oh yes, I think we were around Lake Taupo - the lake that smelt like egg sandwiches! The afternoon after I had written to all you lovely people Vick and I headed north towards the coast. We wanted to find Hot Water Beach where you can bury your feet into the sand and warm them up because of the two fissures. Turns out that this beach wasn't anywhere near to where we were so we decided to head slightly further then we intended and transform into our hobbit dweebs again.

You all know how excited Vick got when we saw Riverndel. But honestly, even I turned back into my ten year old self, with a huge crush on Aragon and secretly wishing that they had chosen me to be a hobbit double for their size! Matamata used to be a quiet little horsey town, surrounded by rolling green fields, scattered with very grand horse studs and a population of just over a few thousand (if that).

In 1999 Peter Jackson, the director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was scanning NZ for film sets. His wife had actually recommended the area for the location of the Shire, or Hobbiton as it is more fondly known. Flying over in a helicopter, Mr Jackson spotted a lake with a gigantic tree next door to it (aka the party tree that's seen in Bilbo Baggins 111th birthday!). And that was it, before the town new it, their little cosy area of Matamata was turned into a huge tourist wielding location, and is now being used again for the production of the Hobbit (the second one is coming out this Christmas).

Nestled amoungst the hills Shire holes were built. Even the moss on the fence isn't real (apparently it's a mixture of yoghurt and green paint!). To get the sizing affect of hobbits being a lot smaller there are varying sizes of hobbit holes. Some doors range from being meerly 3ft tall, to others being as tall to fit me in (and to be frank that isn't that tall either!). Luckily enough the best tours to go on are the first and last of the day and Vick and myself managed to get onto the final tour that lasts three hours. Although, saying that, for all we know they might tell this to every tour in that "you are on the best tour of the day!".

But, it was definately a highlight of our trip. Over excited about being on a set that created our year 5 imagination (and beheld my first every crush - Aragon I will love you for ever) Vick and I were taken around the hills and I really started to miss home! Because Lord of the Rings was actually based on English countryside rather than NZ countryside they had even flown in English native trees, orchards, blossom, oak trees etc. In fact, the tree that is on Bilbo's home, Bag End is actually fake and made of metal. They had to make 200000 leaves and paint them all individually to create an English picture perfect scene.

Along with the country around me reminding me of the rolling hills of England, they even had the quintisentially English pub "The Green Dragon". Free ale, cider, pork pies, beef and ale pies, scones, yup they were all on the menu! Best pork pie and cup of ale I've ever had that's for sure! There was even a cat fast asleep in front of the fire place to put the cherry on the top!

After all this excitement Vick and I arrived back into Matamata and collapsed into a motor home at a hot spring minutes down the road. Despite all the fruit flies taking over our porridge (adds the extra protein I guess) the stars were pretty incredible. We even had a bath in the morning! 37 degrees of earth warmed water - Vick and I were blissfully soaking it all up. Even the fat, hairy old man who came and joined us couldn't put us off, or the rain! Happy days!

Clean and warm Vick and I kept dry in Hugo having a look at where was next on the map. It was either a short drive in the rain (it was pouring by now) to a national park for a walk, in the rain, getting cold, getting muddy, and getting smelly again. Or. Another long drive all the way to the most northern point of NZ to see nothing but open sea. Yes, that's what we did and boy were we in for a treat.