Auckland - Rotorua (via hobbiton) Sweet as…Glen

Monday 28th December

We all slept terribly, apart from Gareth, because our floor decided to have a party in the kitchen till 1am and then the German guy in our dorm started snoring the loudest snore you have ever heard! The magic bus was picking us up at 7.40am but we all managed to eat breakfast before it arrived. We set off towards Matamata where we were going to get off the bus to do a hobbiton tour. On the way we took a short trip up Mount Eden to see the views over Auckland and then another stop at a giant Lemon and Pinala bottle which was originally brewed in pinala. We arrived in Matamata (16 people from this town were chosen to be hobbits) just before 12 and had to get all our bags off the bus (5 large backpacks, 3 rucksacks, 1 beach bag, four hand bags and two food bags) and put them on the hobbiton bus. We then set off on our tour, we had the oldest tour guide in the world but he was sweet. We started with a drive through the farmland used for the setting of 'The Shire' (Peter Jackson found this place when flying over in a helicopter location hunting) we then got off the bus and walked through the shire to the party tree, the lake and most exciting the hobbit homes built into the side of the hill. You could walk inside Bilbo Baggins home and we had our picture taken. We then drove back through 'The Shire' and went to the sheep shed and watch a sheep being sheared and then got to feed baby lambs with a bottle of milk, they were so cute! We then got told, much to our dismay, that the transfer bus to Rotorua was not leaving till 5pm, it was only 2.30pm. What a waste of an afternoon. We played cards in the café and ate tasty cheese and bacon wedges. The bus left prompt at 5pm and we were in our lovely base hot rocks hostel in Rotorua (town famous for its geothermal activity) room by 6pm. Ali, Gareth and I had a quick dip in our thermal heated pool before getting ready to meet the grown ups for dinner. We went to Nandos, it was yummy!! Before dinner we walked through a local park that had geothermal pools fenced off as they were bubbling away and letting off a lot of steam. After dinner we walked back to the hostel, Gareth, Derek and I had a drink at Lava Bar while my Mum got her camera charger for Alison and Janet went to the supermarket to get some milk. We said our farewells (won't see them till we get home in July) and went to bed.