Short post today after lots of stuff done: went to Hells Gate yesterday which is pretty bad ass. Just the name is cool. Anyways, it is a geo-thermal reserve named Hells Gate by George Bernard Shaw, and rightly so. It looks really like the entrance gate to hell itself. Smells like it too... All the sulphur makes the air smell like someone has constantly set their bowels to massive flatulence...
But really cool with mud pools, water at 120 degrees, all that s***. They also had this awesome plaything called white-mud. Looked like clay, but when you squeezed it together, it liquified. From dry dirt to liquid mud, just by clamping down on it. One of science cool mysteries, just like corn starch and water or pepsi and menthos.
The day after I went out for hobbiton, one of the coolest locations from Lord of the Rings, or well, THE coolest. The thing is that it was first mainly built of polystyrene and a bit of wood and stone. Then after the filming they were supposed to pull it down, but a storm intervened and they actually just took a piss and left it there. Then for The Hobbit, they rebuilt everything, proper this time and a bit of extra stuff. The coolest thing though, is that they are right now expanding the Green Dragon, making it a proper inn, serving brews and kicking back. THAT I would like! But right now, the green dragon is under construction. So if going there, go in about a year when the inn is opened.
The guide was really good aswell, funny as.
Too lazy to write anymore, cheers.