Tonight we'll be up on Titirangi Hill to welcome in New Years 2015! If we were younger, we would watch the sunrise and greet the new year as the light breaks through the horizonbut fireworks at midnight is fine with us. Bed awaits soon after.

New Zealand has been so varied since moving from cityscape of Auckland to farmland of rural Huntly to coastal Whakatane with its nearby active volcano to lush mountainous gorge on our way to Gisborne. From what we hear and read, the rest of our journey southwards will have even more variations in the landscape and types of economy. For such a small island, it's beautfully diverse.

Hobbiton movie set was fun! It surprisingly wasn't a big LOTR monstrous tourist trap. Instead, we were guided through a working sheep farm to a hill where the Shire was permanently built after the Hobbit trilogy. A free cool drink at the Green Dragon ended our hour tour. That evening, our BnB host asked if we stole their GD mug. Never thought of that!! Lol.

Airbnb has been good to us. We found a farm stay then a health spa, chatting with both wonderful hosts well into the evening. John met a Kiwi 18 years ago on a Scandanavian tour who lives in Gisborne now so that's been lovely for them to get reacquainted again. Travellers are buddies for life, eh?