North Island V - Hobbiton

Welcome to Hobbiton.


Hobbiton was a sheep farm and now it's one of the most visited places in New Zealand. Location

Bilbo's place

They transformed the movie set in one of the most visited tourist attractions in the country. During the summer they have a bus departure every 10 min, 40 people each!

Sam's hobbit hole

I was expecting everything to be big, for the scale effect, but no. Everything is small, like a real hobbit house would be, I guess.

After the tour around the hobbit houses we went to the Green Dragon. It's the pub they also used in the movies.

We were offered some beer, or ginger beer, and chilled out for a while.

It was actually really nice inside. And they had some costumes from the movie:

I'm wearing Bilbo's jacket

And they had tables and couches. And a fireplace.

And a cat...

The we head back to the bus.

Danial the gardener

And had some lunch:

That's all.

Next time: Volcanic Valley !

UC - Random Animals

Kia Ora

Just a break from the North Island, there will be much more about it =)

Sometimes random things happen at the Uni's Campus, today they had tiny animals in front of the C-block:

Between the Library and the C-Block

This week is ECO week, and each day there's a different Eco-activity. Like free trade ice cream, a lecture on the real price of bottled water, etc...

Today they had a mini zoo and I guess you could donate money, not sure because when I got there they were starting to pack everything to leave.

The tiny rabbits seem normal sized until you see my hand:

Baby sheep

A goat

An alpaca, I guess

A calf

Chicken and a giant rabbit

Bye =)

North Island IV - Hihi to Auckland & Waharoa

Kia Ora

Time to head South!
After the tramp we started driving South and we camped in Hihi. Our breakfast:

Location -Click

Our goal was to reach Auckland that day. And we did it. We only spent an afternoon in Auckland, but it was enough. No one was really fond of Auckland, I didn't particularly liked it either.
The street were a bit grey:

The famous Sky Tower

But we did go up the Sky Tower:

It's blue because we were behind a really thick glass.

And then back to the road:

Until we reached our camp-site for the night:

Location - click

Next time: Hobbiton!

Bye

North Island III - Cape Reinga

Kia Ora

Our first big stop: Cape Reinga

Location - click

We arrived there close to night time, but we still had time for some pictures.

Sunset at Cape Reinga

We slept in a very basic camp-site: no lights, no power, just grass. Take a look at the night sky:

You might have to tilt your screen to see properly.

Starting to prepare dinner:

No lights, so some of us had head torches.

The next morning we had planned a 1 and a half hour walk, but it was actually a bit longer... Like always, but it's part of the fun =)

Getting ready:

13.6Km in 5h:16min

Just starting, everyone still fresh:

I think we experienced all four seasons in 5h, from sunny and warm to rainy and cold.

Snack break

There was no one else apart from the eight of us. I think that's the best part about visiting NZ in the low season.

After this we started driving back South. Heading to Auckland again.

Bye!

North Island II - Baylys Beach to Cape Reinga

Kia Ora

After landing in Auckland we started driving North. We wanted to reach Cape Reinga but we had to spend a night in Baylys Beach, it was a long drive to go all the way North in one day.

Location - click

Deciding were to go next:

Driving North, some stops along the way:

Location - click

The ferry:

And finally Cape Reinga:

Location - click

Bye!

North Island I

Hello everyone!

I've been away the last few days. We went on a road trip to the North Island of New Zealand and I need some time to update the blog with everything.

I will probably do several posts about the last 12 days so be patient =)

Cape Reinga

See you later!