Shire talk

After confusion over which car rental place to go to, we finally got our car! It's a Mazda 6. Very nice. I'm having fun getting used to right hand drive on the left side of the road. Fortunately, no accidents (yet)! Our late start got us into Matamata later than expected, but we still made it in time for the last Hobbiton tour of the day. A minivan, dubbed "Frodo", picked us up in town and took us to the Alexander sheep farm. We were first given a sheep shearing demonstration and then we were given bottles of milk and got to feed some little lambs! Some of them were VERY hungry! We got back on the bus and drove to the middle of the farm. This is saying something because there are about 12,000 sheep on the farm, most running around large paddock type fields! In the middle lie the remains of Hobbiton. It was rather surreal walking around Hobbit holes, and standing under the party tree. Our guide provided lots of interesting details about the construction, filming and deconstruction of the site. Most of the structures are gone, but some shells of Hobbit holes remain. We actually got to go into the entrance of Bag End! It was pretty awesome. And the views were spectacular! Rolling green hills with little dots of white (the sheep) all around for as far as the eye could see! Fabulous! I tried to upload some pictures, but it is taking too long. I guess you'll just have to wait and see them when we get back!

The tour ended at about 6:00 PM and then we had to drive all the way to Hamilton to find our Motel. I think we found it about 7.

This morning we rose early and headed south. Our first stop was the Kiwi House in Otorhunga. It had been recommended by our Motel staff in Hamilton. And we are glad we stopped. Have you seen a Kiwi bird? Funny looking thing. Kiwi House had a number of aviaries and reptile cages. Michael enjoyed himself, though he was worried about bird droppings!

15 minutes past the Kiwi House found us at the Waitomo Glowworm caves. We weren't allowed to take pictures here (or at the Kiwi House), but I'll tell you that it was AMAZING! It was like little green LED lights littered all across the limestone ceiling! The tour through the caves included a boat ride in near darkness with hundreds of thousands of glow worms above us.

We are now in Rotorua. In about an hour we will be picked up for a feast/performance in traditional Maori culture. But I guess I'll have to tell you about that next time!