Hi,
What an amazing weekend - Toby and I both said it felt like we crammed a week of fun into that long weekend.
We left Wellington bang on time at 4pm on Friday with Elly and Mike meeting me and Toby. Drove out to Porirua and collected Doro from the train station.
Traffic was slow in an unusual place - Pekapeka way rather than Pukerua Bay. We stopped in Levin and stocked up on snacks to get us through to Bulls. Kebab time.
Got up to Whakapapa around 10.30pm. Fresh snow wasn't a problem, fortunately. We all shared a room and Toby and I were asleep pretty fast.
Up at 5.30am to get dressed quickly and head out the door by 6am. Even Toby managed it super fast - good on him. Mike stayed in bed rather than braving the cold that early. He was looking forward to a hard day skiing anyway.
We saw the coming dawn and the day looked fantastic. Fresh snow crunched under our feet as as walked to the car.
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| Toby leaves before dawn |
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| Crescent moon pokes over the horizon |
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| Feet in fresh snow |
We didn't get to Auckland until 11.15am. Quite a bit slower than I thought it would take. We stopped in Matamata for Maccas for brekkie. The Hobbiton picture on the wall enticed us to buying tour tickets for Monday morning.
Continued to Auckland and then went to check in at Knights Inn, close to the ASB Showgrounds. Lovely customer service at Knights Inn, even though we arrived very early for our check-in - thank you. The whole reason for this trip was to visit the Auckland Armageddon. And the fact that one of Toby's favourite YouTube team was there for it. Mega64. I tried to watch some videoes so I would know more. But it wasn't quite me they were aiming at. Toby though - totally in their marketing sights. We went to The Warehouse to find something for Toby to present to Mega64 for them to sign. He settled on a Blu Ray DVD of The Meg. Hahahah.
Turns out when the Mega64 team saw it, they thought it was hilarious. They crossed out the word "The" and added an "A" after Meg. And the number 64. And they all signed it. They even put a pic of the signed DVD on their Twitter feed later that day. Awesome work, Toby!
While Toby was at Armageddon, I met Arthur for lunch at Forestry Cafe. Yummy! Then we walked to the flanks of One Tree Hill and went to the planetarium. $2 to get to wander around the exhibit.
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| Auckland planetarium fun! |
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| That's me! |
From there, we walked back past our hotel to Mt St John. Turns out this walk was even better than I hoped. Arthur is from St John in Canada, hence the interest. But it was a perfect crater. We got to the top and walked around the rim. Good views of Auckland and the crater was fascinating. The Maori had used it as a pa site and there were kumara pits to see along the rim. Terraced slopes for fortification and gardens too. All in all - awesome walk.
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| Mount St John crater |
Back at the motel to settle in ahead of the rugby. Toby and I went for a walk to find tea. Ate from the local kebab shop - yum! Rugby started. Sent messages to Mike and Col. But the game was disappointing. The All Blacks were owned by England. And sometimes we lose to a team that sparks up on the day and plays out of their skin. This wasn't like that. England just played a superior game and totally deserved to win. By a far bigger margin too. And their rugby is a new style - running, fast rugby. All good. All Blacks have to go back to the drawing board and innovate.
However, Sunday saw the Otago Spirit (women's team) win the Farah Palmer Championship final. Next year they are in the big league. Canterbury won the main league easily.
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| Otago Spirit win the Farah Palmer Championships. Top league, here we come! |
Toby went to Armageddon on Sunday too. After brekkie at Forestry Cafe with me.
Off to visit the Sampsons Sunday evening. Armed with a massive load of fish n chips. And sauce. We sang all night. I loved it!
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| Sampson Singstar night! |
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| The boys do a duet! |
It was so good to catch up with them all. And that is the last time I will be in that house. They have sold and bought a place in Grey Lynn. The pictures look lovely so I can't await to see that. And they have done such a great effort on their old place. No wonder that sold.
I eventually got too husky to continue singing and left around 11pm with Toby. He decided we needed Krispy Kreme donuts then. So we drove out to Mangere and went through the factory shop 24/7 drive through. Hahahah! Toby was so happy.
Back to the motel by midnight and crashed into bed. Up at 6.15 to shower and pack. Toby also up in time. And we left by 7am.
In Matamata by 8.50am and on the tour bus at 9.25am. It headed to the movie set on a farm outside of Matamata and we had a guide take us through the set. This was so much better than I thought it was going to be. Toby and I loved it!
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| Yep! |
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| Hobbit hole |
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| Hobbit hole |
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| In a hobbit hole |
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| Selfie in front of a hobbit hole |
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| With my new t-shirt from Toby from Armageddon. Stop Wars. Yep, he knows me. |
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| Toby loved this place |
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| So happy to find a forge! |
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| Drinking ginger ale |
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| Gorgeous place |
The whole place is gorgeous. Attention to detail is typical of Peter Jackson. Toby was only pulled out of Hobbiton by necessary scaffolding on a dodgy chimney right at the end. Otherwise, all on point. Even the drinking fountains looked like they belonged in Hobbiton.
We got a ginger ale at the end in stone cups. Toby found a forge - which he had been saying was missing. So they even thought about that too. The gardens were perfect. Yep - I thought it was such fun.
I could easily go back.
We left Matamata after some lunch at 12.30pm. Mike and Elly and Doro had caught a van ride back to Wellington, so Toby and I were free agents to get back. We hit the queue at Otaki just south of Levin, still in the 80km zone. And just crawled all the way through to Otaki until we got through to the south side of it. Took an hour to get through that 20km section.
Back home by 7.15pm. Mike looked after us. I was so tired after taking 12 hours to drive (although that did include the 3.5 hour tour stop). I had such a good sleep!
Sally looked after the cats - thank you for that. Mike said they were happy to see him when he got back Monday afternoon.
Yay for a short week!
Hope you had a good one too.
Love,
Angela
