Hobbiton, Bay of islands, Auckland

The drive from Rotorua to Hobbiton was eventful as the roads were flooded due heavy overnight rainfall so it took ages to get out of the city. Eventually when we arrived to Hobbiton we were told off for being one minute late for our prebooked tour but then we were given tickets to the next tour fifteen minutes later so it still worked out fine. The tour was to a field that was used in the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films for the Hobbit holes. Neither Rob or I were Lord of the Rings fans but it was cool to see the famous Hobbit holes. On the tour we learned that an artifical lake was added to the field to improve the set scene however while filming the lake was invaded by frogs so that when the actors were speaking there was frogs croaking in the background. Therefore a diver was hired each morning before filming to dive into the lake and collect all of the frogs so that there was no background noise.

Our plan after Hobbiton tour was to drive to Paihia in the Bay of Islands however as the drive was too far for one day we stopped over in Auckland for a night. It turned out that Arthur was in Auckland that week for a work conference so we met up for dinner. It was really nice catching up with Arthur even if we ended up going to an Irish bar for food. On the way to Paihia we stopped at the beautiful Whangarei waterfalls for a walk and then reached the Paihea just in time to watch the sunset over the coast.

The touristy season in Paihia was coming to an end so we didn't have a lot of choice in the cruises around the Bay of Islands. Nevertheless the cruise out to the "Hole in the Rock" was enjoyable especially due to the warm sunny autumn day. A lot of the islands in the Bay of Islands were initially inhibited by Maori when they arrived to New Zealand so we heard stories about this time in history. During our cruise we saw a school of dolphins including a baby dolphin and a couple of seals chilling on the White Rock which is called the White Rock due to all of the bird poo on it. Next we sailed to the "Hole in the Rock" which is actually an arch on one of the islands to get very pretty pictures. Normally the cruise boat is able to sail through the rock however as it was windy the captain decided that it would be better to avoid it today. I really enjoyed sitting up on the top deck of the cruise with wind blowing through our hair in the sunlight while viewing scenic islands and sealife.

The following day I was back on the bay, this time scuba diving a ship wreck. The Cantebury ship was the first ship that was made partically for New Zealand navy (before this New Zealand bought their navy ships second hand). It was artifically sunk in the Bay of islands ten years ago and it sits between twenty five and forty metres. Now there are plenty of fish living in the ship and coral growing on the side of the ship. We got lots of pictures which was cool. The second dive was at a reef where there was schools and schools of fish. It was so strange swimming through all of these fish without them moving away from us. We saw a stingray that was chilling out at the bottom of the reef too. The water was a lot colder than I have dived in before so we had to wear thicker wet suits. This colder water caused our diving bouyancy to change more often than when diving in tropical waters. Therefore it was harder to maintain the ideal diving body position but it was good to continue to develop my diving skills. The more dives I do the better I will get.

On our way back from Paihia we stopped at the Waipu caves to see glowworms. We waded in through the river that flew through the cave and saw hundreds of glowworms on the roof. It was very beautiful. We also stopped to do the Mount Mania cliff walk which took thiry minutes to climb up a cliff track for a stunning view over the coastline.

Back in Auckland we got a ferry out to Rangitoto island. This six hundred year old island is a volcanic island and is the most recent volcanic island to appear off the Auckland coast. We hiked an hour up the black lava rock trail to the crater of the volcano to get a great view of the Auckland cityscape. The final activity that we did in New Zealand was attend a rugby league game between the Auckland Vodafone Warriors and the West Tigers. The game is very similar to Tag rugby so it was easy to understand the rules. The Warriors won 26:4 so the home supporters were happy. We still prefer rugby union as the teams can build play up instead of only having five passages of play but it was good to watch a different sport halfway across the world. Next time we will go for an All Blacks game! There wasn't a lot to do in Auckland so we were glad that we did go up to the Bay of islands for a few days instead of lots of spending time in the city.

Overall New Zealand was amazing! There was so many activities to do here and a wide variety of landscapes to admire and explore. The temperature difference from the north island to the south island has been quite extreme as we wore shorts and t-shirts up north and coats and hats down south. Travelling by car was a little bit more expensive compared to using the tourist buses but the roads were so easy to drive on and it gave us an opportunity to listen to our Spanish podcasts. I personally preferred the south island due to the magnificent mountains in the area but I wouldn't say no to returning to either island. It is mad that we are heading to our third continent already but I'm looking forward to see how our basic Spanish will help us.もっと詳しく