The Weekend

I have decided I love New Zealand.  The views are fantastic and breathtaking, the people are friendly and wonderful, the culture is different yet comfortingly similar to home.  I wish I could do justice to our experience here and describe it, somehow, in a worthy way so you could all enjoy it right along with us!

The early Saturday morning for Justin and Jonathan was not as successful as was hoped, so we stayed around the area instead of heading north like we'd originally planned.  Fine with me.  It is gorgeous here on the edge of the national park. 

 Another shot of the volcano.  Just outside this shot, to the right, is a picture-perfect cone-shaped volcano, which I learned was the inspiration for Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings (although the actual mountain in the movies is a model).  The field where we met the combine was near this smoking beauty of a mountain.  It feels like Illinois and Colorado all rolled up in one!

 

The combine was harvesting canola (the grain we get canola oil from).  In my hand is the canola plant, and those little black dots are the beans.  The pink tutu in the corner belongs to my friend, Poseida, who was visiting the combine with her dad and older brother, Sam.  

We didn't get far with the combine install because they were happily harvesting away!  So, we headed into town to seek out food.  The Mustard Seed café was the choice and afforded some delicious breakfast and coffee!  Soon we set up camp at a picturesque lodge full of fishermen beside a crystal clear river running alongside the town and toward Lake Taupo which we'd passed the day before.  After a few hours of work, we took the time to walk along the river, which was gorgeous!  

 At the river overlook.

Sunday was another early morning for the guys as they tried to finish up the install on the combine while it wasn't running, at 3:30 in the morning.  They finished the mechanical work, but the software was giving them problems so we decided to stick around another day to get that figured out.  In the meantime, we drove up north for a few supplies and also for church!

We visited Hamilton Bible Church where Justin has gone several times when he's in New Zealand for Sunday.  It was a quaint little church in a residential area and reminded me a lot of Altadena.  Small, just a few families, but close-knit and family like.

 This little darling with the curly hair and spunky personality made me miss Nat!

After some meetings and supply runs in the afternoon, we had a few hours to burn, and found ourselves not too far from Hobbiton!  Jonathan and I had been thinking if the opportunity arose, we'd jump at the chance to visit, but no expectations.  I'm so glad it worked out!  The set was a beautiful mix of gorgeous scenery and fascinating human creativity at work!

 Justin and our fabulous guide, Georgia, a local whose summer job is giving tours of Hobbiton.

 Outside a hobbit hole.

 Inside a hobbit hole.  

 It's been a dry summer, but The Shire is irrigated.

 Turns out, the hobbit holes aren't very big, 

just enough room for a hobbit to disappear inside.

 They did such a fantastic job making the set perfect!

 The fence on the right is the one Bilbo hops over as he yells, 

"I'm going on an adventure!"

 Inside the Green Dragon where you can get a cold drink at the end of the tour.

 Such a beautiful location!

After Hobbiton, we stopped by the house of the combine operator we've been working with where we had dropped off some of our supplies.  It was locked so Jonathan had to do a little breaking and entering (with permission of course).  

Crawling in the window.

The weekend was lovely!  I've been wonderfully surprised how much time we've had for exploring and enjoying New Zealand!  Such a beautiful country!