Hobbiton

I was ridiculous excited today because after getting up early me, Axel, Cara and Jesse jumped in the car and went to see the home of Hobbits! First order of the day was deciding if the indicator was safe to drive with after Cara crashed it a few days ago...

(yes that is water in the actual light...)

After deciding it was all good and that Axel and Cara just needed to get some orange duct tape and sort it out later (apparently thats what they do in the USA) we set out, not in exactly the right direction as none of us had a map and our internet was down at university and on our phones (we got there in the end, and with time to spare). It was a really scenic drive, as most drives are in NZ and we got to the Matamata information centre in under and hour ready for a bus to take us to the Hobbiton set.

We had an amazing tour guide who managed to keep our group, mostly, together and give us lots of random facts, including a crazy story about girls eating hundreds of plums for half a second of footage

The best bit about hobbiton was by far the crazy detail but into every aspect of it. All the leaves on one tree were individually repainted with nail varnish because Peter Jackson thought they were a shade too light; entire trees were planted, dug up, replanted and then dug up again! Apple trees had every leaf and bud picked off and then alternatives were wired and glued into place, and people were even paid to wear hobbit feet and walk around hobbiton for months before shooting to make it look lived in!

Possibly my favourite hobbit hole, but there were a wealth to choose from!

 Hobbit Hole 1

 Hobbit Hole 2

 Hobbit Hole 3

Hobbit Hole 4

 Hobbit Hole 5

 and I lost count of the doors as there are over 30!

And a hidden one

They were all very pretty and every one had the same detail put into them

I still can't get over how much thought was put into it!

 The vegetable patch (which they do pick and often serve in the Green Dragon)

One of the signs - so cute!

Birds!

 Bilbo's fake young oak tree

me outside Bag End!! 

The view from Bag End

Jesse taking a picture of the view at the top of the hill

 One or two of the doors open as well so we got to peak in (Jesse photobombing here!)

Our first sight of the Green Dragon over the bridge!

A water mill on the way to get our free drink at the Green Dragon

 We all loved these signs - Smoke Ring Contest on Tuesdays!

 There were a couple of open fires which made it feel super cosy

 Enjoying our free drink, made extra tasty because we managed to get armchairs by the log fire

(click on the picture to see it larger as small-scale doesn't do the rolling hills justice!)
The second speed bump came when we got off the bus at the gift shop and I realised I'd left my purse at the green dragon! It was found straight away and they brought it up on the next tour bus so it wasn't a huge inconvenience, in fact, because of the wait I got chance to take this beautiful shot! I saw it on the bus when we were heading to Hobbiton but there wasn't time to take a photo and I'm so glad I managed to get one.
It's typical of a lot of New Zealand's North Island landscape - lots of sheep, lots of hills! 

I can't wait for summer travelling!
Only a few more weeks and a ton of exams to get through now!

Waikato River

Since I first crossed the Waikato River (probably on my second day in New Zealand) I really wanted to walk along it but every time I had a free day it was cloudy, or I forgot, or something got in the way. Well the past week the weather has been GLORIOUS! It has really started to feel like summer so Saturday I had a much needed lie in then set off to the river, it took a bit longer to get there than I thought, about an hour, as some roads were closed and not knowing the area that well I had to walk the long way round - when I finally got the river I was surprised to find it all paved really well (better than most of the roads actually) and there was a memorial park too!

 Starting off my walk by trying to find my way down to the river

 Memorial park

 You can just see the plane at the end of the path

 There were lots of really nice places to just sit, soak up the sun and enjoy being next to the river

 I came across this sign after about an hour of walking and so i set off on a hunt for the promised 'Wellington ST Beach'!

 I found so many little benches along the way and I can't wait to make use of these spots

 This part of the Waikato river was beautiful and it felt like I kept stopping every 5 minutes to take pictures but I just couldn't resist it was so pretty!

 I had to take a picture of this house as I thought where it was situated was so interesting

 I can only imagine the views from the house were pretty beautiful

 Just as I was becoming sure I'd either gone the wrong way or wellington st beach didn't exist the path opening out to grass with this giant tree and....

 On my right I find the 'beach'! It was tiny, but it had a mini pier, sand, sunbathers and water so I guess that qualifies it as a beach - very cute!

 I was surprisingly tempted to take a dip since the sun was beating down 

(probably not the wisest decision to go at midday)

 The Victoria bridge on my way back from wellington beach

And finally the view from Victoria bridge  

It was a lovely walk and I'm really glad I finally got to explore the river - I know it's going to a place I visit regularly. Campus can sometimes feel a bit.. claustrophobic which seems weird as I never found the campus at Lancaster that way but the past few days I've just really needed to get away from people so escaping to the river was just what the doctor ordered!

Ear Piercings and Presentations

So on Thursday I had my history presentation which i was really nervous about, I'm not sure why I was so nervous as I'm normally fine with public speaking - it was probably because it was history...

In the morning I managed to skype Ffion, Nerice, Simone, Sam and Gregg which was really good to see them all, although I did tear up a little afterwards, seeing them all together made me want to be moving into the flat with them! After I finished skyping them I still had 2hours before my presentation and sitting in my room going over my notes was driving me a little bit crazy so, obviously, I got Amanda to drive me to an ear piercing studio and I got my ear pierced. Twice. 

I've wanted to get my helix pierced for a while but, 1. it hurts and 2. I just never really got around to it. The past few weeks it seems like all of us international students have gone and got our ears pierced, it wasn't planned but it seems like everyone here in New Zealand on exchange is going home with their ear pierced so I just bit the bullet and got it done.

I've got to say, I think getting the two of them done with a needle was actually more painful than my tattoo, I was very tempted to just not bother with the second after she had stabbed me with a needle the first time (needless to say I'm glad I got them both done now as I'm not sure I'd go back for the second)

Oh and I had to go first for my presentation meaning the room was full (typical), around 100 people, but I got 98%, A+ so I'm pretty chuffed with that!

That's all for now, the alcohol ban hits on Monday (don't get me started on how silly half the rules are here), along with Exam Season, so I don't think I'm going to have much to say until we get our car and start travelling in November!!