Day 3 - For the Shire!!

Another good night sleep and good planing morning. Today we went on an adventure......... To hobbiton!!!!!! We left at 8:15 and got on the 10:00 hobbiton tour after a super quick coffee stop for pop (my grandad), mum and dad. My cousin Kieran was very sick today so both my cousins and their parents missed it. Hobbiton is in the middle of this huge farming land and we took a tour bus there. The bus driver was called big John and had been in the crew of The Lord of the rings films. Our guide was called Tobias and he was fantastic!!! So hobbiton is the actual set of hobbiton and is all made out of proper materials this time. So when they were filming lord of the rings they knocked down most of the set but when they were filming the hobbit the farmer that owned the land said the whole set had to be re built in proper materials e.g wood and stone instead of plaster board and polystyrene! So we saw all 44 hobbit holes some made to 90% scale some made to 60% scale and bag end was the only one made to 100% scale. The gardens were fantastic they had three good vegi gardens 5 full time employed gardeners and a flower bed outside every hobbit hole. None of the hobbit holes had insides because these shots were filmed inside a studio in Wellington. The tour finished in the Green Dragon which has had it's inside rebuild as close to the set in the studio as possible. We all got a free drink, I had a ginger beer and everyone else had an apple cider (which from what everyone said was very good). To eat Morgan, Dad and I got a hobbit pie each. Dad and Morgan had a beef and ale pie an i had a cold pork pie. All were well received. After this we did a bit of merchandising hoping to find a shirt for me and some tea towels for pop, but didnt have any success. There were no tea towels and no shirts in the right size for me. 

 On the way home we took a detour to matamata to merchandise again with no luck. After having a long rest at home mum dad James Marty and I went for a "stroll" around the neighborhood and found a nice native jungle with a great rope swing. Also we walked maybe a 5th around the lake on a board walk and then released it was beer o'clock and turned back. Dinner was good, cooked by the maddens (my cousins family). They cooked a Moroccan lamb salad. I had the Moroccan lamb without salads but everyone agrees it was a great meal. 

Sorry it's late I was a bit tired. 

Alastair 

Day 2 - Morgan takes a tumble

Well I had a great sleep! I'm not sure Kate's was as good. :P not actually sure what time I got up but Kate and Morgan where already outside of the room and it was just cousin James and I in the room. 

A very satisfying breakfast of weetbix and milk while some of the adults worked out who went shopping while the rest of us claimed a couch or bean bag and plowed into our books. In the end it was only Morgan, my two cousins, uncle Jeremy and I left at home. Morgan and Jeremy went rowing on the lake, but I just spent the whole morning on my couch reading my book. The shoppers got back at 12:00 and more plans were made. We were going luging. 

So yes luging! 5 rides $50 3 different tracks. The three tracks were scenic which I didn't go on but the others said it was long and very bumpy, the intermediate track which was great fun, I started on this track and it had some great turns and some tummy lifting drops but the best of all was the advanced track. You could get airborne in two places and Morgan and I both did although Morgan's stack was better. He hit the edge of the track bounced onto another track and slid five meters. I was right behind him (because we we racing) and crashed into his luge. He's fine but is sporting a few war wounds. My crash was less impressive i decided to ignore the "slow down" signs and crashed into the edge while going round a hair pin corner. I was lucky because there was a big padded barrier on the corner I abviously wasn't the only one to crash there. It was a fantastic day and everyone enjoyed themselfs. Jeremy cooked crumbed chicken and my family made salads. 

Cya brooooooo

Alastair :)

Day 1 - a pleasant flight but a big day

Ok so in the airport now, we woke up at 4:45 this morning, it was too early!!!! We had packed last night so all we had to put in our bags was tooth brushes an tooth paste. 

Flight from Adelaide to Sydney was very uneventful apart from a very abrupt landing where the pilots slammed on the brakes as soon as we touched down hurling all of us forward. The bus transfer from the domestic Sydney terminal to the international was fantastic and amazingly useful. It was like having a back stage tour of the airport!! We are soo happy we stayed with quantas because of this bus trip because if we hadnt we would have had to pick up our bags, exit the domestic terminal wait and catch public transport to the international and then go though security. Dads had "such fun" with the customs security getting "randomly" picked for every security check. He got to go in the full body scanner and then got picked for explosives. Mum shouted morning tea for use all buying kate and I a hot chocolate (which was surprisingly good), Morgan a mocha, herself and dad a much needed coffee.  We are now waiting in the depths of mordor at the bottom of the airport also known as gate 50 which Morgan says is the crummiest gate in the whole airport and probably the first one ever built.  

The Sydney to New Zealand flight was fairly uneventful and we got through with almost no trouble. The sniffer dog decided Morgan's day pack wasn't good and he got questioned but it was just because he had had very old apples in it the day before. Morgan was designated bag trolly pusher and the bags only "unloaded themselves" once. Mum and dad both bought a New Zealand SIM card for their phones but other than that we didn't do much in the actual terminal. Missed the first shuttle bus to the hire car building because he only had two seats left and their is 5 of us. Once we finally made it to the hire car place it took us half an hour to actually hire the car and were finally on the road at around 4:00. While at the hire car place we were met with a pleasant surprise of one grandad two pairs of aunts and uncles and two cousins all of which we had expected to be almost to rotorua by this time. 

The car trip was fairly uneventful apart from a short stop off at Burger King for dinner! It the first fast food I've had in years!! Got to house on black point (the place we are staying) at about 10:00pm and quickly sorted out who was sleeping where with lots of auguing and a little yelling between Kate and I. We were both a tad tired!!! 

Ok so just to give you an idea of what this holiday is going to be. I am on a holiday in New Zealand with my family of five, three of my uncles, two of my aunts, two of my cousins and my grandad. It was organized by my grandad as a family holiday! We are staying at the house on black point in Rotorua which is a huge mansion with a veiw on the lake. Thanks for reading 

Alastair :)