Two Days of Fun in NZ Sun

The flight from LA to New Zealand did not feel as appallingly long as I thought it would. I got on the airplane and sat next to a charming elderly couple named Peg and Jack. I hope that when I'm their age I'll be traveling around the world with my husband. There were a few students on the plane leaving to study abroad. I met a guy who was headed to Melbourne Australia and a girl who was going to Fiji. The entire plane ride was in the dark. It never succeeded in catching up with the sun. That helped me sleep a bit. Peg told me that the stars in New Zealand look different and they don't have the same constellations as the US. I'll have to look out for those while I'm over here. I spent most of my time on the plane watching a movie, listening to music, or sleeping. I slept most of the way there, so by the time they woke us up for breakfast we had an hour to go left in the flight.

I got off the plane and there was Trish Thomson waiting at the gate. She is my foreign exchange student's mom who is truly a wonderful woman. She gives off a motherly vibe, which put me right at ease. We grabbed coffee since it was only 5:20am and got ready to head to her house in Hamilton. The first thing I noticed about New Zealand was that most of their things are way smaller then ours. Their coffee is equivalent to 1/3 the size of our small coffees. Our small would be their large. We hauled my bags off to the car and I instantly tried to walk over to the passenger side. She laughed and asked me if I was planning on driving us back. Their steering wheels are on the right-hand side of the car. Friends, I don't believe I am in Kansas City anymore.

The house in Hamilton is large and has a beautiful backyard. It overlooks Waikato River. Their house has a side unit that is just meant for guest or people who want to rent out a place to stay. It has its own mini kitchen and dining room area. It’s really quite a great place to get to stay for a couple of nights. The weather is incredible. It’s about 75 degrees here. The only problem I have is the humidity, but I think it’s suppose to rain in the next few days so that should help it die down.

Once I got all settled into my room, we took off to go sightseeing. Trish took me all around. I got to see Lauren’s old house where she grew up. Then we went to Raglan: a black-sanded beach. It was really amusing to see black sandcastles. This beach is great for surfing. I think I’ll take a whack at surfing sometime while I’m here but I’m sure it may only be a feeble attempt. We grabbed a quick lunch at a café. These type of stops are really common for New Zealand. We split a roasted vegetable salad, since we both weren’t too awfully hungry. The salad had warm roasted carrots, pumpkin, zucchini, and lots of other vegetables piled on top. I’m not use to eating salads that are warm, but it tasted great.

After that, we went to the elementary school to pick up Trish’s grandsons, Paton and Stephan. The school kids came running out in their bright yellow uniforms. Kids with accents are just so much cuter then American kids. Paton and Stephan are 8 and 9 with surfer length haircuts, big eyes, and freckles. I’m sure they were thinking, “Who is this weird girl with the funny voice?” Trish introduced me as Lauren’s “American” sister and they shrugged it off and we headed towards the car. On our ride to their dad’s work Paton asked me all about American fireworks. He loves lighting off fireworks and I’m a bit of a pyro myself. We had a quality bonding chat over our knowledge of Black Cat and artillery shells. I brought along Reece’s peanut butter cups for the family so I gave them to the boys. I think that instantly won them over. We were going to grab them a quick bit to eat so we suggested McDonald’s and they asked if we could go to the Sushi place instead! I cannot think of a single American kid who would ask for Sushi over a Happy Meal. But I’m glad they wanted sushi because I got some great food out of that scenario. We dropped them off and I met Lauren’s brother, Brad. Then we headed back home. I wanted to sleep so bad the entire day because of jetlag but I fought it off. I finally went to bed around 9 because I just couldn’t handle being awake anymore.

Today was an awesome day. I woke up around nine and felt really refreshed. I lounged around the house during the morning. Once Trish came back from work we headed out to Matamata, also known as Hobbiton. Yes, today I got to go to The Shire from Lord of the Rings! The drive was incredible and super hilly. I saw TONS of sheep. It was quintessential rural New Zealand. We had afternoon tea before the tour started, and then we hopped on the bus to go out to The Shire. Our tour guide had a rad Kiwi accent.

The place was so green and such a perfect location for the film. Supposedly, Peter Jackson flew over this land and spotted a perfect tree and the pond right next to it that could’ve been taken right out of the book. Just think, this land won it’s claim to fan just because he happened to see this tree next to the water. I can’t imagine being sheepherders getting a phone call from Cinema Works asking them if it was all right if they used their land for three major motion pictures from a classic trilogy. I managed to take a ton of photos and also get an unexpected souvenir “sheep poo” on the back of my jeans. How it got there, I just don’t know. Most of the set has been completely taken out because of the contract. A big storm came while they were demolishing the set so they left the scene and left a few of the Hobbit holes. The landowners negotiated for two years to get that part of the set left up for tours. I’m glad they did.

The tour was packed and there were two guys with backpacks that were chalk full of stuffed animal bears. It was… odd. To say the least. I got to be a Hobbit for a good hour and a half of my life, romping around the Shire with Trish. We took some decent photos on the countryside, then the bus took us back to the starting point. At the end of the tour, since it is a sheepherding land, a man demonstrated how to sheer a sheep. The guy picked a sheep that never had its fur cut. It was pretty comical: the sheep put up a great fight. That thing did not want to loose its coat.

After the demonstration, he passed out a couple of bottles and they let loose baby lambs to feed. It was the cutest thing ever! Lambs are adorable. I can honestly say I’m going to have a hard time eating lamb after this event. This was a good first adventure in New Zealand.

After Hobbiton, Trish took me to meet her mother in Matamata. It was a wonderful meet cute. We had afternoon tea and had a great talk. I’m pretty sure I want to adopt this lady as my third grandmother. I’m starting to love the idea of “afternoon tea”. I always loved tea, so it’s just a great excuse to get to drink some everyday. We went to a fun café for dinner and I devoured the best fish ever. It was delicious. We saved some room to split dessert three ways and had one last cup of tea. Then Trish and I headed home before the rainstorm hit in. I’d say this was a fantastic introduction to New Zealand. Tomorrow = School. I’m ready to get started. Here’s to living an adventure!