Rendezvous with Marilou and Andy

Marilou and Kirsten in a hobbit house!

     This Friday I drove down to Rotorura to meet up with Marilou and Andy Mitchell (my aunt and uncle). They are on a three week tour of New Zealand. Initially we didn't think that I would be able to see them but after some creative scheduling, a late night three hour drive and a hostel full of American exchange students we were able to meet up!
 
 We met agh the Rotorura Tourism Information Site to get on the bus to Hobbiton. Andy wasn't particularly keen on the tour so Marilou and I set out for a girls day. We had just over an hour to chat on the bus before getting to Hobbiton. It was great to catch up with her.

   Once we got to Hobbiton our tour guide, Wyatt took us through the shire. We got to see the gardens, go in a hobbit hole, see Bilbo/Frodo's house, hear about the making of the movies and last but not least have a drink and lunch at the Green Dragon.  For lunch we had something called a Mouse Trap. It is bread with a fruit chutney, ham and cheese that is toasted. I really enjoyed it. I had the house amber ale and Marilou had the cider. A drink comes as part of the tour.
   
Some things I learned from my Hobbiton tour:
         Hobbiton is located on the Alexander farm. They still raise thousands of sheep each year.
         The New Zealand Army helped make the road through the Alexander farm to the Shire.
         New Line Cinemas owns the inside of the Baggins house. This is the
              only hobbit hole that is full done on the inside and unfortunately
              one that you are not allowed into.
         The moss on everything is made out of yogurt and dye
         They used children from the local school to cut the wood so it would
              be the right size
         Children also played some of the hobbits
         There are six full time gardeners to keep up the site
         The tree on top of the Baggins house is fake. It was originally a real
               tree but they cut it apart  moved it and put it back together for the
               filming of Lord of the Rings. The tree died shortly after so a
                replica was made in Wellington. It is made of steel and silicone.
         Every time that Gandalf is hugged in the movie it isn't Gandalf. It is a 7' 2" police man from
                Auckland.
         The original set made for Lord of the Rings was quickly torn down because of Peter Jackson's
                  contract with the family that owns the farm. Later it was all rebuilt using permanent
                  materials instead of the temporary ones used initially.

The fake tree and Baggins home!

     After returning to Rotorura we decided that it would be a great time to explore some of the geothermal parts of the region. We went to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. It is one of the biggest cohesive basins in the Taupo Volcanic Band. One of the things that Marilou and I noticed was that the geothermal areas are so spaced out here. We are used to going to Yellowstone where once you are there everything is quite close. Here it is very spread out. There are a few pools here and a few mud pots there but nothing like the gyser basins of Yellowstone. That being said the coloring of these pools was slightly different. There were the orange/reds and teal/greens that we are accustomed too but there was also a lot of bright green. One of the signs
 said the green was due to the high levels of sulfur.
 The green pools were absolutely gorgeous!

This pool is water that has run off from
the Crystal pool. As it runs down stream
it collects ferrous salts and sulphur giving
it the bright green color.

This is the Crystal pool. It's runoff creates
many of the other pools in the basin.
As the water runs off it collects other minerals
changing the colors

 

Maori man during the opening haka.

      After a quick shower and a small rest we headed out to Tamaki Maori village for dinner and a cultural presentation. Our korotiwaka (tour guide) on the waka (bus trip) to the village was hilarious. A man had to volunteer to be our chief. He was responsible for accepting the peace offering from the people of the village. When we arrived at the village there was a te wero (challenge); where the Maori men did a haka and laid out a peace offering. The chiefs from the buses had to accept the offering and then do the traditional Maori greeting called the hongi with the chief. A hongi is when noses are pressed together two times to greet someone. Then we were allowed into the village. They broke us into groups and gave a series of presentations where they taught us about wood carving, battle training, stick games, weaving, the haka and poui. Andy, Marilou and I all volunteered for something. Andy did the haka. Marilou used the poui to created rhythms to a song. I played a stick game which they used to increase agility and hand eye coordination. Then we moved into the Wharenui (meeting house) for a presentation from the Maori. They did dances and sang traditional songs. It was so cool. After that we had dinner. We ate chicken and vegetables prepared in a hangi. It is a hole in the ground where coals and the food is placed and then it is covered again. It was absolutely delicious! Unfortunately dinner was the end of our night and the end of my time with Marilou and Andy.

Playing the stick game. The purpose
was to respond to when right or left
was called in Maori and run to the
other stick on the left or right side
and catch it before it fell.

This is a popular Maori love song. Due to camera microphone quality it is not the best recording.
I also ran out of batter so it's not the whole song.

A very special thanks to Marilou and Andy for letting me hang out with them for the day and all of the fun things we got to do! You guys are awesome!