So after the hunting adventure, we took a few days to see some of the rest of New Zealand. We rented a car in Greymouth and drove up the coast for a few hours and saw some spectacular scenery.
This sign was near the end of a walking trail at the national park. Pretty cool I thought.
We stopped at a place called Shanty Town. It's a recreation of an old mining town that was started there in the early 18 hundreds when gold was discovered! Some of the buildings are original, and it was a really cool place. It had some very cool trails you could hike on through the bush and see some of the old mines.
It also had some very fun picture moments for tourists. Bret had to go really bad! I wish we would've had someone with us so I could've went as well!
What is wrong here? One of the difficult parts of the trip was to make sure Bret stayed left!
After two days in Greymouth, we took a train that went through the mountains to a town called Christchurch, that was on the east coast of the south island. It was a 4 hour ride that was just beautiful! I wish I could put all the pictures of it on here!
After our train ride we had Peter pick us up from the train station. He and his wife, Caroline, work with Wilderness Quest and sometimes house guests who have come for a hunt and need a place to stay while they wait for a flight or something. We stayed with them two nights. They have a lovely home with 5 star hotel quality everything, and they also raise and sell Red Stag. They have a lot of mommas and I got to hand feed some of them. They love toast.
Caroline took us on a tour of Christchurch. We took a Trolley around town it was very old and really cool! This is Mr. Conductor.
Not sure if any of you remember or even knew that a very bad earthquake hit Christchurch a few years ago. They lost most of the buildings in the city center and so many of them have to be torn down. Its really sad. Christchurch was famous for their Cathedral and it was severely damaged in the earthquake. They haven't done anything with it because they're are some people who want it torn down, while others think it should be re-built and restored. It's just a home for pigeons now. Very sad.
Us on the Trolley. It was such a fun day.
I also went and bought me a hat with sheep on it. It was a bit cold that day, and Bret knows I like hats.
For lunch we went up on a gondola about 2500 feet to the top of a mountain where they have a look out point of the harbor and the ocean. It was so windy up there! We had a great lunch though with a sky hi view of the whole city and a beautiful harbor and the mountains.
So incredible!
So after our two days in Christchurch, we caught an early flight into Auckland. We had about a 9 hour layover there and we had planned to rent a car and drive one and a half hours to Hobbiton! They've made it all so very nice and so cute! It was fun seeing all the Hobbit holes, and the Green Dragon Inn, where we had some scones and ginger beer. (non alcohol :) I also saw Bag End and Rosie and Sam's home. I just want to build one of these in my back yard now!!
The view from Bag End looking down at the pond.
This is Frodo and Bilbo's house. There are real plants and gardens there but one tree, this one in fact on the top of the house is fake.
So very cute! Some of them were quite small and for little hobbits.
This is inside the Green Dragon Inn. Everything was so well built and authentic.
This is the stone bridge that Gandalf went over in the Fellowship of the Ring. I had to watch the movie again on the flight home! It was so cool watching it after I'd just been there.
So after the tour we high-tailed it back to the Auckland air port and began our long flight home. I have fallen in love with New Zealand! I already want to go back. There's so much more I want to see. I'm so happy that we had a great time and we didn't have any problems with anything and thanks to Kim who kept things safe at home while we were gone!
