From Hobbiton To Blue Lake

Because Connor wasn't going to be in New Zealand for very long, I wanted to do my best to share parts of my childhood as well as some touristy things with him. Being the Lord of the Rings fan that he is, I knew I had to take him to Hobbiton.

Any local will tell you that if you live in an area, you will have missed out on some of the classic touristy stuff that you can do. When I had found out that Chris also hadn't been to Hobbiton, I did my best to convince him that he should come with us. I succeeded.

I've been to Hobbiton twice at this point and I've decided that my very favorite place is the Green Dragon. I only wish I knew the song that Merry and Pippin sing about it.

Last time I was here, there were generic mugs to have your pint in. This time around they had Green Dragon pint glasses. And I thought to myself: "They have pint glasses? I'm getting one."

We also popped into the gift shop. And wouldn't you know it, one of Wei Siew's patterns is in there with Stansborough yarn.

After Hobbiton, Sarah and her boyfriend Ben invited Connor and I to hike around Blue Lake. Her father has some legendary stories (many of which Chris has been a part of) so I asked Sarah if anything crazy ever happens to her. In other words, is it genetic? She said she couldn't remember. Famous last words.
Rosie, the dog who was with us and has infinite energy, spotted a duck and went out into the lake to get it. Every time she got close, the duck would fly just a few feet further. We thought the duck was stupid... until we realized it had ducklings. We then knew that not only was the duck not going to leave, neither was Rosie. Sarah made the bold decision to swim out into the cold lake to get Rosie. She almost succeeded, but Rosie spotted the duckling and started anew. At the point we decided on a different strategy. Rosie loves her people, so we walked on, hoping that she would realize we were gone and come looking for us. A bit down the trail we realized that we couldn't hear the duck quacking anymore. We knew it had ended, but we didn't know how. Did Rosie catch the duck? Did she drown? A few seconds later Rosie came charging down the trail.

I felt quite lucky to have gotten to see another part of New Zealand that I didn't know existed. The evening was beautiful and I got to spend it with great company.

Boom Rock

Our friend Chris has been secretive for months over where his birthday party would be. On our second day in Wellington, a huge group of us were loaded on a bus and went for a long drive. 

After going through paddocks, passing many sheep, and finding what seemed to be the edge of nowhere, we reached our desitination: Boom Rock. The view was quite impressive. Chris had been worried all day that the weather would be unpleasant, but it was clear enough that we could see the South Island.

Activities at Boom Rock included shooting at clay pigeons. I let them all live this time around. We also got to try knife throwing. I was a bit better at that.

Picture Credit to Dennis. I wasn't going to do this, but Dennis wouldn't let me get away with not trying to shoot some clay pigeons.

As the sun set, the clouds moved in and we all hunkered down for a warm meal and to tell stories about Chris.