Saturday 15th
We went gliding today, getting to Drury for about 10am. It was not very busy initially, but with trial flights scheduled for later Bhavni and I grabbed the K21 and went for a flight off the winch. I found the conditions challenging, mainly as the sink was really strong and the thermals were narrow. So after about an hour I made a mistake and found my self at circuit height. We stayed and helped out for a while before leaving at around 3pm, as we had to go home and finish off some profiter rolls for taking with us to the SiteHost barbecue. We got to the bbq just around 5pm, where I had a couple of drinks. It was a proper South American BBQ, not really vegetarian, so I had lots of our salad we bought. We left around 8pm and instead of going home Bhavni wanted to go shopping so we stopped at the Mt Wellington shops and did some shopping for items for the coming holidays.
Sunday 16th
Leaving at around 9am, we drove down the SH1, but instead of turning down the SH2 we carried on until a turning past lake Waikare – Tahuna Rd. This was a really nice road as there were no big trucks going along it and it was not busy at all. We went off a little to look at the lake before continuing to Morrinsville and then finding our way back to the SH27. We stopped in Waharoa at the cheese factory where we sat and had coffee and drinks, also buying some cheese. There was a person selling avocados by the street, so we picked up a couple of bags from him, including some nice large ones.
Getting to Matamata, just a little before 2pm, we went to the I-Site, where we booked ourselves onto a tour of Hobbiton, first for that leaving at 2.15, but then we quickly changed it to 3pm so that we could eat before. Our lunch was eaten sitting in a park nearby after exploring the town – not much was open.
Joining the tour just before 3pm – there were only a few people there, we boarded a big coach that took us to the start of the tour. From there we had to change bus to take us into the farm where the set was. The bus driver was an old man who was quite amusing.
Another person took over the tour from here, and we had to go by foot. It really was a lovely hot day, so it was nice to be about. We were led around the set looking at all the different hobbit holes there, whilst our tour guide explained which bits featured in the films. The final hobbit hole was the “Baggs End”, which was the biggest one with even a bit of a hallway inside rather than just a facade. The tree was interesting as the tree was from a bolted together tree from another farm and the leaves were artificial leaves from Taiwan. Apparently when the film people came to check the set a week or two before the filming stared they found that the leaves on the tree had turned blue from the sun, so they had to employ some students to had paint all the leaves green.
We had a drink in the “Green Dragon” – a real ale for me, whilst posing around the log fire and over the bridge there, before getting the bus back – this time a really old rickety thing – to the main start where we then got a coach back to Matamata.
Leaving we drove straight back, but went to Mt Roskill to the Indian food place we had gone to with Shelina. The food did not quite live up to our rose tinted expectations though.
Monday 17th
After work, Bhavni and I went to the Cinema in Silvia Park to watch the James Bond film.
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