I think this morning is the earliest we've had to wake up yet, and we've had ourselves some pretty early mornings!
Karina set her alarm for 4:30am because we had to go within two hours of low tide so we figured we'd get there around 5:30 and have an hour of beach time. Howeverrrr Sleeping Beauty snoozed til 5:30 so we got a little bit of a late start to the day. We rolled out of bed and drove to the beach in our pajamas.
Ok now let me explain the Hot Water Beach situation! There is a part of the beach where underneath the sand is really hot due to the plates in the earth's crust or something and if you dig a hole you sort of dig yourself your own little hot tub. Hot is a very accurate word to describe the water, scalding would also be appropriate. Temperatures can be up to 180 degrees!! Luckily the ocean waves come and add some cold water to the pool and cool it down a tad! You need to go at low tide or else the beach disappears under the water, hence the early morning. When we got there another couple had already done the work and dug a big hole with a shovel so we just mooched off them and used their hole! It was burning our feet and pretty painful but it was still cool. The whole ground was steaming so pretty hard to get photos but we saw a beautiful sunrise. Then Walter thought he lost the car keys which prompted a search of the beach! If we weren't awake by then, we were after! Miraculously the keys were just chilling in the sand (not swept out to sea) and we were able to move on to Cathedral Cove!
Cathedral cove is a beautiful hike ending in a beach just down the road from Hot Water Beach. Either side is made up of large rocks and cliffs and it's beautiful! Very calm and secluded beach which is apparently good for snorkeling. We hung out there for a bit then headed towards the place you've all been waiting for...Hobbiton!!! Aka Lord of the Rings central :-)
We had another long drive to leave the peninsula and head towards hobbiton. We were planning on visiting a nice gorge but the access road was closed. On Easter a truck fell into the gorge (which happens a few times a year apparently) and they had to close the road to get it out. So instead we had to take a longer route and made it just in time to take the last tour of the day! Phew!! And just in time for the rain to start. Our whole tour was done in the pouring rain, but luckily they provided umbrellas and the scenery was cool enough to distract us! We also had a private tour! Maybe due to the rain or the late timing, who knows, but it was pretty awesome. From the little town of matamata we got the tour bus which took us out to the farm where everything was set. A family owned the sheep farm with hundreds of acres and the film was only shot on ten of them. The shire was originally to be shot in multiple locations around NZ but apparently when Peter Jackson saw this spot he realized it was perfect in every way and shot it all there. They didn't had to build the lake or add the tree, it was already there and just like JRR Tolkien wrote about it. Fate!
We were able to see the different hobbit holes and the spot where Bilbo's party was and to bridge gandolf rode over! None of the hobbit holes actually open, the set was only used for outdoor scenes. Also the new movie the hobbit was filmed here. So they actually took down all the lord of the rings set and put up a new one, then recreated the lord of the rings again for the tour. Weird but I guess it works! We had a great tour, I only almost slipped in the mud once, and we met the resident cat. He is the number one cat lord of the rings fan in the world!
After we went to town and got good burgers to wait out the rain. We then couldn't find our keys for the second time that day so we sent Walter in search of them. He returns with them and says "I'm not sure what a boot is but these were in there" we left them in the trunk!! Oh man we were both very unlucky and very lucky that day!
Then began our drive to find accommodation for the night. It was still pissing down rain and made it very hard for me to see, thus very scary to drive. Plus the roads were beginning to flood, lame. So we stopped early and stayed in Hamilton. What an adventure! Karina had a tiny run in with the curb, causing the hub cap to fall off. Oops! Then I said ok Ill drive...and accidentally drove down the right side of the street into oncoming traffic! Yikes!! This prompted our 18 year old backseat driver to exclaim "I need to go to bed!! Look at this!!!" haha poor Walter. We finally found a motel and due to the days festivites, had some goon and watched some Letterman and went to bed!
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