Weta workshop

Having been to Hobbiton we had to go to the studios where they made the costumes, weapons and creatures featured in the films. You were not allowed to take photos but it was fascinating. In Wellington they had a costume trail which featured costumes worn by characters in the Hobbit - you could take pictures of these.

Wellington

Leaving Palmerston we headed towards Wellington. On the way we stopped at the Tui Tower. This is the brewery where they make the beer.

We also stopped for lunch at the Pukaha Nature Reserve on Mount Bruce. They have been successful in reintroducing a bird that was thought to be extinct - the Takahe.

The hostel we are staying in is almost next to Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand. It was really interesting and we spent two half days in there. You were not really supposed to take pictures but here is a meeting house and a sleeping house.

The traditional quilts, called Tivaevae, are made from appliqué.

 Here are just a few buildings.

As the cricket world cup is taking place here there were lots of activities going on. The first two pictures show tea on an English village green that was set up in Civic square. The brick building is shed 13 where they roast coffee beans.

There were evening bands, a brass band and Morris dancing. On the Friday England were playing New Zealand.

There was a grand procession from the square to the stadium (less said about the match the better)

Over the four nights we were here there was a Performance Arts festival. Individual artists performed in a variety of containers.

Palmerston North

On our way south we passed through a town called Dannevirke which featured lots of viking symbols. We found out that it was settled in the 1870's by about 20 families from Denmark. After a lovely lunch we stopped at Manawaku Gorge where there were some beautiful modern Maori carvings.

Palmerston North is lovely with loads of beautiful buildings.

There was also a really interesting Arts trail which we followed. There were also loads of galleries and studios.

A series of ten sculptures, 'Who's Afraid' Paul Dibble, 'Te Marae O Hine' John Bevan Ford, 'Body Language' Terry Stringer, 'Numbers' Anton Parsons, 'Cityscape' Guy Ngan  

'Pacific Monarch' Paul Dibble, Elizabeth Thomson, 'All Creatures Great' Paul Dibble, 'Giants Amongst Us' Kon Dimopoulos 

Napier

We decided to come here as it is famous for it's Art Deco buildings. There was an earthquake in February 1931 that destroyed most of the buildings and so the town was rebuilt. It also caused the land to rise by about 6 metres in a neighbouring area.

The sea front is wonderful and there are lovely gardens to walk through. Napier is situated in Hawke's Bay which is famous wine country so we had to visit a few wineries.

Here are just a selection of buildings.

This is the old Tobacco Company building - could inspire a quilt or two.

There were also lots of vintage cars on display. You could have a tour in any of these or even drive them yourself.

There is also a lot of public art and art galleries to admire.

We decided to visit the National Acquarium of New Zealand. As well as sea life it also had reptiles. Strangest of all it had two kiwis which you could see quite clearly moving about really close to the glass of their enclosure.

Skydive at Lake Taupo

On Wednesday afternoon I finally managed to jump out of a plane. I was booked for Tuesday morning but it was windy. After waiting hopefully for over two hours the decision was taken to abandon the attempt. I tried again Wednesday morning but it was too cloudy so we went off on a trip down the lake. The first take off for that day was not until about five in the afternoon and I was on it.

Here I am all kitted up and watching the safety video.

This is a view from the plane window as we are climbing to 15000ft.

Here we are sitting in the doorway of the plane waiting to jump - look how high we are.

We are now in free fall ..

... getting lower

Now the parachute has opened at about 5000ft, that was 10000ft in about a minute

Coming in to land, you can see the crew getting ready to help.

It was a fantastic experience, I am really glad I did it.

Taupo

We stayed just outside Taupo at a place called Huka Falls. Our accommodation was lovely.

The falls were just up the road.

On our second day we went down the Lake Taupo to Turangi. Across the lake you can see Mount Ruapehu still with snow on it.

In Turangi we had a lovely lunch before going to take a closer look at Mount Tongariro which last erupted in 2012. You can see it still looks angry.

Waimango Volcanic Valley

On our way from Rotorua to Taupo we visited this amazing valley, we spent four hours walking around it, I was very glad I had my walking boots. A lot of the track was gravelled and easy to walk but there were some steeper parts. Much of it was through the forest.

In a crater called 'Echo Crater', for obvious reasons, there was a very hot lake.

This stream was also very hot.

The algae and minerals at the edges of the water produced some beautiful colours.

Every now and then we came across steam vents.

Warbrick Terraces was another interesting area.

At the end of the walk there was a lovely lake that was a large bird sanctuary.