14 March 2018, Wednesday, Pi Day 2018 and my Birthday.
Woke up ….
Feast for our eyes…
And Golden Wish from Jilly (Huntington House Owner) for my birthday…. a year with golden eggs.
Have another good look at Huntington House….living hall
Dining area, overseeing the koi pond.
And the seating area in the garden
The Kitchen area…
We decided to have breakfast in the garden…
It is luxury living environment. While having breakfast, Jilly (Owner) helped us with our Hobbiton Tour booking.
Setting off…
That is Murray waving at us…
It took us slightly more than an hour to reach the Hobbiton Movie Set Tour office….Our Tickets.
Queuing to board the bus
On the fully packed bus…
5 Minutes ride through vast grasslands…
Disembarked at the entrance of Movie set. Tour Guide conducting briefing before entering the site.
Start of Tour
There are several groups roaming around the movie set area.
Bravo ! the first Hobbiton House…
Entry to Hobbiton village with several houses in close proximity to one another. The most picturesque unit…
Our pictures in front of the unit.
This unit probably belong to a fisherman…
Another lovely unit.
The last house in this cluster..
Probably belong to a rich Hobbit…. with an attached store unit and place for drying fishes.
Guess what vegetable Hobbit like most…
Pumpkin everywhere.
and this is gigantic !
Looking uphill…
Uneven uphill slope…
More Hobbit house on the slope…
Moving on…. tour members are strolling orderly and leisurely…
and more Hobbiton Houses along the uphill foot path.
Look like most Hobbits are friendly…. exception…
Two very flowery units….
and this is another rich hobbit house.
The poor hobbit stay in less distinguished units.
zoomed in
we could see some of set up that portrait Hobbits daily routines…
The cupcake and muffins looked good….
and very unique street lighting…
At last we are near the summit…
A little too windy here…
A tree from Hobbit Era…
Looking down…. scenic view
Pathway to a wonderful hobbiton house…
Our pictures….
Heading downhill….
This is the place where the Hobbits has a 3 days 3 nights party….
And this is Sam’s House.
sizeable with three big doors… probably the largest Hobbit house in the entire Middle Earth.
Picture in front of Sam’s House.
Moving on to Green Dragon Cafe…
and approaching…
and a big barrel of ale awaiting for us…
and a little house by the lake…with notices to Hobbits in this area
Bridging across to Green Dragon Cafe
Our pictures by the bridge
At Green Dragon Cafe…
Picture outside Green Dragon Cafe.
Inside Green Dragon Cafe…
Have a cup of cool Ale…
and Cheers…. for my Birthday.
A picture with “Mr and Mrs Frodo”… (Thanks to the couple, they are our group mates and they have agreed to take a picture with us)
Exit the cafe…
Looking across the scenic lake…
A Hobbit Fisherman was here….
The last Hobbit Houses….
and it was time to get onto the bus for the returned trip
Looking out of the bus….
opps…. we are back to 2018… with memories of Middle Earth
and Mr Gandalf awaiting for us at the visitor center.
On our way to Mills Reef Winery… a short stop over at McLaren Falls.
Bridge over McLaren Falls.
Under the bridge….
There are many small cascades between the rocks…. creating many sections of water falls. Wonderful sight…. it look as if waterfalls everywhere.
1430 hrs…. arrived at Mills Reef Winery.
we had the entire restaurant to ourselves…
The Kitchen had prepared a wonderful plater for us…
Enjoying our lunch…
We made two stops while on our way to BayFair Mall…. At Tauranga Historic Village. (unfortunately a section was under renovation)
with architecture of yesteryear….
A peep at Village Radio
Our Original plan was to have some Fish and chips from Bobby’s…. very relaxing setting.
Inside Bobby’s
A lot of choices….we thought it was too much for us and decided to drop the idea and move on.
Shopping at Tauranga Bayfair Mall… Farmers’ and Kmart. We spent a long time in Kmart. Time passed quickly and it was nearly 1830 hrs before we set off to Maunganui Beach.
Peaceful and relaxing beach.
Dusk falls across the horizon…
Lovely Sunset over Mount Maunganui. Simple Romance in the air.
Our Pictures by the beach.
Simply love this Silhouette.
Last pictures before the spectacular scene enveloped by darkness…
Driving off
Dixie Browns is few hundred meters from the beach.
Waiting for our food…
Well…. this is my birthday dinner…
My wife love her portion very much.
and my yummy birthday cake….
End of Day 5 :
Very enjoyable Hobbiton Movie Set tour and wonderful lunch plater at Mills Reef Winery. Stops and shops….
We love the sunset at Maunganui Beach and good birthday dinner at Dixie Browns.
Return to : NZ North Island Day 4
Continue to : NZ North Island Day 6
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