New Zealand

So Sorry I am a little late. I had some really bad internet problems in the past few days 

So, I am in the middle of Stu-vac (student vacation) which is like the UTS spring break. Most people go on holiday during Stu-vac and I was lucky enough to have my grandma come visit me here in Sydney. 

We spent a couple days in Sydney showing her around and my favorite places in Sydney and then we took a flight to Auckland, New Zealand.

Aukland Skyline 

New Zealand is honestly one of the nicest places on Earth both in beauty and friendliness. When we landed, we were waiting at the bus stop to make it to our hotel and everyone around us were trying to help us figure out where to visit. One man who was sitting next to me insisted that we visit the little town of Hamilton just because he lived there. Then on the bus, we were unsure which stop to get off at so the people around us asked the bus driver to drop us off in front of our hotel. Everyone in the city was extremely nice and anytime we asked for directions the locals went out of their way to help us.

The first full day we were there we took a bus to the movie set of Hobbiton (the Shire from the Lord of the Rings) We drove through the beautiful countryside through sheep and cow ranches to the cute town of Matamata.

 Then we headed to the Shire. We saw hobbit holes, the home of Bilbo Baggins and Sam Wise, and even had a hobbit sized pint cider at the Green Dragon pub. 

3 of the 44 hobbit holes in Hobbiton 

The Green Dragon 

It was a perfect day for a nerd like me. I was on a cloud seeing the homes of some of my favorite characters and running around pretending to be wizards next to the tiny hobbit holes.

The Home of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins 

The next day we took a hop-on, hop-off tour around Auckland. I got to climb Mt. Eden a crater covered in grass that is the remains of a dormant volcano. 

The Carter of Mt. Eden and the City Skyline

We got to see some of the charming suburbs in Auckland as well as get my grandma a new suitcase which we named Mully for some reason. After finishing the day by eating seafood on the pier, we headed back to the hotel completely exhausted.

            On the third day we got a tour of the Auckland Harbor. We saw a lot of the different parts of the harbor and even got to make a stop on Rangitoto island, the youngest dormant volcano in Auckland. 

Rangitoto volcano 

We got to go under the bridge and then headed back. 

Auckland bridge 

We didn’t want to be late to the airport. Exhausted we headed home to finish the vacation in Sydney.

            I loved New Zealand and am planning to go back to the South island in two months with friends.