Faeries, Hobbits and The Hill

The journey to Auckland was uneventful, apart from being serenaded by a ukulele group during our lunchtime picnic stop.
The arrival at the apartment was somewhat confusing with us going to the front door while the agent waited around the block at the parking entrance. It took a few messages but we finally managed to meet and gain access.

That evening our timing was a bit off as we arrived at the Auckland Night Noodle Market at what appeared to be their busiest time, with long queues at all the food stalls. The Bang Bang chicken wraps were well worth the wait. Luckily the queues were less when we went back for a second one. Using recyclable glasses for drink was a nice touch at an outdoor event. Hopefully we will see more of this on our journey.

The main event the next day, after some shopping in the CBD and a walk around the Port area, was a drive out to the Ellerslie Racecourse for the first night of a production of Midsummer Nights

Dream at The Pop Up Globe. It was a slightly surreal occasion with the theatre a replica of the Globe Theatre, except that it's construction used a lot of visible scaffolding on the inside. It was obviously a special occasion in people's calendar as everyone was dressed in their finery. Good job I had changed out of my sandals !

This is a play we know well, which was useful as all of the lines spoken by the faerie folk was in Maori. Funny enough it worked well. There was also a lot of audience participation, both intended by the cast and otherwise. It was immensely enjoyable and the audience participation gave the evening a special flavour of comedy/panto which worked with this play. A perfect end to our brief visit to Auckland.

Whilst we were in Auckland we booked the next few days accommodation in a property just outside Cambridge. This has to rate as one of the nicest towns we have visited. Very deli/cafe culture with wonderful salads and student opera singers busking outside. It was a very relaxed environment aided by the sunshine. The apartment was on the hill overlooking the lake (where we later

watched a rowing regatta) a beautiful location for a stunning modern apartment. We had originally booked only a room but ended up with the use of the whole place as the owners headed off to their bach on the beach for the rest of our stay. Brilliant having the run of the place.

The location was selected so that we could visit Hobbiton, which we did the next day. It is a very interesting and enjoyable tour of a unique film set, with lots of film gossip and facts imparted to keep the interest of the fans. We did not feel that we were rushed round as we had plenty of time to take photo's and admire the location, on a beautiful hot sunny day. The tour ended at the Green Dragon Inn for a welcome cooling ale or ginger beer. The site is very realistic to the films so you always anticipate meeting a Hobbit coming round the next corner. My only disappointment was that no mention of Tolkien was made during the tour. It's all Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings

and The Hobbit.

That evening we decided that the hot tub was a bit too chilly to use, so after a night of heating it up we relaxed in it the next morning before leaving. Well that was the plan, but for me it was now too hot so I sat on the side while Bobby luxuriated in the tub.!!

Next stop was the Tree House located outside of Raglan, a five to six hour drive away, on a hot sunny day, typical for the days we drive :-).Raglan is an artist town with a nearby surfing beach. Because of this the town is full of 'surf dudes' and arty types. So different from the cafe culture we had just left.

We visited Ngarunui Beach which is known for its black sand and powerful waves, which are ideal for surfing. However, during our visit there was a sea mist that gave the place a very eerie feel. It also meant that the waves were small so very few surfers. In fact there were more Japanese tourists than surfers. Although given their propensity to arrive in coaches this is not unusual.

We had been advised that the Tree House had no electricity (therefore no refrigeration), no drinking water, no wifi or phone signal. So after filling up with ice, bottles of water, basic essentials and ensuring there were no outstanding emails we headed off for out two nights 'off the grid'.

The drive there was beautiful, although the final 3k was on an unmade road that wound uphill and got more and more rutted

with each kilometer. We should have taken this as an omen, but discussed how access to the tree house must be an easier drive than this. Little did we know. Finally we noticed the turning off and entered the 'driveway'. This turned out to be downhill for about a kilometer on an windy unmade drive with a 1 in 4 gradient. A little unnerving that made it a welcome relief when we arrived at the bottom of the hill at our destination.

As you will see from the picture the tree house was a fairly standard construction which was setback slightly in amongst the tree's which unfortunately restricted the hours that the sunshine reached the balcony. The inside was basic with a two ring gas cooker, and a cool box which we emptied our ice into. The bedroom was on the upper level that was reached by a ladder. The bed was a futon construction that was attached to the floor so it could not be moved. This proved a problem when we realised that the loft access hole was right next to the bed. Call us wimps but this appeared a little unsafe to us as we could see a fall coming in the middle of the night. Luckily the sofa downstairs could be slept on, but only by one of us. So I sacrificed myself and climbed the ladder each night.

The next day we enjoyed the solitude of the location and read our books for a while, eventually deciding to head out to see the area. Only problem was that halfway up our car decided that it could not make the incline and lost all traction. After reversing twice and retrying without further success we decided to wait until someone

arrived who could give us a tow to the top of the 'hill'. After about two hours of waiting, the last hour of which I was standing at the top in a drizzle, I finally managed to flag down a car that could tow us. I am sure Bobby breathed a sigh of relief when he drove down to our car.

A moment later the owner of the Tree House arrived and offered his assistance. Imagine Bobby's consternation when he joined her in the car and went to drive the car up the rest of the hill. (Like a gentleman I had volunteered to walk to the top of the hill instead of Bobby). Our host was surprised to find the absense of traction and had to reverse down the hill until he was able to get it to move forward at which point he put his foot down and drove up the hill as fast as it would go. We then proceeded to go to Raglan but it was too late to do anything but pick up something to eat.

Our host had managed to convince us to stay another night with the offer of his assistance getting up the hill and with a certain amount of trepidation we accepted his offer. Next morning he got into the drivers seat and revved the car to its maximum so that he could make it to the top of the hill, which he managed to do. Not sure if there was a gleam in his eye but he definitely had two passengers glued to their seats.

We drove away to our next venue wondering if the solitude of the tree house was worth all that effort. Think Raglan was a nice town but didn't get time there to confirm this.