A couple days ago, we went to the Auckland Zoo. It was all right, and I even saw a live Kiwi (very rare in the wild these days, unfortunately), which are nocternal, so there was a red light in the cage area, so that people could see it (I presume the Kiwi thought it was nighttime). It was about 2 feet tall. (I can assure you it looked nothing like a penguin, no matter what anyone tries to tell you!)

Mostly, it was like any other zoo I've been to and did not live up to the outstanding other outings I've described in my previous few blogs, but we enjoyed the event nonetheless.

Today, it was a different story. We went South, to a town called Matamata, which is about 2 hours from Auckland, roughly East of Hamilton.

There, in Matamata, (which bills itself as "Hobbit Town"), we paid $50 NZ, which is approximately $30 USD, for a guided tour (about 2 1/2 hours) to where the opening scenes of "The Lord Of The Rings", Part 1, was filmed, (as well as a bit of the ending of the 3rd movie).

On this sheep ranch, where much of the original set has been dismantled, what is left is spectacular, and I must have taken nearly 200 pictures!

The rolling hills and distant mountains are gloriously scenic, and while some of what we saw was reminiscent of my recollections of the movie, I must admit that I will have to rent the DVD again to superimpose what I saw today, over the film, to help jog my memory, (in reverse, if that makes sense).

The only drawback to all the sheep and lambs (yes, huge numbers of very cute, newborn lambs scampered after their mothers everywhere!) was what the tour guide kept referring to as "Hobbit Droppings", which he urged us to take home as souveniers. Somehow I don't think Customs would appreciate that, so we declined... (no shit!)