I have been looking forward to being in New Zealand from the beginning of our trip because it is where the Hobbit movie was filmed. When we got to Auckland, I had fun playing with my new friends Cyrus and Jason Tuhaka. We enjoyed building with Lego and going swimming. It was fun staying in places like Kerikeri and Pauanui because they were close to lots of awesome beaches. Dad and I swam in the cold salty ocean waves. The best beach to bodysurf was Cathedral Cove which had lots of rocks and caves. We had fun digging holes in the sand at Hot Water Beach and sitting in them.
I had lots of fun playing with my new friends Mya and Keisha Anderson. We went to Rotorua and watched a sheep shearing show in the Agrodome. Mya tried to make me drink sheep milk as part of the act but instead we fed it to the lambs. We took lots of pictures of us holding sheep. I really enjoyed mountain biking with Mya and her mom. I visited Waitomo Caves and Mya and Keisha's school. We were very lucky to get to stay at their Bach in Raglan on the ocean. My favourite thing that I did with Keisha and Mya was go swimming in Kerosene Creek. It was very hot and we played in the waterfall.
We stayed at Lake Taupo where the lake was warm because it was next to a volcano. I saw the Huka Falls, jumped into more hot springs, and went to a Maori cultural event where I ate my first Hangi meal. When we drove past Mount Ngauruhoe, I tried to plug 'Mount Doom'. When we finally got to Wellington, I was so excited because this is where the Hobbit studio is. We went to Weta Cave Workshop where Peter Jackson made the special effects for the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies. I met Gollum, Gandalf, and Lurtz the Uruk-hai leader. We took a workshop tour to see how they made the special effects and models for many other movies. I met Tom, William, and Bert at the Te Papa Museum as well as the Colossal Squid. Wellington was a lot of fun to visit.
