Lovely fishes and hobbitses

Another very busy couple of days!  Yesterday, we took the early ferry in to Auckland city -- about 45 minutes across the harbor from my parents' house.  We nosed about in some of the shops and old-fashioned arcades in the downtown, before catching the distinctive shuttle to Kelly Tarlton's undersea adventure.  (Alice refused to be photographed anywhere near it, so I had to take a surreptitious shot on the way home...):

This aquarium, all built underground, was the very first to feature glass tunnels through the tanks, to view the sharks, fish and stingrays from up close.  Unfortunately, these do not photograph so well!  But, in any case, the real stars of the place for the kids were the penguins, which they went back three times to visit:

Later, we met up with Debbie and Julian, my aunt Val and cousin Andrea for lunch -- and, after absurd 2-hour bus ride home, dinner with friends Liz and Michael and their kids, near my parents' house.

Today we set out on our week-long car trip.  First stop:

Hobbiton was spectacular.  With the new Hobbit movies, the production company rebuilt the entire village as it was in the LotR (though 60-years younger looking, in places), but out of real brick, slate and timber, rather than plaster, silicone and plywood, as the original Hobbiton had been made.  It was rebuilt to survive at least 50 years; and a team of gardeners keeps the gardens and crops in beautiful condition.  The illusion of actually walking in Middle Earth is complete.  We took over a hundred photos, many of the tiny details that were realized so perfectly, and will have to put together an annotated album in the future.  But here are some representative shots:

The gardens were spectacular, as you can see, and got Alice very excited about planting up our back yard; we have lots of pictures for inspiration.

The tour ended in the newly-constructed Green Dragon Inn, a replica of the building, inside and out, from the movies -- and actually a real working pub that can be hired out for wedding receptions etc.  Alice was beyond excited, and insists that this is definitely where she will be getting married!  We were received in the pub quite differently than we would have been in the States: everyone got a free alcoholic drink, and the chance to buy more, with no nonsense about IDs or anything like that.  All the drinks were locally micro-brewed: I had an excellent hoppy dark ale, and the kids had minimally alcoholic real ginger beer.

We then drove on to our home for the next 2 nights, a one-apartment B&B 20 minutes outside Rotorua.  Before dinner, we took a walk around this small working farm.  The friendly dog, cat and chickens who were outside (and sometimes inside) our living area for most of the afternoon, were nowhere to be found when we left.  But we found some other locals, and Tommy made friends with steer #1202, who allowed Tommy to pet him (and Tommy has now declared he is a non-beef-atarian.  I suggested he should look into Hinduism):

We went searching for dinner tonight in the rather seedy city of Rotorua (we found a parking spot outside "Executive Escorts," which required a conversation).

Rotorua is the kind of place four Elvis impersonators will wander drunkenly through your greasy Indian restaurant.

But it is surrounded by some great sights.  Tomorrow morning we'll be going to the trout streams/kiwi nocturnal house, and to visit the boiling mud and sulphureous chasms in the region's geothermal area.  Photos will follow!