Thursday, March 14, 2024

Auckland hop on bus tour, Aug 2023

My best thing to do when you arrive at a new city, especially if you have jet lag and your hotel isn't ready, is join the hop on hop off bus!

The logo of the Auckland shipping yards

We arrived in Auckland super early in the morning.  The World Cup ambassadors were delightful and fun to talk to.  We got to our downtown hotel, dropped the luggage and picked up hop-on hop off bus tickets at the ferry building.
We managed to see the heart of downtown with hardly anyone around on Sunday morning.  I later read a 1980s Lonely Planet where Tony Wheeler (one of the originals) said "Don't arrive in Auckland on Sunday, you will think it is uninhabited."  Guess that hasn't changed!





Auckland Sky Tower in the distance.  We didn't go up, but oh well, something for next time.


We got off the bus to stop at the library.  We love checking out the local library!  This has a slightly dated feel, but was clearly loved.

Perfect timing-after once around on the bus our hotel was ready.  It was a 2 bedroom suite up on the 40th floor!


They have information built into the sidewalks-lovely!

After seeing it from up high, we got a chance to see the port up close on a morning run.


Even their public bathrooms are interesting.


These are for the Wold Cup celebrations downtown.


It really was a spectacular way to live for a few days.

This is the hotel across the street from ours where the US Team stayed.

That is the bus taking the US team to the stadium!  When we realized, we joined the crowd and stood around for a long time.  

They finally came out...and there was a city bus blocking our view!  Still cracks me up.  Totally worth it.

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Hobbiton! Aug 2023

Visited Hobbiton while in New Zealand and it was perfect.  The site is everything you want and we were lucky to have sun.

The Green Dragon Inn

The site is literally in the middle of a sheep farm.  The starting point is a cafe where you buy tickets and meet up with your group.  On the bus for about 10 minutes-with a video by Peter Jackson and the farmer, until you arrive at the Shire.

We took the 1 hour tour plus lunch.  The tour is a pleasant meander so that everyone has time to take tons of pictures.

We learned that the original Lord of the Rings set was temporary and they burned it for that one scene.  They returned the land to sheep pasture as promised, but then rebuilt it for The Hobbit.  At that point everyone realized that tourists wanted to visit, so it was a permanent build.

Most of the doors don't have a room behind them, but they are building one that should be ready in 2024.


There were at least 3 other tours going on, but they are staggered so you don't interfere with each other. 


Each home has a theme-this is outside the bee keepers home.


Hobbit size is interesting.  I felt only a little large wandering the lanes.

Up close to items and hobbit holes we all feel like giants.

Classic!

The site was scouted by helicopter and I can imagine this image was key to picking this particular sheep farm.  The party tree and party tent (and new construction) viewed from a hilltop 

and up close.  There is a special to do on Bilbo's birthday, Sept 22.

The mill pond

Sketches like you see in the end credits.

The only door that opens just a few feet.  Everyone took a turn standing just inside.

Lunch at the Green Dragon-better food than I would expect from a tourist site!

Amazing detail


A final view of the mill from the Green Dragon.  Can't wait to return and see the new hobbit house!

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Books and cats October 2023 - January 2024

 
Books and cats, a classic combination

Ready!

Looking for a new set of mysteries to love
-by Lisa Brackmann
Rock Paper Tiger:  Not enough actual mystery, just running around confused.

-by Samantha Jayne Allen
Pay Dirt Road:   Not sure where her life is going, gets involved.  Okay but not great.

-by ACF Bookens
Stitch X for Murder:  Too cozy for me to read another.
Action!

-by Lucy Foley
The Guest List:  A wedding on an island-trapped suspects amid lots of drama.  I did figure it out, but it was interesting enough.  I would read more from the author and she has a few.

-by Specer Quinn
Thereby Hangs a Tail:  ex-cop and his dog, but you only hear the dog's POV.  Cute and a fun way to cut out a lot of unnecessary info.  Might read another, but it might get old after a few.


-by Terry Pratchett
Thud: Mainly a Commander Vimes story.  Wherein Trolls and Dwarves have history.  
Going Postal: First in the Von Lipwig:  Love this!  Imagining the post office from the ground up, run by a con man with a heart of gold who actually does a good job.
Making Money:  Now do a bank!
Raising Steam:  Now do trains!  This set was super delightful, love Von Lipwig.
Unseen Academicals:  The university meets football.  Okay for a bit more about the university.

-by Harlan Ellison
short stories including I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream:  Good to read the classics.

-by Martha Wells
System Collapse:  The newest Murderbot!  This one is nice and complicated.  I'm already looking forward to rereading it.

Kids/YA

-by Peggy Gifford
Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little:  Checking out kids books and this caught my eye.  Super cute.

-by E.L. Konigsburg
The View From Saturday:  Group of misfits come together, do well in academic bowl quiz.  The kids are better developed than most.
You can pack around me.

-by Rick Riordan
Camp Half-Blood Confidential:  Short stories about all the other kids at the camp.  Did the audio book on a car trip.

-by Neal Shusterman
Unwind:  I really enjoyed his Scythe series so decided to check out this earlier work.  Turns out to have some similar themes, good writing, liked it enough to get the next in the series.




To Finish Later
-by Tim Urban
What's Our Problem?  As in, what is going on with civilization right now.  It is VERY long and I made it through the first part before it had to go back to the library.  The summary is that when people are emotional, they use the primitive brain rather than the thinking brain which makes poorer decisions.  This aligns with my reading about trauma.


DNF
-by Howard Marks
The Most Important Thing:  oof the writing got repetitious fast.  The whole book is, What if you ask a more in depth questions, not just the first surface question that comes to mind.  

-by Jamison Shea
I Feed Her To The Beast and The Beast is Me:  supposed to be in the horror genre, but I couldn't handle the setting-Paris ballet



-by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Assistant to the Villain:  seems cute and clever but I could not get into it

-by John Scalzi
Starter Villain: has great reviews and a clever premise, but again could not get into it.

-by David Brin
The Postman:  Inspired by reading Going Postal but it was just too long to finish.  Super reasonable for it's time and I did like that it had a more positive outlook.
Look what I brought it!  As soon as it stopped moving the cats were no longer interested.  I brought it outside, put it under the bushes, and 5 minutes later it was gone.