Grace's "There and Back Again" DAY 7

Woke up early in the morning, and we decided today was going to be an EASY day! Out bodies are sore and tired. We took the opportunity of having a full kitchen at the campsite and made a huge breakfast that included bacon, sunny-side up eggs, yogurt, toast and coffee.

After breakfast, the first stop was Wai-O-Tapu. We joined the overly-eager crowds to watch the geyser shoot hot water about 20m up high in the air. After that, we just walked around enjoying the view of the various uniquely-colorful thermal springs. It is hard to describe the strange colors of the thermal pools, and even the photos from our great camera couldn't portray their uniqueness! While walking around, you could hear Hannah and Grace moaning when they encountered stairs or slopes, reminding them how sore their bodies were after conquering Mount Doom!

The world-famous champagne pool!

At the carpark in Wai-O-Tapu, we came upon a poorly parked camervan. The van actually took up 4 parking spaces, and for no reason! And parking spaces are rare commodity during the summer time... So, Grace took the time to write a wonderful reminder and we left it at the windscreen of the van.

Next stop - HOBBITON!... Hannah and Grace definitely control themselves well (NOT!) and did not show any fan-craze excitement (NOT!). It was a wonderful tour of the movie set (which is located in a farm), and had a drink at the Green Dragon Inn... My personal opinion is that it would be even better that they allow us more time to be at the Green Dragon Inn to take in all the amazement instead of rushing us all back to the bus .... However, it is definitely worth a visit for any Hobbit or LOTR fans.

Very, very calm.

It was a tiny little beehive. They were excited about it.

See how calm?

THE GREEN DRAGON!!!! DRINKING A BEER IN THE GREEN DRAGON!!! OMG!!!

We spent the night camping at Opal Springs, Matamata, in order to soak our tired bones some more. We took the chance to look at each other's sun-burns. Grace had weird sun-burn marks on her side of her face and her knuckles!... Lesson of the day - remember to spread your sunscreen evenly on your face and body :)

Total distance drove - 1550km (963 miles)

Its hard to see in the photo, but it was very distictly a line across the brow
and a circle on her temple. She was pleased