29DEC2019 – DAY 16: THE WEARY TRAVELER

There are no words for how glad I was to have gotten that bag of ice the night before. I could never have anticipated how this day would turn out! On the road by 7:30am, we left Rotorua with an appetite for adventure! We got to Mata Mata (better known as Hobbiton!) for a tour of the famed Shire! The tour started along the path where Bilbo Baggins exclaimed “I’m going on an adventure” and that is exactly what we did! The tour guide took us on a walk around The Shire and painted vivid pictures in our minds of the intricate details Peter Jackson incorporated into his adaptation of the epic fantasy of Middle Earth! The most memorable explanation the tour guide gave was about the oak tree that sat atop Bag End. This tree was made of fiberglass and had to be transported in since a real tree’s roots would have caved in Bilbo’s hobbit hovel. The tree was covered in 300,000 silk leaves which were repainted by hand when they got sun faded. After a few more interesting tidbits of Middle Earth lore and movie magic, we stopped by the Green Dragon Inn for a moment’s respite as budding adventurers. After stopping by the souvenir shop, we made our way to the small town of Bombay for lunch before heading into Auckland. Our hotel room here was a sizeable suite with 4 beds, 2 couches, a kitchen with an island counter and 5 bar stools, and even a living room lounge. After living out of less than spacious hostel rooms over the past couple weeks, I almost felt spoiled! Almost… I picked a bed, dropped of my bags, and went to go find my way to the Sky Tower just a few blocks away! The elevator up 60 floors (722ft) took 10 seconds and the 360 degree view from the top was surreal. Looking out across the city, I had almost forgotten I was walking through Hobbiton only 2 hours earlier! Upon descending the Sky Tower, I asked the cashier at the souvenir shop for directions back to the hotel since I was about to be a tad late to Giapo’s for a sensory ice cream experience! Unfortunately, I only realized I was given incorrect directions after missing the first 20 minutes of the next activity. Who would have thought that finding a regular building in an unfamiliar city would be so much more difficult than looking up and heading towards the looming tower? At that point, I decided to not try to make my way back to Giapo’s but instead continue being “lost” in a foreign city…! While not truly lost since the Sky Tower was a point of reference seen from anywhere in the city (or outside for that matter), I wandered throughout the downtown streets of Auckland for 3.5 hours, grabbed a glazed donut from Dunkin Donuts (as one MA resident does), and eventually stopped by the bar where we would be meeting the new tour members. Our tour leader showed up not too long after relieved to find me as I hadn’t told anyone where I was since my cheap travel phone had died around the time I was supposed to be with the group at Giapo’s… go figure. With some good directions from our tour leader, I made my way back to the hotel successfully this time and walked into my room only to find my bed flipped upside down and my bags inside the torn boxspring. Not in the mood to deal with roommate antics, I grabbed my stuff and purchased a single for the night. I figured I would meet all of the new tour members in the morning after sleeping off a full day of 30k steps! Needless to say, I was a weary traveler!