As a child, having a February birthday was a mixed blessing. It almost always fell during the half term holiday and more often than not there was snow. More than one birthday outing was cancelled due to bad weather. In fact for my seventh birthday a small group of us were supposed to be going to see Babe at the cinema, but overnight there was a huge amount of snow so the trip was cancelled. I was devastated until I built the biggest snowman EVER (OK, well it was ginormous to a very short 7 year old) with my Dad in the garden, while a chubby little baby Cameron watched through the window.

I decided to make sure that turning 27 in New Zealand would rival the epic snowman building year and planned a fun filled final day in the land of the Kiwi. We started with a traditional New Zealander breakfast….

And then jumped in the car to Hobbiton. Hobbiton is the movie set from the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit films. We were so lucky to visit on a sunny day, and the set was incredible. The tour was really interesting too. In order to make Gandalf look big and the Hobbits look small, the hobbit holes have been built in a variety of sizes. Gandalf would be filmed next to small doors, and the hobbits next to big doors. We also heard a lot about how particular the director, Peter Jackson, was. He ensured that every little thing was perfect, even making the staging team individually re-paint every leaf on a tree by hand because it was the wrong shade of green.

 

After touring the hobbit holes, we crossed over to the Green Dragon pub. Here we were given a cider and some Hobbit food – delicious.

After this we got back in the car, and headed towards Auckland. Graham was designated driver so I enjoyed a glass of New Zealands ‘best’ bubbly in the car, out of a fold-it-yourself camping mug. We stopped at a few points along the way for some tasty snacks.

In the evening we overindulged in Mexican food and cocktails.

Turning 27 is certainly going to be up there with the best birthdays.