pudding and a movie

Hey all (our non existent subscribers!)

So, we had a holiday up in Mata Mata at Louise’s uncles farm the other week.

I figured some pics would be in order..

Turns out MataMata was a long way away. Now that Louise has her license we got to share the driving. But Noah was, at times a little unimpressed.

We stopped off at the ‘Castle’ in Tirau. Wow. Toy trains!

Turns out the place was not just a farm, but a brood mare stud farm or something.. so we got to see lots and lots of horses. Though we didn’t know any of their names they were quite friendly.

Really it was a beautiful farm, beautifully cared for and with a great view from the ‘front door’.

This was the week of all those storms up north, which meant that the weather was very changeable constantly sunny or rainy.

As a result we got to see lots of rainbows!

.. and spend a bit of time inside. During which the perfect game was for the kids to help Dad play with his camera.

During the fine weather we ventured out to MataMata (or as it has renamed itself “Hobitton”) - not much sign of the hobbits now - except for a rather grumpy tourist operator who poured a large bucket of cold water on the idea of our brood of youngins coming on their precious little tour. However, it does have some great cafes and a very desultory park.

Much more pleasant than the non-park in MataMata was the little bit of reserve they’ve set aside for native plants and stuff on the farm.. Well I guess maybe its not that native with all that ‘fall foliage’ but certainly a nice place for a picnic.