Day 9 North Island: Hobbiton!

From Te Puia, with eager exitement, we drove 67 km or 50 mins to Hobbiton Movie Set near Matamata where parts of the Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit trilogies were filmed.

Entrance Fee: $75 per pax


 

 

Mandy can't contain her excitement!

Our tour group

This will give you some idea the size of the hobbit's home

 

Like humans..the exterior of the home will tell if a hobbit is wealthy or not

 

I won't be able to go thru the main door!

The hobbits' homes are so cute. Little burrows in the fields.

The expanse of the grounds and the views!

 

Some of the sets are bigger in scale, to be proportionate to human actors

The most famous home of them all..Bilbo Baggins where the journey started
 

 

It is very detail, down to the set pieces

Look closely, you can see the moss growing from the wooden fence. That's how detail it is.

 

 

The Green Dragon Inn where we were served chilled apple cider or gingle ale at the end of the tour

The bar

Cheers. We Cheongs and non alcoholic drinks! Lol.family joke.



End of an enjoyable guided tour.



From Matamata, we drove on to Otorohanga for an overnight stopover. The next stop in the morning is the Waitomo Glowworm Caves.

Accomodation: Otorohanga & Waitomo Motels, $145

 

Motel and our rental car in the foreground.

 

 





Day 8 & 9 North Island: Destination Roturoa

Early next morning, we drove from Te Anau back to Queenstown, dropped off the rental car and took a Jetstar flight to Auckland. From there, pickup another rental car and drove directly to Rotorua, a distance of 219 km or 2 hrs 46 mins. Nearing our destination, we had to take a de-tour as the main highway to Rotorua was closed off due to an accident.

We checked into Distinction hotel. Package deal was $220 for 2 pax inclusive of hotel stay in a standard room plus entrance to Hobitton.

Early next morning, the first stop of the day was Te Puia Geo Thermal & Maori Arts & Cultures Centre. The place to see hot geysers. We could smell sulphur or 'rotten eggs' in the air as we near the place.

At the Entrance

Try pronouncing the name!!



Bubbling hot mud



We saw lots of steam but no geyser eruptions.



Who's fairer?