Our five night stop in Rotorua was jam-packed with activity. Although originally just a “base of operations” for driving around the central region of the North Island, we discovered that the city itself had a lot to offer as well. But the main highlight, I’ll have to admit, was visiting the very authentic set of Hobbiton:
Putting on my best Hobbit impression.We were blessed with sunny weather towards the middle of our tour of the site, which made the location even more special.No need for the green screen. The place looks exactly as it does in the movie.Look Gromit, cheeeeese!The attention to detail was amazing. Through the windows of many of the dwellings were actual shop items, like bread from a bakery, meat from a butcher, etc.Hobbiton, or a town from The Witcher? I think I’ll pick up a few quests while I’m here…The interior of the Green Dragon Inn, complete with actual pints of beer!That’s not a real fish.
Not far from Hobbiton is the city of Hamilton, which had some beautiful themed gardens. Definitely worth the side trip if you’re in the area and the weather is ideal.
Hamilton GardensAlice in Wonderland statues at the entrance of the Fantasy garden.Art imitates lifeThe very fanciful Tudor gardenA cheeky satyr in the Tudor gardenAnother Satyr in the Tudor gardensReady to given the Satyrs a run for their money, a Maori statue in a rare instance of looking scared. Of what, we’re not sure. I invite you to create your own story.The Renaissance gardenThe Indian Char Bagh GardenOn the way back from Hobbiton there was a town that had all sorts of sculptures made of tin roof material. This building, or dog, was actually the tourist information centre.The Rotorua Museum in the Government Gardens, near the centre of Rotorua. It was beautiful, but we couldn’t get in because it was prone to earthquake damage.The immaculately maintained Government GardensAll around Rotorua there were smelly hot springs that bubbled up hot sulphur smelling steam.We read a news article where someone recently fell in and died in the scaling hot poisonous spring. We think this may be where it happened, or at least we like to think it was because there’s a very human-like cavity below the surface.Did I mention it was smelly?Walking along the Redwoods park in RotoruaThere are Redwoods in Rotorua! They were quite amazing to walk around underneath.We kept looking for Ewoks, but couldn’t find any.We went for a traditional Maori meal at the Mitai Maori Village, which can be compared to a Hawaiian LuauBefore our meal we went down to view a traditional war cry from a Maori canoe.The Maori presentation, where they performed the obligatory Haka.The Blue SpringsThe beautiful Blue Springs, where the crystal clear water emerged from an underwater spring.A beautiful day to see the Blue Springs!Back at the Government Gardens, walking around Sulfur Point to view the sunset.Lake Rotorua from Government GardensEmerging from the Waitomo Caves, which were filled with glowworms. We couldn’t take photos, so here’s the only photo of place. Very touristy, but still amazing to see a starfield in a cave on a boat.Marokopa Falls, rainbow included.The path to Marokopa Falls, bench included.
