New Zealand
Did you know that Kiwi birds have the second largest ratio of egg to body size in the world? Neither did we, and those eggs are huge!
Just finishing off our first stop on the tour: New Zealand’s north island, Te Ika-a-Maui. From lunch in Hobbiton, to Polynesian spa’s to racing downhill on tiny luge carts, it’s been a great start!
Auckland
Landing in Auckland at night wasn’t great, the streets were dark because everything was closed and it was raining. We managed to get some late night washing done after a lovely meal of two-minute noodles.
Thankfully the next day looked up immediately after a lunch in Ponsonby’s Tobi restaurant where they had Scotch egg sando’s! The recommendation came from friends who met us there and they did not disappoint.
After wolfing these down with a beer, we headed back into the city to try and get into a Weta Workshop tour. The final tour of the day was free so we jumped into that and got taken around the sets, getting to see some of the most incredibly detailed models, sets, concept art and other amazing sights.
We rounded out the day with a trip to Archie Brothers, a bowling and arcade place, for some drinks and food with our friends again. Had a great time and a few more beers! New Zealand’s beer selection really is great, both the local breweries and the selection of other regions beers too.
The rain was pouring down by the time we left Archie Brothers and only got worse when we got back to the city and our hotel. A bit worrying for a bit of a drive tomorrow and our planned outdoor tour!
Matamata
The next morning, we woke to find that the rain had eased up and the sky was starting to clear, great! We got on the road and started off towards Matamata where the Hobbiton Movie Set is and where we were going to start our tour.
Driving to the location was amazing in itself: the green hills, mountains, windy roads and forests already made us feel like we were in Middle Earth.
Arriving precisely when we meant to, we boarded the tour buses to take us to set, and our trip to middle earth began. The only word to describe the experience is surreal!! Hobbiton remains still as you see it in the movies, they have a huge staff of gardeners and landscapers keeping everything as magical as possible, even down to the pumpkins in the veggie patches.
After touring through some Hobbit holes, we sampled what The Green Dragon had to offer. With a cider and stout in hand, we made out way to Bilbo’s birthday tent where we feasted for lunch. The tour was rounded off with a short drive back out of Hobbiton while watching some clips of set we had just seen. This was a bucket list destination and it absolutely did not disappoint.
With warning of flooding in Rotarua, we jumped in the car and made the short drive before the storms hit.
Rotarua
Rotarua started the same as Auckland… dark and needing to do washing. After wandering the streets with our laundry bags, we enjoyed a romantic dinner of middle eastern nachos from the take away shop next to the laundromat and waited for the dryer to finish. We had an early night, making it half way through LOTR, The Fellowship before we got some sleep for our activity packed day to follow!!
Our exploration of Rotarua commenced with a short, but beautiful drive through the hills to the National Kiwi Hatchery. We did a tour of the conservation and hatching facility, and were lucky enough to see one of their older birds in the forest assimilation enclosure and then a little chick that was about 2 weeks old. The facility does incredible work and the had hatched and re-released over 2,500 chicks since opening. NZ’s environmental focus is to be pest free by 2050, it was sad to hear how the introduced animals are destroying the natural environment they have.
We then drove back in to Rotarua where we went on the gondola’s up the Skyline. It was a beautiful view from the top and we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day given the flooding the day before. After racing down hill a few times on the luges we enjoyed lunch and a nice wine tasting atop the mountain, rounding off our skyline day with a visit to the jelly belly store.
After going for a drive and visiting some locally sourced and crafted Jade shops, we walked to the Polynesian Hot Springs. We had a private thermal spring bath that opened out on to Lake Roturua where we floated and were so relaxed we fell asleep. The water was about 38 degrees and the view was magical. We rounded out the day of activities with the fanciest room service we have ever had while continuing our LOTR watching… would be rude not too while in NZ!
Auckland - The Return of the Travellers
After a pleasantly uneventful drive from Rotorua back to Auckland, we managed to post off some of the gifts that we’d already collected and spent our final evening with our friends having a few drinks and playing some games.
It was a great trip over to New Zealand and, despite it being a late addition to the plans, was well worth the time.