The Drive to Rotorua and Hobbiton
We woke up early and bid adieu to our little house, home for only two nights, and struck out on the highways. We had the option of three paths to Rotorua, one near the beach, and two progressively more inland. We opted for the middle path, which was also the quickest.
After a quick selfie and potty break at an overlook of the whole Coromandel Bay Area, we got on the road, hoping to make Rotorua before early afternoon. An emergency potty break detour later and we found ourselves within a short distance of the Hobbiton movie set. We had planned to go on the way back to Auckland, but with the trip as uncertain as it's been, we decided better to go when we can and see it while we're nearby.
The trip was only 30 minutes off our path post-detour, so we go there quickly and hoped for luck with ticketing. The woman behind the counter was doubtful we'd have a spot, but our luck held and we got tickets for a tour 20 minutes later. I quickly bought some water and snack sandwiches for the kids so they wouldn't murder anyone on the tour for food and we were whisked off to an incredibly lush, green farm covered in rolling hills, new lambs, beautiful trees, and somewhere, hobbit holes.
The bus had a video with little snippets by Peter Jackson and various other people talking about the set and why they did what they did. The tour guides took us off the bus and led us into one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life. It's early October, which means it's just the beginning of spring in New Zealand. We couldn't have picked a better time to visit. The flowers were all blooming, the fruit trees were blossoming, everything was gorgeous and green and we even managed to show up on a day when there was no rain and only sunshine and fluffy white clouds.
The hobbit holes were all facades. Actual holes in the ground with little more than a dirt floor and a retaining wall with a gorgeous front with a window for shelving and bits of stuff to display. All except for Bag End, which has about 3 meters of painted, decorated wall and floor they used to shoot the scenes looking out of Bilbo's door across the shire.
It was awesome and surreal to see places I could recognize from the films, and they played little clips of the movie on the bus on the way back that we would recognize as well. We finished our tour with a stop at the Green Dragon Inn, a beautifully built little place along the water, near a stone bridge and a mill. We were offered specially made beers, brewed for the set, and costumes if we liked. Then, we hopped back on the bus and returned to the parking lot.
We completed our drive to Rotarua and have gotten settled into our hotel room. We have a view of the lake as well as a geyser in the distance, endlessly spewing plumes of steam. They light it up at night and it's very pretty. Aside from smelling like fart all the time, it's awesome and our hotel room has two floors so we have some distance from the kids. Tomorrow, we have to enjoy the local sights, but we haven't decided exactly what yet.
