There and Back Again

Welcome to our final post for New Zealand!  This semester has gone so fast for us and we can't believe that we'll already be home in a week!  We've had some amazing experiences during our time here, and this past weekend was no exception.  We took a three day weekend trip to Taupo, Matamata (home of the Hobbiton sets), and Rotorua with our friends Kat, Rachel C, and Rachel G, which resulted in an incredible time.  


Day One: 6.1.12


We set off from Wellington around 1 PM on Friday and started our journey up to Taupo.  Wellington, as we hope all of you know by now, is located on the very southern tip of the North Island, and the places we were visiting this weekend are in the northern/central region.  The car trip to Taupo took around 5 hours, with a couple bathroom/snack breaks in between.  There were plenty of beautiful sights outside of our windows as we drove along:

Kapiti Island seen from the car as we began our journey.

More grazing sheep.

Pretty hills and sky.

About forty-five minutes outside of Taupo we also passed by Mount Tongariro, which is used as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings movies.  Of course, we had to stop and take pictures.  The mountain itself was beautiful and snow covered, and it has a volcano sitting alongside it which looks like its baby.

Awesome picture taken by Paul of Mount Doom in the sunset.

Paul with Mount Doom.  Watch out for Sauron!

The volcano next to Mount Doom.

We finally reached our hostel in Taupo around 6:30.  We were all exhausted and were planning to wake up early the next morning, so we made dinner, got cleaned up, and hit the hay by 10:00.  

Goofin' in our hostel room.

Day Two: 6.2.12


The next morning we woke up around 7:00 and headed out to explore Taupo for a few hours before making our way to Matamata later in the afternoon.  We first went to Huka Falls, which are part of the Waikato River in Taupo.  The falls were incredibly blue and clouds of mist rose up from them in the cool morning air.

Huka Falls.

Caitlyn by the river.

The deep blue Waikato River rapids.

From there we drove a little ways down the road to walk along the Waikato River see the thermal park which is situated beside it.  Both Taupo and Rotorua are known for their volcanic and thermal activity (more on Rotorua's later), and the Waikato River has some naturally heated hot springs along its banks.  We could see our breath that morning and our hands were frozen, so when we came upon some hot springs complete with pretty little waterfalls, we couldn't resist but take a dip!

Steam rising over the Waikato River.  The water was so clear that we could see all the way to the bottom.

One of the hot spring waterfalls.

Caitlyn, Kat and Paul bathing in the hot spring!

By the time we got out of the hot springs, the weather was clearing up so we headed back to Taupo to sit by the lake and have lunch.  While trying to have lunch, a gaggle of ducks harassed us for food.  They were very brave ducks, getting within just a couple feet from us!  Eventually they brought in some seagulls for reinforcement, and that was when we figured we had better be on our way.

Lake Taupo.  It turned into a gorgeous day!

Kat, Us, Rachel C, and Rachel G on the beach.

A flock of seagulls playing over the water.

A view of Lake Taupo from the look-out.  You can see Mount Doom faintly in the distance.

From Taupo we left for Matamata, a small town that is home to the Alexander Sheep Farm, which is the home of the Hobbiton film set for the Lord of the Rings films. It was just a short drive there and we arrived earlier than expected, so we got tickets for the tour and within a few minutes we were at the set of Hobbiton!

The sheep and hills of Alexander Farms, the home of Hobbiton.

Paul with the tickets and site map, just before leaving for the tour.

The tour begins with a short bus drive through hills of sheep, and into the center of the farm where the set is located. We began by the house of the "grumpy" hobbit from the first film, as well as the tunnel where Gandalf and Frodo enter Hobbiton on the horse carriage. We continued on to the lake, which holds the Green Dragon and the Mill on the far side, along with the double-arched bridge which the duo rides over in the film. We were surprised to learn that the New Zealand Army was hired to build the bridge, and even more surprised to learn that the small pond is home to freshwater eels!

The home of the "grumpy hobbit". His name in real life is Knowel Appleyard, which is very hobbit-ish.

The Green Dragon on the left, the arched bridge, and the Mill on the right.

The hill behind the Green Dragon is being torn apart to install pipes.
The water under the hill is threatening to sink the building, so it has to be done.

After that we went to the Party Tree. The tree is so similar to the description in the books that it was the main reason Peter Jackson (the director of the films) chose this location. Right by the Party Tree is the Party Field, where Bilbo gives his famous speech before disappearing. From there we passed by Samwise Gamgee's hobbit hole.

The group standing in the Party Field near the Party Tree.

Caitlyn outside Sam's hobbit hole.

After Sam's house we went to Bagshot Row, the location of the most famous hobbit hole: Bag End. Bag End is the home of Bilbo Baggins and Frodo Baggins, featured in the films, set atop the hill and looking over all of Hobbiton. The tree above the hole died away after the original trilogy was filmed, so when the crew returned for the new films they built a completely fake tree out of steel and fiberglass. It's so realistic you would never notice it wasn't real unless you knew to look!

Paul at the front gate of Bag End!

Caitlyn standing in front of Bag End, with Hobbiton down below.

The fake tree standing above Bag End.

We spent the rest of the tour going by other hobbit holes and spots from the films, including new hobbit holes built for the upcoming Hobbit films. We also learned that the filming of the new movies was originally planned for 2009 but was moved back to 2010 because Peter Jackson was hospitalized with a perforated stomach ulcer. Luckily he was healed, but as it turns out, J.R.R. Tolkein (the author of the Lord of the Rings books) also had a perforated stomach ulcer and was hospitalized for it. Sadly medicine back then couldn't heal the damage done by it, so Tolkein died. But the connection is very uncanny!

Paul inside a hobbit hole. Most have nothing inside, but this one is built specifically for pictures.

The fields in the background were planted with corn, cabbage, carrots and other veggies for filming.
In the far top left, you see a shed on the hillside. It couldn't be removed, so was made to look like a tree for the film.

The tour ended at about 3, right as the sky was clouding up, so we'd been lucky to have our tour with mostly sunshine. We returned to eat at the Shire's Rest Cafe, but it had closed right at 3 so we weren't able to. We spent some time with the baby lambs they have fenced nearby, then said goodbye to Hobbiton and left.

The lamb at the Shire's Rest, wanting to be fed some grass despite being surrounded by it.

After leaving the Shire, we grabbed a late afternoon meal in Matamata and then made the journey to our hostel in Rotorua, which was about an hour away.  Everyone was worn out once again, but we took advantage of the free spa at the hostel to relax, then played some cards, had a small dinner, and hit the sack around 10:00.




Day Three: 6.3.12


Once again, we woke up bright and early around 7:00 and headed out to see some sights around Rotorua before ending our trip and driving back to Wellington.  Like we said earlier, Rotorua is also known for it's thermal activity, so it was no surprise when we stopped at Lake Rotorua and were confronted with the overwhelming smell of rotten eggs which can only be produced by sulfur.  We could see steam rising in clouds all along the banks, and there were little spouts of steam and small puddles of boiling water or mud in random spots along the beach.  

A small pool of boiling mud on the beach.

Paul holding his nose in front of the lake. It really, really stank. Really.

After the lake we made a stop at the Rotorua Museum, just to take pictures of the grounds (the museum itself wasn't open yet).  Besides the museum, the grounds were home to the first bathhouse built in Rotorua, some scuptures, and a rose garden.

Caitlyn in front of the Rotorua Museum.  

The Mediterranean style bathhouse outside the museum.

We then drove about 20 minutes to the Wai-O-Tapu (which means Sacred Waters in Maori) Thermal Park, which has all kind of geysers, hot springs, craters, and boiling mud pools created by sulfur.  Everyday at 10:15 the Lady Knox geyser goes off.  The geyser has such a dependable schedule because it only erupts when it reacts with certain chemicals that the park staff pour into its spout (the chemicals are completely environmentally friendly). 

The park worker pouring the substance in to make the geyser go off.

The eruption at its peak.

There was also a sulfur pool called the "Artist's Palate" because its water was brilliant shades of orange, green, and yellow.

The Artist's Palate.  The colors were much more vivid in real life.

Paul near the big orange circle in the lake.

We also saw lots of craters and rocks which were colored interesting shades from sulfur water running into them, boiling mud pools, and much more.

A cave formed from sulfuric water flowing through it.  The green, orange and
yellow were once again more vibrant in real life.

Us in front of a rock wall discolored by sulfur.

Bright orange rocks lining the bright green Champagne Pool.

And the coolest thing we saw was the following.  No description necessary:

We thought maybe it was a crater filled with Nickelodeon slime.

Once we left the thermal park, we were all starving so we stopped in Taupo (which is on the way back to Wellington from Rotorua) for some pizza.  We tried the "Pizza Roulette" they have at Hell Pizza which is where they put the essence of ghost chili (the world's hottest pepper) onto one slice.  Rachel G. was the lucky one to bite into the tampered piece, and lets just say her mouth basically caught on fire.  Paul was brave and decided to try it, too, so we ended up having to bring in some fire trucks to cool off their mouths.

Paul and Rachel trying to endure the mind-numbing heat of the ghost chili.  Note: this picture was not staged!
Photo Credit to Kat.

After our lunch, we set out to officially head back to Wellington.  We passed Mount Doom again and took more pictures, and we also saw a complete rainbow along with an amazing sunset.

Mount Doom covered in fluffy white clouds.  We thought it looked like Paramount.

The awesome rainbow we saw through the car window.

The moon rising over a stunning sunset.

All in all, our last big hurrah here in New Zealand turned out even better than we could have expected.  We saw so many beautiful things, and had a great time with our friends.  Our time here in New Zealand has been unforgettable, and we have learned so much.  We are really going to miss the picturesque landscapes of this awesome country, but we are also ready to get home and see all of our family and friends.  So here's to you, New Zealand.  Thanks for a sweet as semester.  Cheers!