Hobbiton

Our adventure to the north island could not miss Hobbiton off the list of things to do. After an early start we drove to Hobbiton, which is between Cambridge and Matamata. It’s actually part of a sheep farm, that was found by Peter Jackson which searching aerially for a place that could become a vision of Middle Earth.

Though all traces of hobbiton were removed after Lord of The Rings, the Hobbit Trilogy has meant they have built a concrete outdoor set. It looks like it does in the film which Rich and I saw last week in 3D at the IMAX.

overview of hobbiton

Em at home in the hobbit house

From here there was a stop at the pub and of course a drink, tho at before 12 it was a trifle early.

the famous party tree and pub

hobbit pub

the bar and beautiful doors

Just like Bilbo in the Hobbit we left Bag End and the Shire to continue our journey. Which for us was filled with considerably less peril and monster (no Trolls Al, sorry to disappoint).

A quick visit to Matamata, which hasn’t changed since my last visit and off to the waterfall. These falls are the largest on the North Island with a drop of 153m. They are visible from the road, but we decide to venture to the first look out point. The thought of another 20 minutes of steps in high humidity meant that tramping to the top of the falls didn’t appeal.

I’ll let you decide from the photos if it was worth it………

on walk up there were beautiful streams amongst dense bush

look out

So on we go, this time a short drive to Te Auroa, a sleepy little town, that has baths that are driven by a natural soda water geyser. We booked our own spa tub for a try. After we spent time watching the geysers vent, and like a watched kettle never boils, it didn’t go off until we were back down in the car park. Lucky for us, we could just see it and it was about a foot tall, very disappointing….but kinda funny.