Thursday 13 December
Arriving in Auckland we disembarked and caught a shuttle to
the airport, then picked up our hire car. It was a lovely scenic drive to
Rotorua and we easily located our hotel on a very long strip of hotels. That
night we dined at a Thai restaurant on Eat
Street, a block of restaurants and bars with food from around the world.
Friday 14 December
We spent the morning at the Buried Village, a village settled by both Europeans and Maoris, which was destroyed in the
Mount Tarawera volcanic eruption of 10 June 1886. We enjoyed walking the 1.6
km track around the remains in a beautiful setting complete with gurgling stream and waterfall as we viewed the excavations, archaeology and
artifacts. 150 people died that day and the wonderful modern museum tells their stories in words, pictures and videos.
Modern museum
Original blacksmith's house, excavated
Traditional Maori house, excavated
The landscape, completely regenerated since the volcanic eruption
In the afternoon we took the Hobbiton tour bus from Rotorua,
a two hour round trip through lush green hills and valleys. At the film set we
drove and walked for two hours, viewing the Hobbit Holes and hearing tales of
the making of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. We finished with a refreshing
beer/cider at The Green Dragon pub – much needed, as it was 28°C!
They look real...
Hobbit Holes including Bilbo and Frodo Baggins' residence
Man-made lake
At the Green Dragon pub
Saturday 15 December
This morning we left for Lake Taupo via a local market at Kuirau
Park in Rotorua, one of many beautiful parks in the town. In addition, the Friends
of the Library were hosting a book sale which I couldn’t resist.
We continued on, stopping on the way at Orakei Korako, a
thermal park. There we walked over a kilometre up and down some 500 steps and
saw hot springs, boiling mud pools and the odd geyser, of which there are 23.
It’s a fascinating and extremely historic landscape, including silicone steps
and the Ruatapu Cave which is one of only two geothermal caves in the world.
Ruatapu Cave
We then came to the town of Turangi where at 3.05pm an
earthquake warning siren sounded three times. As we drove through we became
worried when we saw people massing on the footpaths. But then, to our great relief
we realised the town’s annual Christmas parade was in progress, featuring
colourful floats belonging to the fire brigade, police and various community
groups – and we were in the middle of it! Glad to know we weren’t about to be
evacuated we drove on to our accommodation.
We left Turangi and drove to the Lava Glass facility where
we watched the most fascinating glassblowing demonstration and toured the beautiful
sculpture garden. Then it was on to Huka Falls, where five swimming pools worth
of water cascade over the falls every minute!
Glassblowing by two master glassblowers
The beautiful glass sculpture garden at Lava Glass
Haku Falls
Next stop were the Wairakei Terraces. The Wairakei Tourist Park
comprises a golf resort and various thermal sites, and the terraces give a great
view of the adjacent massive Wairakei Power Station which uses steam from the geothermal fluid produced
naturally in its steam field to generate electricity.
Only a week to go - so much to see, so little time!
Wow! You certainly have been busy. Love the glass blowing section and going to the Hobbit Village looked amazing. Thank you for your awesome blog. :-) Thundery, hot and humid!!!!!! here...
ReplyDeletethank you very much, I loved to see the Hobbit village.
ReplyDeleteYes, the Hobbit Holes were lovely and everything is so green in NZ because of all the rain they've had. Beautiful scenery everywhere!
ReplyDelete