Day 4: Rotorua to Auckland, New Zealand

Lake Rotorua

Today we said goodbye to Rotorua. On our way out, we stopped by the beautiful lake. It was a bit of a different perspective from yesterday where we were at the top of a mountain. This time we were at the bottom looking up.

We also stopped at the grocery store to pick up some snacks for the ride.  If you ever need a good laugh, just take a look at the "International" section.  The U.S. was proudly represented by PopTarts, Shredded Wheat, Cheetos, and various other random snacks.

One section of the "International" aisle.

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"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door.  You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to"  

- Bilbo Baggins, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Hobbiton

The main event today was our visit to the Hobbiton movie set. The set was originally constructed for the filming of Lord of the Rings, was torn down, and then reconstructed again for The Hobbit trilogy. I’ve been waiting for this moment for 15 years. I was 14 when I watched my first Lord of the Rings movie and have been hooked on the books and movies ever since.  I was literally vibrating with energy I was so excited!

Living my best hobbit life!

I'm going on an adventure!

We had a lovely tour of the hobbit holes and the surrounding landscape. It is just as amazing as it is in the movies!  There are some neat features of Hobbiton that really bring it to life.  The garden is real and staff tends to it on a daily basis growing vegetables.  Each of the hobbit holes are maintained to keep their lived in, but landscaped looks.  One fun fact we learned was that the tree on top of Bag End (Bilbo and Frodo's house) is fake.  In the winter, the trees lose their leaves, so to keep up the appearance of full trees, the fake one was built with each leaf wired on by hand!  You would never know unless someone pointed it out.

It was everything my 14 year old self imagined it would be! We finished our tour at the Green Dragon Inn where they have specialty ales and cider crafted exclusively for them from a local brewer. Scarlett had a ginger beer and I had cider while we munched on savory cheese scones.

Which way do I go?

I stopped by Bag End for bit.

Happiest person in the world!

I had to stop in The Green Dragon Inn for a pint!

My fabulous cider.

My savory scone by the fire.

The beautiful view right next to Hobbiton.

I could have stayed forever (I may or may not have tried), but we had to continue on our adventure back to Auckland. The drive was anything but ordinary with rolling green hills dotted with cows and sheep, mountains rising in the distance, and an endless blue sky. New Zealand is absolutely gorgeous.

Auckland

Our evening finished with an interesting walk through the city center of Auckland. One third of the country’s population resides in the city. The Asian population is higher in the city as well so there are a ton of Chinese and Korean shops and restaurants. A few blocks later came the designer stores like Gucci, Prada, and Louis Vuitton. It reminded me a lot of D.C. with the traffic and diversity.

Tomorrow morning will be our last bit in New Zealand before flying to Sydney!

The busy streets of downtown Auckland.

Our hotel in Auckland - the Kiwi International Hotel.