Australia, Day 12

Hobbiton, Hobbiton, Hobbiton, It's where I wanna be! Today was our last day on the tour, but we got to finish strong with a visit to the Hobbiton movie set. It was a 1 hour journey by bus to get there, but we got to watch behind the scenes clips from the movie on the drive. It helped pass some time and get the excitement level up. Other than being a tad chilly, the weather was perfect (as it's been everyday of this tour). It was a pretty structured tour, so not much wandering off on your own, but it did take us past all the different hobbit holes, stopping for a while at Frodo and Bilbo's house and ending up at the Green Dragon. Plenty of time for pictures... and we took a lot. It was interesting to learn that the original styrofoam set had almost been completely torn down after the LOTR films. Even so, it was still popular as a tourist location. When it was time for the Hobbit movies, they rebuilt it with solid building materials keeping future tourism in mind.

 

 

 

 

After Hobbiton, we boarded a bus for Hell's Gate Geothermal Park. It was pretty much just a spa with a natural mud bath and sulfur hot tub. It didn't smell too good. Me and Joe probably shoulda passed on this one, but the girls seemed to enjoy it. 

 

We continued our learning about the geothermal activity in Rotorua by visiting the Tewhakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao Geothermal Village... or "Whaka" for short. We learned more about the Maori culture and got to see some hot springs. Some of them were hotter than boiling point so they were fenced off. They use the springs for cooking and bathing, it's an endless supply of free hot water! There were also some geysers, but none of them went off while we were there.

 

Tomorrow I lead the troops home while Rachel and Joe head off for more adventure. Unfortunately, they have to be in Auckland early in the morning for their flight. It's 3 hours away so they will be leaving around 1:30AM. Our flight is in the afternoon, so I get to sleep in a little (til 7:45 or so) and then we head home. Really not looking forward to the flight but will nice to be home!