nz day 14: pj's and hobbiton

We had seen an aerial picture of Rotorua that really showcased the steam rising from the city.  Kristin just had to get a picture like it, so we woke up bright and early and went for a drive...in our pajamas.  We drove to the top of a nearby hill so that we could look down upon the city.  Our picture wasn't nearly as good as the aerial photo we had seen, and the steam wasn't nearly as prominent as it would have been on a cold day, but it was still a fun adventure!

Rotorua from the top of the hill...at 6am!

After our trek up the hill, we decided to stop off at the city park.  It is one unusual city park in that it's full of thermal activity!  Yes, we were still in our pajamas...

My wife woke me up early in the morning to drive her up the nearest mountain for a view of the city, and then on the way back to the hotel, coerced me into taking a detour that ended in walking around a park in my pajamas.  Thanks, Dear.

Nathan's journal entry: "We went out for breakfast at Lewisham's to try out the eggs benedict and corn cakes there.  The eggs benedict weren't as good as what we'd had in Christchurch, and the corn cakes were alright, but they were an odd conglomeration of flavors with the corn pancakes (a little bitter on their own) stacked with ham, jam, and avocado."

Eggs Benedict.  What's missing?  The hash brown layer...

Kristin's journal entry: "On our last day in Rotorua, we ate an excellent breakfast at Lewishams (with amazing hot chocolate) and walked over to a local craft fair.  We met the nicest old man who handcrafted bowls out of native swamp wood that's over 30,000 years old!  We bought some gifts and took his picture.  We checked e-mail and got gas, both of which made us a little late getting out of town."

Who wouldn't want a bowl of hot chocolate?  It really is a bowl!

The interior of Lewisham's...it was an adorable restaurant!

Nathan's journal entry: "Once we finished there, we walked over to a craft sale in a park where we found the nice old man who worked his entire career in forestry for the DOC and used those connections to get trees from the parks and carve bowls and such from them."

This great guy had plenty of stories and plenty of great wooden bowls.

Nathan's journal entry: "When we had finished there and were ready to leave, we had trouble escaping Rotorua thanks to a Christmas parade.  The Santa/Rudolph float at the end of the parade was hideous.  Rudolph was made entirely from large balloons, so it looked like his entire body was bubbled up in some kind of illness."

After Rotorua, we headed towards Matamata for a tour of Hobbiton from Lord of the Rings.

Kristin's journal entry: "We had to book it to Matamata, but the drive was beautiful.  We made it to Hobbiton just in time for our tour.  I loved Hobbiton!"

We loved these beautiful, rolling hills surrounding Hobbiton.

Nathan's journal entry: "Our next stop was Hobbiton, but we managed to get behind schedule, and the GPS said we'd arrive ten minutes after the tour started.  I somehow managed to arrive one minute early, and the total drive time was right at one hour." 

Unfortunately, we can't show you any of the many amazing photos we took at Hobbiton.  Why?

This is the closest you get to Hobbiton.

If you want to get an idea of what we saw, check out this video...

After the tour of the movie set, we got to feed some baby lambs!  It is a working sheep farm, after all.

Nathan's journal entry: "After Hobbiton, we drove to Waitomo to the Abseil Inn.  First, Waitomo can hardly be called a town.  There is a really fancy restaurant (supposedly on some top 100 list) with a visitor/gift shop as a front, a museum, pub, Morepork pizza place, and a bigger visitor center.  I would not have recognized it as a town if we hadn't been staying there."

Kristin's journal entry: "We drove up to Waitomo after leaving Matamata and made it to the Abseil Inn.  That was a neat place.  It was built so that their B&B rooms were separate from their personal home.  We stayed in the 'cave' room and had our own bathroom.  The town has few dining options, so we ate a bad dinner at the local tavern and then chilled out at the inn.  We met some nice people there.  We really enjoyed some guests from Australia and had good conversation with them about holidays and traditions.  The next morning we met the other guests, two of whom were from California."

These were just some neat rock cliffs separating the fields from the hills.

The "Cave" room...

Nathan's journal entry: "The Abseil Inn had one of the steepest driveways I've ever seen and hardly any parking, but it was a really nice place to stay.  Each room had its own shower and bathroom, the owners lived in a separate portion of the house and could be buzzed anytime, and they cooked a pretty nice breakfast.  And, we got some good conversation with the other three couples sitting around the table at breakfast.  Plus, they had probably ten different types of honey from all regions of New Zealand, and they could tell us the differences in flavors of all of them."