New Zealand North Island

We flew into Auckland on Singapore Airlines, and then connected to Air New Zealand flight to Rotorua. The flight and the service on both Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand was very good. Once again, we chose the Premium Economy bulkhead seats on Singapore Airlines which gave us the freedom to get up without restriction. I suggest doing that if you are not flying business class.

Bulk Head Seats on Singapore Airlines

New Zealand is comprised of two distinct islands with different climatic conditions and geography. The North Island is hilly and temperate. The South Island is more mountainous and has a different geography and climate than the North island. It has the Southern Alps, fjords like Milford Sound, Doubtful St. The traditional Māori first landed on the North Island and then moved to the South Island. If you want to see the Māori traditional ceremonies, go to Rotorua. This blog features Rotorua, as it is the town with a lot of exciting things to do.

Rotorua, New Zealand

Rotorua is close to the center of the North island and falls in the Taupō Volcanic Zone. It is renowned for its Geothermal pools, tall redwood forest, glow worn caves, and is the perfect location to witness traditional Māori culture. Each one of these activities are different and exciting. In summer the town gets lots of visitors so it is essential that you do your hotel booking early.

Rotorua has many types of accommodations ranging from top level hotels, B&B, motels etc. If you plan to travel there during Summer, book early to get your desired accommodation. We stayed at the Novotel Rotorua Lakeside which is conveniently located close to shops and restraunts.

Novotel Rotorua

Directly in front of this hotel is the famous "Eat Street" which is a cluster of great bars and restraunts. It is very lively at all times and the ideal place to have dinner after your excursions.

Eat Street

Summer is the peak tourist season so plan in advance and make your booking for each of the attractions ahead of time. Each of the attractions have great, informative websites and they make it a point to answer any question by email within 24 hours. We made our bookings four months in advance. The following was our itinerary for the four days in Rotorua.

Day 1

Rotorua Ultimate Canopy tour

This ziplining tour is worth every penny and is about 3 hrs. long. The guides are extremely well trained and knowledgeable in the flora and fauna in the forest. The Canopy Tour company picked us up from the hotel and took us to where the tour begins by fitting you up with harnesses which are quite heavy. You must be in good physical shape to take this tour, as it involves a lot of walking and climbing.

A walk of about one Kilometer to starting point

A Spiral Stair climb to starting point

The initial walk to the first jump off point is long and you get a lot of information about the flora and fauna from the guides. The jungle is thick and the paths are narrow. You begin by climbing up a 100 year old Miro tree on a spiral staircase. Once you get to the first station you begin the 1.2 Km ride of ziplines!

Long climb up to zipline platform

The entire course consists numerous Ziplining stations, suspended bridges and climbing steep paths to get to the next station. They do take breaks during the course and explain the geography of the area and get into the nature conservation that the government has instituted. The one thing which is a blessing, is that there are no reptiles in New Zealand. They are very strict about monitoring all visitors coming in, and they thoroughly check the "Australian" tourists. The only pests they have are the Bats and the Rats (brought in by the British on their ships many years ago). There is a big effort to get rid of the Rats. Checkout the YouTube link below:

Ready for our first zipline

Multiple swing bridges

Cantilevered walkway

Redwood Night safari

That same evening, we took the Night Safari walking tour. This tour is in the Redwood forest climbing up to a string of walkways for a night light tour. This excursion is high up in the Redwood forest, but this time it was a spectacular light show set up. There were a lot of swing bridges between trees with a lot of lighting and special effects. Well worth it.

Red Wood Night Safari Photos

Please click on the link below for videos on both parks

Rotorua Ultimate canopy tour and Redwood Forest

Day 2

WAI -O -TAPU Geothermal Wonderland

Geyser

Wai-O-tapu (Māori for "sacred waters") is an active geothermal area at the southern end of the Oka Tiana volcanic center, just north of the Reporoa caldera. Due to dramatic geothermal conditions beneath the earth, the area has many hot Springs, which are famous for their colorful appearance. If you are visiting New Zealand, you must visit the Wai-O-Tapu Scenic Reserve, which is located close to the town of Rotorua. This is the perfect place to witness the eruption of a geyser, be mesmerized by the colorful pools and bubbling mud pools.

At the entrance of the reserve you will find Visitor center. This houses the rest rooms, a gift shop, the café and an information center with the tour maps . The staff is very knowledgeable and helpful, so make full use of their guidance. I recommend using the restrooms before embarking on the tour as there are none in the park. Do not forget to carry a bottle of water to keep hydrated and use sun screen. The sun rays in the southern hemisphere can be harsh.

Entrance to Park

The tour is self guided and has three routes which vary from 1km to 3km. depending on how much time and territory you want to cover. I recommend taking the full tour as this a once in a lifetime experience.

The tour path is well marked with lots of directional information. You follow a clockwise path to keep the traffic moving and organized. As you begin the tour, your first two stops are by the features called Rainbow Crater and Thunder Crater. A description of the craters is given below.

(station 2 Rainbow crater)

You can see the steam from the underground water system. This erodes the ground causing the craters.

(Station 2 Rainbow crater)

The oxidized minerals are deposited on the sides of

the craters.

At Station 4, you start coming across the "mud

pools". The one interesting fact described in the sign is that the mud pools contained crude oil.

Unfortunately not in quantities enough to

make it commercially viable.

The mud pool is an acidic hot spring, with limited water. The acid and microorganism decompose the rock into clay and create the mud. This mud pool is aptly called the Devil's inkpot.

As you walk towards Stations 5 and 6 you come across the area called 'Artists palette and Champagne Pool" . The name Champagne Pool is derived from the constant efflux of carbon dioxide gas, similar to a glass of bubbling champagne. The vibrant colors come from a rich deposition of minerals and silicate. The silicate structures around the edge of the pool is teeming with microbial life. The informational signs posted give you details of the pool and the palette. The colors are vibrant and the whole view is awe inspiring. The overflowing water from the Champagne pool brings with it minerals that have originated deep below the surface.

As the waters cool, it evaporates, exposing minerals that provide the showcase of colors. This area never looks the same two days in a row, changing depending on sunlight, water level and wind direction.

viewed from one vantage point the pool looks bright lemon color.

Viewed from a different position the red colors

show up .

From this angle you are able to see the Yellow and Red colors. This is entirely dependent on the mineral interaction, the combination of location and sun position.

The embankment surrounding the pool has a long and violent history having been created by a huge eruption about 1800 years ago.

This crater is by far the the most fascinating item on the tour. This pool as you can see from the photo has a singular consistent color. The color changes on a sunny or cloudy day. During my visit it was sunny and the color was green. The water is calm and absolutely still, creating the illusion of being a green glass top.

Here is the video of the whole park:

https://youtu.be/aiptU8Tga18

This tour will take up most of your morning so you can take some rest in the afternoon and take the evening Maori Village tour:

Te Pa Tu Māori Village tour

The visit to Rotorua is incomplete if you don’t experience the life and culture of the original people of New Zealand – The Māori. There are a couple of different tour venues and the one we took was called the Te Pa Tu . The show is in the evening, and it is about 20 minutes away from Rotorua. The show begins with the typical Māori “greeting” ceremony which looks very hostile but not without reason. Māori warriors approach the person/persons who have landed on their shores with threatening moves. Once they find out that the newcomers are not hostile, they exchange “fern” leaves and rub noses as part of their acceptance to land on shore.

The tour then takes you on a tour showing you the way of the Māori people lived in their villages utilizing the abundance of natural fruits, meats and vegetables in their daily cooking. The village life was simple, calm and productive. The tour ended Traditional Māori dance, or kapa haka, which is a powerful expression of cultural identity, unity and heritage, featuring vocal chants, vigorous movements and fierce facial expressions.

The video link below will show the opening ceremony, tribal games, the method of cooking “Hangi”, followed by their tribal dance ceremony and then a wonderful dinner.

Video of the Māori traditions:

https://youtu.be/DiKGwFEEQkM

Day 3

Spellbound Glowworm Caves

Another geologic feature of the Rotorua area is the underground caverns featuring areas of glow worms, stalactites and stalagmites. The one we went to is about two hours away from Rotorua. We hired a private tour guide who was an ethnic Māori married to a white New Zealand woman. He was very talkative and an entertaining guide. Once he saw we were not "Whites" he opened about how he prides himself over the whites. Let’s just say we bonded very well. You walk down into a cavern where the guide leads you to a boat. It is a steep trek down to the caves and you cross a stream with some eels in it.

Hardhats with lamps are provided as it gets very dark down there. It is absolutely pitch dark in the stream area, and one just hopes the boat driver knows where he is going as you hear a waterfall nearby! He does!

Glowworm Larvae

Glowworms in the cavern

Inside the Glowworm cave

The views are fantastic. In the first photo you see the hanging larvae and in the subsequent photos you see the view of the glowworms clinging to the roof and then the stalactites

Opening to the outside from the caves

Stalactites

Outside the glowworm Cave area

Day 4

Hobbiton

Lord of the Rings movie set

When the Lord of the Rings movies were released to the public in early 2000, they were an instant hit with the viewers and became the highest grossing films of all times. The movies were based on the epic written by J.R.R. Tolkien and contained Wizards, Hobbits, long battle scenes and above all, magnificent vistas of New Zealand such as the one below.

Besides making me a fan of the series, I was captivated by the natural beauty of New Zealand and was determined to visit the country and the movie set. The movie set is located in Matamata, which is about 70 KM from Rotorua. You can book one of the many tours on the official website at the link below.

Back story of the Movie set:

As with any movie production there is always a fascinating back story and here is the one regarding the Hobbiton movie set. Peter Jackson (the director) was scouting locations for the Shire and the village. His location scouts came across the Alexander Farm in Waikato region. The farm captured the description from the book of rolling hills, lush green pastures, a large tree, pond and grazing sheep. The Alexanders had not heard of Peter Jackson, so the first time that Jackson tried to talk to them about leasing his farm, he was told to go away as there a rugby match going on TV! Not deterred, Jackson came back and convinced the farmer to let him build the set on his land. After he had received a skeptical approval, the next big task was to build the set.

Alexander farm

Jackson convinced the New Zealand government that the movies will bring the attention of the world on to New Zealand and that this would be good for the tourism industry of the country. He asked for government funding for the construction but was instead offered the assistance of the New Zealand army to move dirt and build the hobbit holes. Jackson repaid this favor by hiring soldiers as extras in the battle scenes.

When the Lord of the Rings trilogy had finished filming, the sets were removed as promised. However, the farmer started to get a lot of tourists visiting his farm expecting to find the Hobbiton village. This was obviously annoying but helped spark an idea that was profitable for all later. Due to the success of the first series, Jackson received funding to film the prequel called "Hobbit". In order to film the "Hobbit" he would have to recreate the village with the hobbit holes again. This time he went back to the farmer and struck a deal with him that paid off big time for both. Jackson would now build more permanent structures in the Hobbiton and when the filming was done, they would open up the village up as a tourist destination. This partnership has worked well for everyone. The maintenance of the park is well funded by ticket sales. a Win-Win for all including the tourists.

The Village Tour

You begin the tour at the main tour gateway a few miles away from the actual site. This is where you can buy tickets, get some snacks, and of course walk through the "gift" shop. From the gateway you are bussed in by the "Hobbiton" crew. They give you the detailed narrative of how and why the farm was selected and used for the movies shoot. There is no doubt that the local economy got a big boost because of this tourist destination.

Once you arrive at Hobbiton, the guides walk you down to the village to begin the tour. You are given a very detailed description on how the village was cleverly designed and constructed. The hobbits were little people whereas Gandalf was very tall. To tackle the problem of scaling without having to rely on CGI all the time, some of the Hobbit holes were scaled down while the others were the normal size

The Hobbit holes are very distinctive in their design, being based on rabbit holes. They

were first constructed out of plywood and styro-foam but then changed to more permanent structures. The level of detail in the landscaping and design is remarkable. The gardens have flowers, weeds, furniture, fruit trees and other plantings to give the impression that they are actually real. Sheep were brought in for grazing on the slopes.

Normal sized Hobbit house

Small scale Hobbit house

The Photos above show you how the scaling was was used to film shots between Hobbits and Gandalf.

The design of the homes was done with meticulous care to give you the illusion that it was being lived in. Minute details like toys were strewn in the front yard as if some children had just played there.

The tour path takes you by the the house that belonged to Bilbo Baggins who is the main character of the "Hobbit" series. The oak tree just above this house is entirely artificial. The trunk and branches are fiberglass and the leaves made of hand painted silk. The thousands of leaves were installed manually and if they lost color, the leaves are repainted again by hand.

House of Bilbo Baggins

Washing prop

This prop of the washing is an example of the kind of detail that the designers included in the set.

Smoke from fake Chimney

There are chimneys that have smoke billowing out of them to make it look like there is someone living in the hobbit hole.

Carpenter's home

This photo depicts a carpenter's house. The tools including some of the wood shavings give you the illusion that the occupant is working on something and just went inside for a drink. This is another example of how the set was made to look like a lived-in authentic village

Apple tree

As described above these fruit trees were planted as part of the set. As you wind your way through the village you get an idea of what an enormous task it is to maintain the place, especially as throngs of tourists go through it seven days a week. To do this there is a crew of multiple trades maintaining the village. These range from gardeners, carpenters, electricians etc. They are unobtrusive but can be observed doing their daily chores. Making this village look clean, lived in is a full-time job for them and they love it.

At the center of the village is the "Party " tree which is a real tree unlike the Oak. This is the tree where the party was held for Bilbo Baggins farewell ceremony.

In the movie the tree was lit up by lanterns and there was a lot of partying that took place that night.

The tour path is designed to take you down to the Green Dragon inn where you can buy some green Ale. If you take the evening banquet tour, you are given a guided tour along with a feast. The village is lit up at night and is quite a sight to see.

Green Dragon Inn

Enjoy the green Ale in the Inn

I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog and hope that it motivates you to visit the place.

Please visit my you tube page at for a video tour of the Hobbiton.

Hobbiton

At the end of the four days in Rotorua it was time to head back home and the last stop was a day in Auckland.

AUCKLAND

Auckland is a nice clean metropolis and a good gateway for flying into New Zealand. We spent a day in Auckland and went up to the top of the Sky Tower, where you can get great views of the entire city. The AJ Hackett company has established Bungy jumping activity from top of the tower. If you are not planning to go to Queenstown, on the south island, you must try this activity!

SKY TOWER

View of Downtown Auckland

We then took a boat trip to Waiheke island which is about an hour away from Auckland. On a clear sunny day it is a great boat ride and you get some great views of the City and the island.

Once you reach Ferry terminal there are public busses that take you around the island and into town. Buses 50Aor 50B do a complete a round trip of the island. It also stops at some vineyard locations which is very convenient. We took the round trip and then got down at the market place on Ocean view road to walk around and have lunch. There is also a path to walk down to the beach.