The bus from Taupo only takes 1 hour to make the journey and drops off in the city centre, about 10mins walk to the YHA, but be prepared for being in a mini-bus with trailer.
Rotarua is am active geothermal zone directly on part of the Pacific ‘Ring of fire’ and as such it has an abundance of hot springs and its own geothermal power plant. It is quite something to see steam rising up from the ground all around town ;) Still, that it not why I am here - I am here as a tourist to see Hobbiton…
Hobbiton is a ½ day fully guided tour from Rotarua ($99) which runs both morning and afternoon (I booked a ticket the minute I arrived for that afternoon and was waiting for the pick up just 2 hours later frothing with excitement!!)… As the site is an active film set for the new Hobbit movie I had to sign a legal document, which prohibits me from saying anything specific about the site or repeating anything I heard on the tour or showing any photo’s… If you want to see the site you are going to have to visit (and you can come in costume!! - Only if you really want to (I didn’t… but only because I could not afford the Hobbit’s Elven Cloaks for sale in the café) The guides are both entertaining and knowledgeable really bringing the whole site to life and completing the whole experience :) Thank you...
Suffice to say - the tour was Awesome… I mean AWESOME… up there in the same league as Rhino’s (The hamsters) opinion on ‘Bolt’ (in the movie of the same name if your lost here!!)… If you are in New Zealand and don’t do this tour then you have missed out, it is something beyond words…
A W E S O M E…
AA WW EE SS OO MM EE !!!!I was smiling the whole time I was there and got to meet the Uruki berserker who blew up Helms Deep!! He was our driver :) Fantastic…
To end the tour you get a lovely hot meat pie, huge biscuit and coffee/tea (no veggie option except extra biscuit). You also get to view a real life sheep shearing - and for the kids the chance to bottle feed some young lambs. All in all one of the best tours I have ever been on, if not the best :)