After the cloudy, rainy weather of Auckland we were finally treated to a beautiful sunny day in Tauranga. It was also our first excursion stop as we had booked a guided tour to Hobbiton, which is the actual movie set used for filming of The Shire scenes for the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies. We had an hour guided bus ride from our boat, with our driver explaining interesting stories and facts that I paid no attention to as I was focused on his terrible driving and hoping he wouldn't drive us off a cliff. Thankfully we made it safely, picked up a hobbit tour guide, and ventured into The Shire.
I think the best word to describe Hobbiton is adorable. There are 40 something hobbit-holes built in these beautiful rolling green hills, and with the blue skies and fluffy white clouds it was like being in a postcard.
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| thousands of people visit Hobbiton every day. |
Sadly most of the hobbit-holes are simply props, as in they have doors and windows and chimneys but the doors don't open or go anywhere (or so they say). However the detail present in each home and little garden area was incredible. They had everything from hobbit clothes hung out to dry, to actual smoking chimneys, candles and books in windows, hobbit-sized tools, and of course beautifully decorated round doors. It was very impressive and as our guide explained, just one of the many examples of how much Peter Jackson valued small details and the appearance of authenticity in his portrayal of Hobbiton.
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| Hobbit holes! |
Fortunately, they did have a few full-scale model hobbit-holes, and I was even able to go inside one! Bag End, the home of Bilbo and Frodo, was also a full-scale model, but no admittance was permitted (except on party business).
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| Bag End! |
My favourite part of Hobbiton would have to be The Green Dragon Inn, which was a full-scale working pub. The pub was full of little hand written notes advertising things for sale and upcoming events for Hobbits, and the interior was decorated with beautiful round archways and included a guest book signed by most of the Hobbit stars. As part of our tour, we were given a mug of ale and some lembas bread (i.e. coffee cakes), which was a perfect way to cap off our time in Hobbiton.
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| inside the Green Dragon |
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| viewing the guest book. |
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| cheers! |
After a visit to The Shire, Candice and I decided that our afternoon would be best served by summiting Mount Doom. However, Mount Doom was a few hours drive away from Tauranga, but fortunately they had another beautiful mountain we could summit, Mount Maunganui, or Mauao as it is known by the Maori people.
Mauao is a 761 feet high extinct volcano, which sounds unimpressive for those of us used to the heights of the Cascade range, but the fact that the rest of the surrounding area is virtually flat and that the volcano is situated on the edge of the Bay of Plenty and Pacific Ocean make it quite the striking feature. The climb was short but very steep, and the views from the top are spectacular. We could see 360 degrees out over the ocean, the Bay of Plenty, and to the distant Kaimai Range.
There were also some hang gliders at the summit soaring over the ocean, seemingly endlessly as whenever they would drop down a bit, they would catch a warm air current that would push them back up. It reminded us a bit of Poo Poo Point in Issaquah, though the views were more expansive and in all directions from the summit of Mauao.
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| the summit! |
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| view of the cruise ship from Mauao |
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| we saw lots of sheep on our descent. here's a close-up of one. |
Our entire day in Tauranga was exceptional, and by far our favorite stop of the cruise. Seeing Hobbiton was my personal highlight, but combined with our hike up Mauao and the excellent weather, it made this day one of the highlights of the year.
BK
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| our view as we sailed away from Tauranga. |
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