Return To Rotorua, 2018

Our British friends Chris and Hilary, who led ("escorted") the southern Africa tour we did last fall, are in New Zealand, on yet another Worldwide Motorhome Holidays tour, and we were able to get together for drinks back in Rotorua where they were camped. After a pleasant evening in motorhome-friendly Matamata, we drove an hour back to Rotorooter and scored one of the three free campsites right on the lake (heated, of course).

Lakefront action

Under an immense fogbow

Even the crew were amazed

En route to Chris and Hilary's campground, we walked through
the Ohinemutu Maori village, pretty much unchanged since 2014

Our Lady of the Fumaroles

 

Note above-ground grave sites; also heated

Water feature (gaseous state), residential area

No water heater? No problem!

 

Waiting for Chris and Hilary's meeting to end, we watched the
local rugby club practice; this is how you block opponents' kicks
in rugby

We had such a good time talking about Africa and New Zealand,
I completely forgot to snap any pix of them or us; the above is
from Senyati, Botswana last autumn, one of our innumerable and
always delightful braai; Hilary is the blonde blur, Chris just to her
right; great to see them again

Hobbiton, 2018, 2

It is a place of amazement, even if you are not into this stuff. The most amazing thing is that, according to our guide--and it was certainly true of our group--a full 40% of Hobbiton visitors, mostly international tourists, have not read the books nor seen any of the movies. Evidently, he speculated, these people are either a) dragged along by friends or relatives, or b) are visiting merely to impress their more literate friends or relatives. Every ten minutes a different bus from the Shire's Rest arrives to begin the two-hour tour--Disney would be impressed--and there are luncheon tours and dinner/candlelight tours available for big bucks. We looked into the dinner tour but found it was booked several months ahead, and they were already taking Christmas reservations. Amazing.

Bag End

"The road goes ever on and on/Down from the door where it began..."

Every now and then, a possibly inadvertent reminder that this
is Holly-/Wellywood

Sam's house

The Gaffer's (?)

At the Green Dragon

The party tent, where they do luncheons, dinners, and special
events...weddings, etc. (the themed weddings are said to be
spectacular); Vicki says the dinners are at the Green Dragon

As we ride back on the bus to Shire's Rest, Sir Pete thanks us
on video for visiting; he owns 50% of the profits...

Hobbiton, 2018, 1

We visited Hobbiton in 2008, when it was still in its neo-natal state from LOTR, and again in 2014, after it had been rebuilt for The Hobbit. And preserved for posterity. (Several posts: http://roadeveron.blogspot.co.nz/2014/03/hobbiton-1.html, http://roadeveron.blogspot.co.nz/2014/03/matamatahobbiton.html, http://roadeveron.blogspot.co.nz/2014/03/green-dragon-hobbiton.html). Confirmed Ringwaifs that we are, we could not miss seeing it once more. And taking more pix. Apologies for duplicates. At least they permit comparisons...about Hobbiton and about my psyche.

It's end of summer here, yet everything is still in fullest bloom,
fruit ripening everywhere...

There currently are 44 hobbit-holes--facades--in Hobbiton

Every attempt to make it look a lived-in place

Smoked fish

While the guide is not looking, Vicki enjoys a juicy ripe
raspberry

Every now and then you can look up at the gorgeous countryside
and remind yourself this is still a working farm, with 6,000
sheep, twice that number during lambing

But also a movie set

Tear-down; probably to become a hobbit high-rise or hotel

Us at the baker's hole

Looking across the lake to the Green Dragon

Waitomo Glow-Worm Caves

Vicki wanted to see the internationally famous glow worm caves at Waitomo, and so, while I blogged on the free wifi at the cafe, she did the tour. Alas, no fotos were permitted (the glow worms apparently are Italian), but she said the tour was "good." See illustration.