We started off the day in Hamilton having breakfast outside at a small bakery. Ryan enjoyed taking pictures on his phone and posting them via the free wifi:
We had about a 2 hour drive from Hamilton to Rotorua, via Matamata (pronounced: Mott-motta). On our way to Matamata we only had the directions I'd printed out via Google Maps before we left. At one point we got on a road and didn't see another road or street sign for probably 20 minutes! Gorgeous scenery, though:
And out of nowhere we stumbled across The Shire's Rest. Tours left from here regularly to go to the Lord of the Rings set (this area was "Hobbiton" in the movies). However, seeing as they were $65/person and none of us were really that into the movies we decided to just explore on our own.
A few km up the road we came across the town of Matamata ... they are proud of the fact that they are "Hobbiton":
Ryan and Gollum:
In Matamata we stocked up on maps of the country, which made the rest of the driving better! From Matamata we made our way into Rotorua ... you can smell Rotorua long before you can see it. The sulfur smell is pretty overwhelming - rotten eggs all day long!
We had about a 2 hour drive from Hamilton to Rotorua, via Matamata (pronounced: Mott-motta). On our way to Matamata we only had the directions I'd printed out via Google Maps before we left. At one point we got on a road and didn't see another road or street sign for probably 20 minutes! Gorgeous scenery, though:
And out of nowhere we stumbled across The Shire's Rest. Tours left from here regularly to go to the Lord of the Rings set (this area was "Hobbiton" in the movies). However, seeing as they were $65/person and none of us were really that into the movies we decided to just explore on our own.
A few km up the road we came across the town of Matamata ... they are proud of the fact that they are "Hobbiton":
Ryan and Gollum:
In Matamata we stocked up on maps of the country, which made the rest of the driving better! From Matamata we made our way into Rotorua ... you can smell Rotorua long before you can see it. The sulfur smell is pretty overwhelming - rotten eggs all day long!Once we got into town we drove around looking for a gluten free restaurant Dana had scouted out. She got a stuffed potato and Ryan and I checked out a NZ McDonalds (mostly 'cause it had free wifi). After lunch we went over to Lake Rotorua and did the thermal walk along the shore of Sulfur Bay.
Pretty, but kind of barren:
And VERY SMELLY!
Turns out it's not just from the sulfur deposits; the area used to be used as a landfill as well. Swell.
Bubbles!
And lots of smoke:
Then we went into town again to the park. They have some big thermal areas within a park in town. The areas around the water are all singed:
To further our afternoon entertainment, we drove about 20km out of town to some big mud pools we heard were worth checking out. Pictures do not do this justice! As silly as it sounds, we spent about 45 minutes watching mud bubble:
Splash!
Okay, maybe a video will help capture it for you ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utb0TKNtbFg
Back in town, we went to our hotel for the night: Victoria Lodge. The website boasted: "For your own exclusive enjoyment, fill a private, thermally-heated, open-air hot pool." I almost laughed out loud when the owner showed me what this hot pool was ... here's Ryan in our bathroom, ready to climb out the window into the hot pool:
A shot of the pool being filled (with thermally heated water, which was actually quite neat):
And Ryan enjoying the hot pool ... and a Mac's beer:
We went to the grocery store after checking into our hotel - we just got lunch meat and sandwich fixings for dinner - nice to have something besides PB&J on bread! Even groceries were expensive - we spent 20 minutes trying to decide what we could put on our sandwiches since buying a bottle of mustard or other condiment (only to leave it behind when we left in the morning since we didn't have a cooler) would have been pricey. Also, Ryan and I were sad to discover that a bottle of rum would cost us $60. Yes, $60. Even with the exchange rate that was pretty pricey! So we found a deal on a local beer and tried out Mac's - quite tasty! As entertaining as the smoke, bubbles, mud, and our own private hot pool were, I think we were all happy to only be in Rotorua one night ...
Pretty, but kind of barren:
And VERY SMELLY!
Turns out it's not just from the sulfur deposits; the area used to be used as a landfill as well. Swell.
Bubbles!
And lots of smoke:
Then we went into town again to the park. They have some big thermal areas within a park in town. The areas around the water are all singed:
To further our afternoon entertainment, we drove about 20km out of town to some big mud pools we heard were worth checking out. Pictures do not do this justice! As silly as it sounds, we spent about 45 minutes watching mud bubble:
Splash!
Okay, maybe a video will help capture it for you ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utb0TKNtbFg
Back in town, we went to our hotel for the night: Victoria Lodge. The website boasted: "For your own exclusive enjoyment, fill a private, thermally-heated, open-air hot pool." I almost laughed out loud when the owner showed me what this hot pool was ... here's Ryan in our bathroom, ready to climb out the window into the hot pool:
A shot of the pool being filled (with thermally heated water, which was actually quite neat):
And Ryan enjoying the hot pool ... and a Mac's beer:
We went to the grocery store after checking into our hotel - we just got lunch meat and sandwich fixings for dinner - nice to have something besides PB&J on bread! Even groceries were expensive - we spent 20 minutes trying to decide what we could put on our sandwiches since buying a bottle of mustard or other condiment (only to leave it behind when we left in the morning since we didn't have a cooler) would have been pricey. Also, Ryan and I were sad to discover that a bottle of rum would cost us $60. Yes, $60. Even with the exchange rate that was pretty pricey! So we found a deal on a local beer and tried out Mac's - quite tasty! As entertaining as the smoke, bubbles, mud, and our own private hot pool were, I think we were all happy to only be in Rotorua one night ...
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