Sabbatical #05: Rotorua Lakes

“When in doubt, follow your nose.”

― The Lord of the Rings

As a Lord of the Rings fan, visiting Hobbiton was non-negotiable. Everything was booked out for February, and I was almost considering changing my trip route. Fortunately, there were some external provider tickets left, incl. a bus transfer. This led me to the interesting city of Rotorua.

Hobbiton

Hobbiton was the village of our favorite hobbits from the Tolkien world. After the filming of The Lord of the Rings had finished, the temporary movie set near Matamata has been disassembled. Hobbiton was later completely rebuilt for The Hobbit, and knowing the potential, it was turned into a tourist magnet.

As already mentioned, I have booked the tour with a bus transfer, and it was absolutely worth it. Our bus driver, Ngata, provided an entertaining, engaging and informative environment during the entire trip. I've learned a lot about the history of New Zealand, the Māori culture, but also the "sweet as" Kiwi phrase (which means something like "alright").

Another sunny day in New Zealand really brought out the green color of The Shire. Umbrellas were provided as a shield against the harsh sun, and having learned my lesson, I gladly took one.

To make Hobbiton as "real" as possible, much of the things you can see is real. For example, the honey jars contain actual honey collected within the village.

What makes Hobbiton come alive are all the cute hobbit houses. While the doors can be opened in theory, the houses are usually empty inside.

The only exception are two houses on Bagshot Row, which offer a way to explore the interior of a hobbit's home. Our guide emphasized that it's not a museum, so we were encouraged to feel at home, e.g., lie in the tiny beds.

Fun fact for all the movie nerds out there: I did bump my head on the ceiling unintentionally, but not as hard as Sir Ian McKellen.

The tour ended with an ale from The Green Dragon Inn (noticeably altering my state, as I rarely drink alcohol 🥴) and a buffet lunch inside The Party Marquee. I joined a family from the US, and I learned from the mom about a Lord of the Rings movie location tour on the south island. I guess my journey through Middle-Earth doesn't end here!

Exploration

While Hobbiton was my main thing to visit, there's just so much more to do and see around Rotorua.

The Māori culture is omnipresent in the city.

I love how even the smallest towns have beautiful murals on their buildings. It's rare to see graffiti vandalism in New Zealand.

The city itself is known for geothermal activity, incl. geysers. The hydrogen sulphide gas gives Rotorua its "rotten egg" smell. It's bearable and you kind of get used to it, but I wouldn't like to live there.

You can visit the Kuirau Park in the middle of Rotorua for free, which gives you a first glimpse into the impressive natural spectacle.

Those pools can reach 100 °C, so you will find warnings everywhere.

For an even better experience, there are more geothermal attractions in the area. I decided to go to Wai-O-Tapu, one of the more popular spots.

The Whakarewarewa forest (also called Redwoods) is a great place for a hike, offering routes of all lengths. The name comes from the Californian Coast Redwoods, one of the tallest and longest-living trees on Earth. It is indeed a little bit intimidating and definitely worth a visit.

Maunga Kākaramea (Rainbow Mountain) was slightly disappointing, but it probably looks better during sunshine.

I did a hike around the Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) and Lake Rotokakahi (Green Lake). Kiwis are definitely not the most creative with namings. It was nice, but the missing sunshine didn't bring out any of the promised colors.

While the Blue Spring in Putāruru is technically not part of Rotorua Lakes, it is one of the most popular day trips. The reason is that it has some of the purest water in the world. The source supplies around 70% of New Zealand's bottled water.

Experiences

Rotorua offers many interesting activities to choose from. Despite all the exciting offerings, I have mostly focused on nature and socializing. Except for the highest commercial rafting drop of 7 meters, I do not regret that decision.

Fauna

Let's start with the Eurasian chaffinch, which — as the name suggests — is a species that has been introduced to New Zealand.

Another introduced species is the song thrush.

The welcome swallow seems to be common in Rotorua. It is native to Australia and believed to have flown to New Zealand in the twentieth century.

I've seen some black swans along the way.

The Australasian swamphen (also known as pūkeko) can be found everywhere, incl. city parks.

The pied stilt didn't care about the high temperature of the hot pools.

The New Zealand scaup was the only (new) endemic species I have spotted. They're called "Maoriente" (Māori duck) in German.

I can't identify those parrots, but I did catch them in-flight after listening to their songs for a while.

At Hobbiton, I've seen some butterflies, which I believe to be the Monarch species.

Takeaways

Because of its central location, Rotorua is a hub for backpackers. Most of them are traveling by bus, so the demand for people with cars is high to get to some remote spots. I've planned a day trip and asked around if anyone would like to join me. Two people happily did, and we even picked up another person during the trip. While I do love solo traveling, spending the day with other people really made my day.

Fun fact: Because of my jet lag, I've been waking up between 5 and 7 am, so I didn't set up my alarm clock. Well, my body finally took what it needed and I slept for 10 hours, missing our agreed schedule. It still did work out in the end, though.