Wordless Wednesday : View over Rings Beach

Rings Beach, Koautunu, Whitianga

Destination : Rotorua

Rotorua Trip - April 2011

Rotorua, home to the most active geothermal activity in New Zealand, has a lot to offer. From bursting geyser to hot mineral spa pools to adrenaline-pumping activities, Rotorua delivers it all. Remember though that you're in an active geothermal area and sulphur smell constantly hangs in the air, even in the city centre ( a friend of ours described the smell as something like rotten eggs ). Most of the time we don't find them annoying, except a few times when we got closer to the bubbling hot mud pools or Lake Rotorua, where the smell grew stronger. But forget the sulphur smell, Rotorua is a great place for a holiday.

Getting There & Getting Around

Rotorua can easily be reached by car, coach or airplane. We don't have a car so cross off the first choice. Airplane will definitely cost more and the airport is quite far from downtown. So we chose to travel by coach ( found a good deal at InterCity ), departing from Sky City which is just 15 minutes by foot from our place downtown. 4 hours later the coach dropped us off at Tourism Rotorua / i-Site which is at downtown Rotorua, a great place to start our journey.

Being a small town, almost everything is within walking distance from downtown. Lines of restaurant on Tutanekai St, shopping district along Tutanekai St and Hinemoa St, and lots of touristy spots can be easily reached by foot. If it's too far to walk, you can always take the bus, reasonably priced at NZD 7.2 for a day pass ticket. However, note that the bus service doesn't run on public holidays!

The Accommodation

Whether you're looking for budget backpacker hostel or a five-star hotel, Rotorua will not disappoint. There is quite a wide selection of accommodation in Rotorua, you're guaranteed to find your budget and needs.

During our trip to, we stayed at Planet Backpacker, a small backpacker hotel perfectly situated just across i-Site. We paid a very decent price, NZD 55 per night for a private room. The room looked old but quite decent. Beggars can't be choosers. Besides, we preferred to spend the money for other things, such as tours.

i-Site, Tourism Rotorua

i-Site is a must visit for anyone visiting Rotorua. They not only offer useful visitor information, they also help visitors with tour bookings. It is housed in what was once Rotorua Post Office, a large and pretty historical building ~ there goes another reason why you should visit i-Site.

Day 1

Kuirau Park

Within walking distance from the city centre, there's a nice public park with numerous walking tracks leading to hissing and bubbling pools and mud pools. It's not only a nice place to walk around and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the lake, but also a great place to relive your childhood memories at the kids' playground and check out the steaming geothermal activity without having to pay a cent!

Rotorua Museum

Situated right in the middle of Government Garden, Rotorua Museum is one of the many attractions within walking distance from the city centre. It is housed in a pretty Elizabethan-style old bath house. Rotorua Museum offers insights to history of Rotorua, the eruption of Mount Tararewa, and the bath house. I like how everything is told in a short movie, which includes an interactive earthquake "simulation". A lot easier and more fun to take them all in compared to having to explore the exhibits and displays throughout the museum.

Entrance ticket costs NZD 25 each, which I think is quite expensive for a trip to a museum, especially when the whole south wing was closed down for renovation, and the viewing platform was not accessible because of the bad weather. Anyway, I think it looks prettier from the outside, and you can enjoy that for free!

Tips for anyone wanting to visit this place? Go through one of those booklets you can find at i-Site for a 10% discount voucher!

Government Gardens

Government Gardens housed not only Rotorua Museum but also Blue Bath, the historic bath house which also offers cabaret dinner, Rachel Pool, one of the springs supplying alkaline water to Blue Bath and Polynesian Spa, and my personal favorite, Klamath Falls Rose Garden. Aside from all of the above, you can also people-watch at the numerous lawn bowling fields across the garden.

Day 2

Te Puia

The main attraction in Te Puia is the world famous Pohutu Geyser, which is still very much active, erupting up to 30 metres high every 30 minutes or so. I didn't think that it would be that interesting, but I was surprised to find myself enjoying walking around the geyser areas, watching Maori performances, and taking in the beautiful scenery of the thermal valley.

Entrance fee is NZD 43, but we got ourselves some vouchers from Rotorua Hot Deals which saved us some money for all the attractions we went to that day. It was still pretty expensive, but it was a nice experience.

Skyline

A gondola ride up to the mountain while taking in the beautiful scenery of the lake, the city and the surroundings? Sounds magnificent, right? But we went on the wrong day, the weather was not friendly, it was rainy and foggy we couldn't really enjoy the view, and the ride was very short. In my opinion, it was nothing comparable to the gondola ride in Genting Highlands, Malaysia. The only bright side of Skyline was that we could have the gondola all to ourselves. No one would talk you into sharing the gondola with other visitors, everyone stood in the queue patiently while waiting for a gondola, even when the line was long, we still didn't need to share the ride with some strangers. Nice, but still didn't worth NZD 25 we had to pay. We should've waited until the next day when it was bright and sunny!

Upon arriving at the top, you could opt for a buffet lunch, a cup of hot chocolates or coffee with chips on the side at the cafe, luge ride, or go for a 4D experience at Skyvue. We opted for the last. Skyvue cost us NZD 12 each, and again I was disappointed to find myself sitting inside a small UFO-shaped theater and watching a nauseating 3D movie with no storyline. Luge ride should've been a lot more fun. Afterwards we went to the jam-packed cafe and got ourselves a small cup of potato wedges, which was probably the only thing decent during our whole Skyline experience.

Polynesian Spa

There is nothing like ending the day with soaking your sore muscle in thermal hot pools while taking in the stunning view of Lake Rotorua. The weather may be cool but that's what makes jumping into the pools even more tempting. We got ourselves some tickets to enter Adult Pools and Priests Spa which features hot pools loaded with alkaline water supplied from two natural springs. Each pool has different temperatures between 38 to 42 degrees Celcius. Every pool overlooks Lake Rotorua with some providing a slightly better, unobstructed view to the lake. Best enjoyed with your loved ones. And some even say that the silica water promises youthful complexion. Hmmm..

Day 3

Hobbiton

Shire, Hobbiton is the only place where you can indulge on the picturesque setting of the movie trilogy, Lord of the Rings. And the upcoming The Hobbit!

We didn't plan to visit Hobbiton on the first place, but it was one of those spur-of-the-moment decisions which we didn't regret. In fact, it became the highlight of our trip!

Lake Rotorua

Upon returning from Hobbiton, we made our way to Lake Rotorua, the second largest lake in North Island, situated just behind Rotorua Museum and Government Gardens. A peaceful-looking lake with walking tracks circling it ( or at least we assumed it circles the lake, we didn't walk all the way through! ). Lake Rotorua has a high sulphur content and the closer you get to it, the stronger the smell. However, the sulphur content gives the lake a beautiful yellowish-green hue.

Day 4

A walk around the city

It was Easter Monday, so most of the shops are closed. Our bus wasn't until 3 pm so we wandered around the city, did some souvenir-shopping, and chilled out at a coffee shop. It was relaxing and despite the rain, we enjoyed every last bit of our trip to Rotorua.

Welcome to the Land of the Hobbits

Welcome!

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell , nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole,
And that means comfort.
~ The Hobbit ~

Situated on a 1250-acre farm near Matamata, a 45-minute drive from Rotorua, lies Hobbiton, the land of the hobbits. Where everywhere you turn, you'd secretly hope to catch a glimpse of Frodo or Bilbo Baggins. Or Gandalf making his way through the streets with a horse cart.

1.5 km from here lies Shire, Hobbiton

A little more than 10 years ago, Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema found this beautiful landscape during an aerial search for suitable sites to film Lord of the Rings. Alexander Farm with its rolling hills, untouched by 21st century so-called technology like roads, buildings and power lines, quickly caught their eyes. It was the beginning of Shire, Hobbiton as you can see in the movies. As part of the contract between Alexander Farm and the movie company the site should be deconstructed soon after the filming was done. It was winter and soon the work couldn't be finished. 17 hobbit holes was left, and the farm finally became a tourist attraction.

Entrance to the Movie Set

Fast forward ten years, now they're back to film The Hobbit. The whole site is reconstructed for the filming so instead of 17 hobbit-holes they now have 42! All perfectly painted, decorated and given an old-and-rustic touch. We count ourselves very lucky for coming at the right time. It is likely they're going to start filming soon and by that time, the site will be closed to public. The bad news is, they had us sign a form which basically stated that we are not supposed to share anything we heard or saw at the movie set! So I'll just leave it to your imagination : a picturesque "village" with colorful rounded doors, moss-covered fences, a huge party tree, and a calm, beautiful lake.

Another view of the farm

Since it is a privately-owned property, you can't get there unless you take a tour ( there is also only one tour operator so you can't be picky! ). The tour was fun, the tour guide was great, very informative and funny at the same time. We were astounded by her knowledge of LOTR ( and abundant gossip about the upcoming The Hobbit ) and entertained by her fascinating and hilarious behind-the-scene quirks. There's nothing quite magical like experiencing the Hobbiton village.

We paid NZD 99 each for the tour, including pickup to and from Rotorua and a sheep-shearing show, it was mad expensive. But the whole experience made up for the price. We would totally recommend this place to anyone visiting New Zealand!

Sheep-shearing show

Rangitoto Day Trip

Rangitoto Island, according to wikipedia, is as volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland. The 5.5 km wide island is an iconic and widely visible landmark of Auckland with its distinctive symmetrical shield volcano cone rising 260 metres high over the Hauraki Gulf.

We went there a couple of months ago on hop-on-hop-off ferry service ran by 360 Discovery. Our journey began at Downtown Auckland and finished at Motuihe island. For the price of NZD 32 pp, we can stop at 5 different spots for 1 day! Well it may be a bit overrated since if you take a better look at the timetable, there's no way you can stop on every destination.

Too bad we didn't have wide lens ;)

We were under the impression that islands in New Zealand mean white sandy beach or bright blue sky. But guess what, we were wrong! Rangitoto is actually famous for its long rocky road with many black rocks along the way. We weren't prepared for that, we didn't even wear shoes. So, with sandals on our feet, we walked to the top. It took us around 1 hour to finally arrive there.

Walk to the top

View from the top was amazing! We got to see 360-view of Auckland City, complemented by warm summer breeze. It was a relieve knowing that our hard walk paid off. Sadly, we had only 2 hours in the island, which is very very tight. So after taking some pictures, without having the time to rest properly, down we went.

Auckland view from Rangitoto, can you see the Sky Tower in the background?

If you are an adventurous person, if you don't mind doing a long walk to get the perfect view, then Rangitoto would be perfect for you.

Rangitoto Island

Hello From Her

Hello, S here. Since D had elaborated how we got stranded in New Zealand, I'll just be quick. I would not describe myself as an avid traveler or an enthusiastic backpacker. Up until several years ago, the farthest I've ever been is Singapore. But fate has its own mind and it takes me to places I've never dreamed of visiting. Take New Zealand for example. I had never thought I'd someday work and live in New Zealand. I had never thought of New Zealand as the place I'd like to visit. But here I am, and I gotta say I'm starting to enjoy my life here. Being here, I have the opportunity to explore what New Zealand has to offer. I gotta see the world!

Onetangi Beach, Waiheke Island, NZ

D came up with this idea to create a travel blog where we could sing our heart out, share our travel stories and, quite possibly, the occasional "food-trips". If anything, I'd say it would be interesting to one day sit back and re-read our old posts and the journey we've been through!