From sulphur to skydives

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So we picked up our little hire car in Auckland and started our trip south, starting off with "thermal hot-spot" Rotorua. We had heard it was a great place to see geysers and enjoy hot pools and mud baths, so we headed south, but on route drove through Matamata as Adam was determined to visit the set of Hobbitton from the Lord of the Rings.

We managed to arrive as the bus to the set was departing a luckily jumped on, although Daisy decided to give this one a miss. The set itself was fascinating for a LOTR fan, although most of what was there has been destroyed due to copyright reasons, so although the tree, lake and small hobbit holes remain, your imagination is used to imagine what was there all those years ago (houses, bridge, water wheel etc).

We drove further down in Rotorua and could quickly sense the strong sulphur smell hanging over the city due to the amount of thermal activity in the area. It is an incredible place where you can literally walk into the town park and see boiling lakes, with steam rising out, and bubbling mud. The weather however was very disappointing as it didnt want to stop raining, so our planned itinery was shelved and we spent our day in the fascinating museum that documented all the history of the area with a heavy influence on one of the famous volcanoe disasters in the area.

We decided to give the over prices spas and mud baths a miss, but did have a dip in some of the natural hot pools, and decided to continue south towards Taupo, which is renowned for its beautiful lake. We quickly leanred that in NZ, unlike South America, you dont have to travel very far to see natural wonders, and within the space of a one hour drive we stopped off for a great walk among a stunning thermal area, and took in the Huka Falls (although after Iguazu Falls we dont think small waterfalls will ever be very impressive again!).

Even though we were only an hours drive from Rotorua the weather had changed dramatically so we had bright blue skies and great views across the lake. Adam had always wanted to do a skydive in NZ and as the weather was good, we literally decided to do it immediately and drove to the airport. After a lot of nervous waiting he went up in the plane, and saw the most amazing views from the sky, before jumping out at 15,000ft. It was the most amazing experience imaginable, not only for the rush but for the incredible scenery (lake below, coast one was, mountains on the other) and recommends it to everyone!

As the weather was improving we decided to do the Tongariro Crossing the next day, which is an 18km one day walk and regarded as the best one day walk in NZ (if not the world). We were very lucky with the weather and loved the walk - it offered the most incredible scenery imaginable (from mountains, to craters, to green sulphur lakes, to snow, and had the most amazing views from the summit). It was also a bonus for Adam as a lot of the scenery was used in the Lord of the Rings - Mt Doom, Mordor, etc.

We had a fantastic time in Taupo and could not understand why people were telling us the Noth island had little to offer!

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Photos

Tongariro Crossing
"Mount Doom"

Rotorua
Smelly sulphur lakes

Rotorua
Museum

Hobbitton
Adam in Bilbo's house

Tongariro Crossing
Emerald Lakes