Maori & Hobbits
Today was a long day. We booked a tour to see the Maori demonstration as well as Hobbiton. We got off the boat in Tauranga and boarded our mini-bus. The first stop was Rotorua. It is a thermally active area as it is a caldera. There we got to see steam vents, but the highlight was seeing a Maori Haka concert. We learned a lot about the Maori culture. Then it was off to Hobbiton. It was a 1.5 hour guided walking tour of the movie set. This is actually the 3rd Hobbiton set at this location. They decided when building the 3rd set to make it out of more durable materials so tours like ours would be possible. At the end of the tour was the Green Dragon Inn where there was a free choice of 2 different ales, a cider, or ginger beer. I have the dark ale, which was okay. Cyn had the ginger beer which was refreshing. Then we went back to the ship. We had left the ship at 10:30 am and were back on board by just after 7 pm.
< Previous Day (Napier) (Auckland) Following Day >
