After a reasonably comfortable night in a small cabin (see previous New Zealand posts), we joined the group for breakfast — fixings for make-your-own hot or cold breakfasts are included in the Haka tour; but lunches and dinners are on your own — and then we headed out for a long and interesting day.
First, we went on a modest but hilly 4mi/6.5km hike to Te Whanganui-A-Hei, a.k.a. the Cathedral Cove Marine Reserve, and back. The main trail is paved and stepped; easy walking. But some side trails are unimproved, with rocky spots. We did some of each.
Hygie, our guide, told the local history, and provided interpretation of the landscape features and vegetation. The NZ Department of Conservation also provides interpretive signs along the main path.
Like geology? The white rock visible below is ignimbrite; the solidified remains of an ancient pyroclastic flow, “… a hot suspension of particles and gases flowing rapidly from a volcano and driven by being denser than the surrounding atmosphere. New Zealand geologist Patrick Marshall (1869-1950) derived the term ignimbrite from ‘fiery rock dust cloud’ (from the Latin igni- (fire) and imbri- (rain)). Ignimbrites form as the result of immense explosions of pyroclastic ash, lapilli and blocks flowing down the sides of volcanoes.” (Wikipedia.)
It’s interesting to compare the serene scene, above, with the unimaginable violence — a scouring, red-hot pyroclastic flow hundreds of feet thick — that created it.
The trail was beautiful and surprisingly uncrowded. Hygie said that the coronavirus/covid-19 scare and quarantine meant that New Zealand had about half a million fewer tourists than usual from China; hence the light crowds.
The beach itself is quite lovely, and features a cave/arch that’s been used in a number of movies, including the Chronicles of Narnia.
More pix from the walk, and the beach: https://photos.app.goo.gl/mJ9WtGmc2nyVFHDD8
We spent a good chunk of the morning at the beach, and then hiked back to the bus to head inland and south.
After lunch in a small town whose name I forget (Piarere? Sorry.), we aimed for the Hobbiton movie set, located in the middle of a very large, working, sheep farm. The set contains elements used in the LOTR trilogy and the Hobbit movie itself, and actually is a visually complete, modest village, replete with woodsmoke-emitting chimneys, and various props laid around as if all the Hobbits had scattered to hide, in mid-task.
Most of the, um, burrows are just doors and windows set into the hillside, with a shallow, empty room behind them — more than a facade but less than a real building. But a few of them are more complete (including Bag End where, in the movie, Gandalf hits his head on roof beams and a chandelier); and the Green Dragon tavern — a fully functioning (but human-scale) establishment where you can have the local ginger beer and other offerings.
It was fun and interesting to see places that figured prominently in the movie.
The Hobbiton guide discussed some of the movie making details, such as using forced perspective to make some Hobbits appear much shorter than the Wizards. For example, in a shot where Bilbo (Frodo? Sam? I don’t remember) and Gandalf are riding in a cart together, the cart was actually a long skinny prop vehicle where the Hobbit was seated several feet behind Gandalf. They pretended to be next to each other, but would actually look at and speak to the empty space beside them. But when photographed from in front, it looked like a short Hobbit talking with a tall wizard. The guide narrated this to us as we walked along the narrow road where that cart scene was actually filmed.
She also said the village had so many burrows because they needed dwellings with different-sized front doors. Some of the doors are quite short, and were used with full-sized actors to make them look unusually tall. Other houses have large doors, so that the human actors would appear to be Hobbit sized.
It’s fun to see, while you’re standing in the spots where it actually was filmed.
A few example pix (it was late afternoon when we visited, and we again lucked out with some great slanting sunlight):
Lots more pix: https://photos.app.goo.gl/RVPCZRMfPXEfFLak8
After Hobbiton, we headed into Rotorua, where we’d spend the next two nights.
Approximate day’s travels, starting at Cathedral Cove; with stops for lunch; a Hobbiton tour; and eventually (it was a long day…) to dinner on Eat Streat and a room at a very nice YHA in Rotorua.
(To be continued.)
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The image of the circular red door and the grain of the wooden beams make a fantastic shot.
That was also one of the few houses with somewhat of a room behind the door. It wasn’t large, and it was unfinished (they were using it to store very un-Hobbitlike sun umbrellas inside), but you could go in and peek out the little windows to the side of the door.
The level of detail throughout Hobbiton is amazing.