From Rotorua we headed north to Hamilton, via Matamata, where Hobbiton is. When we arrived we popped into the information to see how we got to Hobbiton Farm, to find that you had to join a $50 tour to see the area where the film was made, which has now been returned to it's original state!! So we thought "b***** that" and headed straight to Hamilton! Hamilton is the largest inland city in New Zealand, so we had a little walk around the city then went on a litt...

In the morning we visited the buried village of Te Waira, which has been excavated from the Mount Tarawera eruption of 1886. We looked around the museum and then the archaeological sites from the original village. The volcanic eruption destroyed the village and the 8th wonder of the world, the Pink and White Terraces (natural stepped silica pools filled with thermal waters) and killed over 120 people. The fallout buried 8000 squared Km of surrounding counrtysi...

Laura was very excited to get go and see the Agrodome, the one thing she REALLY wanted to do in New Zealand!! It is basically a big farm with a sheep show and farm tour. The sheep show was really funny, and showed 19 breeds of sheep, sheep shearing, sheep auctioning, cow milking and 'strong eye' and 'barking' dogs. Then we did the farm tour on a trailor pulled by a tractor - "beep, beep tractor, beep beep tractor" is what Holly sang all the way round, just lik...

We headed to the Rotorua Museum of Art and History, which is set in the Bath House within the Goverment Gardens. The building was originally a spa in 1908. We saw the old showers and bathrooms where treatments were given and then headed down to the basement to see the piping system and resident ghost! The exhibtions on the Arawa people, the WWII 28 Maori Battalion and on the Mt Tarawera eruption were really good! The art gallery was a bit 'out-there' for our ...

We decided to head to Taupo, after Tongariro was closed due to the weather. Taupo is a small town which is dominated by Lake Taupo, which is the largest freshwater lake in Australasia. We had a bit of lazy day, just walking around the town and had a drink overlooking the lake. The next day, we headed to our next stop, Rotorua, following the Thermal Highway. We stopped off at the Craters of the Moon, which was a small geothermal park. We saw loads of fumer...