Well we made it to....HOBBITON!!! Matamata is the home of the shire, so we booked our tour for the morning... Left in a huge tour bus called GANDALF!Our tour guide Amy was up on her Lord of the Rings quotes, so we headed off to hobbiton!The tour was pretty thorough and showed us where the cast and crew set up home for 4 months. We got to have a jig on the party field and act like Bilbo giving his speech at the party tree! There was even an original party poppe...

Today we headed further north to Rotorua!On the waybwe stopped off at the Craters of the Moon, 5km's from Taupo! This is a geothermal area with steam vents and mud pools, very eerie, we got there and it was raining like crazy so geared up in walking boots and kags, the rain was cold but the steam coming off the craters was hot, great experience!Will try and get pics up soon!:) Then we arrived at Kerosene creek, after a 2km road of pot holes we donned our bi...

Woke up bright and early to head towards the Whakapapa Ski field, where Mordor is set and we found the spot where Isildur cuts the ring from Saurons hand!Here we spotted Mount Doom, what a view! And the Grand Chateau where the crew and cast stayed whilst filming! Drove onto Lake Taupo, New Zealands largest lake at 600 sq km's!What a view, with the Volcanoes in the distance and the sun beaming on the lake, we knew we were in New Zealand!! Hired a kayak for a...

Drove to Okahune on the outskirts of Tongariri National Park! Checked in to a small cost cabin, the tent was rather uncomfortable so we decided to treat ourselves to a bed!:) We ventured up the mountain to Gollums pool, got the exact spot where gollum catches a fish! The whole area was used to film mordor and it was easy to see why! Hope I'm not boring anyone!Lord of the Rings fans??us?who'd have thought it!

Next destination was Isengard, so we drove to Harcourt Park (where it was filmed) but the World Jousting competitions were being held so we saw a few medieval beings and lots of horses!But, we still managed to spot the Isengard gardens where Gandalf and Saruman take a stroll, and the "Orc tree" which was where the orcs pulled down all the trees in Isengard! I'm sure all the lord of the rings fans will appreciate this!:) Then we arrievd at Kaitoke r...