Southern North Island

As beautifully planned as the first week of our trip was the rest not so much. My enthusiasm for research waned and we just planned around distances travelled. Anyway still some great times. Overnights in Wellington, Napier and Mount Maunganui. Napier and the Hawkes Bay region was a real highlight as was Te Puia (cultural village and geothermal area) and very surprisingly the tour of the Hobbiton movie set. Just out of Wellington we also visited another site where Lord of the rings was filmed. We visited 2 wineries ,Church Road, one of the region's oldest where we had a very informative tasting and Crab Farm for a tasting and lunch. Napier itself was also an art deco treat.
The day we visited Rotorua and the Hobbiton set was very wet but didn't lessen the experiences too much.Read more