Day 320: Leaving Auckland for Taupo — A Stop to Tour the Hobbiton Movie Set — The Point Villas
We’ve gotten really good at airports, nearly all of our air travel days are stress free and I don’t dread them at all. But it’s still really nice to just get in the car when you want, throw all the bags in the back and just drive to your next destination.
That’s what we did today.
We checked out of the Pullman around 10am and headed south, destination: Taupo in the central part of the North Island. It would be a four hour ride but we stopped two hours in, first for lunch in Matamata at… McDonalds (or “Maccas” as the New Zealanders call it, a nickname so prevalent that it’s listed this way on in-restaurant signage, etc.).
Yes, today we had lunch at Maccas in Matamata.
It was actually our first visit to McDonalds of the year. We did have one Burger King visit back in the Shanghai Airport on the way to Vietnam. That ended badly.
Maccas was a better experience: the touch screen ordering system is pretty awesome; they actually let you choose to take a number to your table and they bring you your food.
Willa and James had Happy Meals — Willa with a burger and James with nuggets. We made them get water and they both actually chose the bag of fruit over fries (paternity test results still haven’t come back). Margaret got a burger and fries. I threw myself a curveball with a Filet-o-fish. (Lobsy was talking about it the other so I went with it and was very happy). Also got fries and a coke.
The Hobbiton movie set is about 15 minutes outside Matamata. It’s a stunningly beautiful part of the world, a little gem sitting among rolling green hills spotted with sheep and cows as far as you can see. The land is actually part of a private farm owned by the Alexander family — holy crap did they hit the jackpot when Peter Jackson spotted their property from a helicopter while location scouting! The set itself was originally built and then taken down after the Rings trilogy was filmed. But it was rebuilt with permanent materials for The Hobbit films.
I’m so glad Margaret and I caught the first 40 minutes of the first LOTR movie and read the first half-chapter of The Hobbit to the kids. Needless to say we were more clueless than most but at least we had some sense for Bilbo Baggins and where he lives. And it will be fun to remember the tour as we continue reading The Hobbit.
Hobbiton is pretty far from everything. But make no mistake: it is a full-on tourist machine. The place was packed. People love these books and movies. And even if they don’t, they know their friends and family do so they want to show off with pics in front of Bilbo’s house. It costs $55 per adult (kids free thankfully) for a tour in a group of 30 or so — and you can’t see anything without a tour so everyone is paying that much. (Our tour group had the highest concentration of Americans we’ve been around all year.) There are busses leaving every 20 min or so from the parking / ticketing / shop area up to the set. One guide walked us around on a 90 minute tour and then we got 20 minutes or so to enjoy a beer at the Green Dragon Inn.
Back in the car we drove another 2 hours to Taupo, a lakeside town in the middle of the North Island. The views driving into town are pretty insane — crystal clear blue skies, cartoonishly fluffy clouds floating around snow capped mountains that flow down to the twinkly blue waters of Lake Taupo.
Our villa in Taupo is self-catering other than breakfast so we stopped by Countdown grocery store. Apparently Thursday afternoon is the time to go because it was bumping — all of Taupo stocking up for the weekend.
We’re staying about 10 minutes outside of town at the Point Villas. We were met by Peg the owner and shown around the place. It’s crazy nice— lake views, two floors, 3BR, pool, jacuzzi and all so luxuriously well designed. No need to move on, I’ll stay right here, thank you!
MISC:
Our room at the Pullman in Auckland came with a huge stuffed Kiwi Bird. The kids named him Kevin. Kevin the Kiwi. We some other free stuff when we arrived — G&Ts, sweets, etc. — likely the result of a 5-night stay in a big room that was booked by travel agents. We assumed Kevin was also a gift.
The kids played with him constantly —dressed him up, hit each other with him, threw him down the steps, etc. But there was no way Kevin was fitting in a carry-on so we convinced the kids to bring him to Jeff’s house last night. We told Jeff he can have him or maybe he could find a kid who will continue loving Kevin. Everyone felt like this was a good end to our relationship with Kevin.
But tonight Margaret got this email from a manager at The Pullman:
>>>
Good evening Mrs Sullivan
I hope you had a pleasant stay at the Pullman Auckland. I am writing to inform you that we are missing one of the decoration items from the room that you stayed in.
It is a large Brown Kiwi Plush. You may have accidentally taken it believing it was for you, however it is part of our room decorations.
You are more than welcome to keep the Plush, however it will cost $100.
I apologise for any misunderstanding or confusion caused by this. Please let us know what you would like to do.
Kind Regards
<<<
So funny. Margaret worked her magic in a response, saying “oh my” yes of course charge us for Kevin but …explaining that we misunderstood b/c there was so many other welcome goodies. The hotel responded graciously and said never mind, we get it, keep Kevin, on us.
Thanks for the good times Kevin!
