Rotorua and HOBBITON!: Sunday, 7/26

After breakfast at the Maori meeting house (or marae), we drove to Rotorua, where we had some down time in the morning. Northern New Zealand is full of geothermal activity, including volcanoes and steam vents. A few of us on the Topdeck tour took a walking trail around some of these vents with dense vegetation. Although it was a rainy day, we made the best of it and didn't want to stay inside during the precious time we have here. 

Then we walked around town a bit to look at souvenirs and grab lunch before hopping on the bus to go to Hobbiton!! This was really exciting as it's the only intact movie set for the LOTR movies and is a huge part of the NZ tourist industry. Even though I'm not a huge LOTR enthusiast, I appreciated all of the effort put into making every detail of the set perfect. The tour ended with a stop in the Green Dragon pub with a "free" beer (included in the hefty admission price), after which we got back on the bus to head back to our hotel before a group dinner in town. Another great day to add to the books! Still so grateful to be here!