HOBBITON - The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy

We started our excursion at 7.00 am on Saturday morning with Bush and Beach Express Tour. It was truely Unique, Unforgettable and Authentic tour by their friendly guide - Dawn.

The bus was comfortable and important to mention it was well equipped with first aid box, trash can and all the basic travel related amenities. It took us about an hour before we took a break for coffee. After the break we started heading towards our final destination. Throughout the journey Dawn was giving us information about New Zealand, a bit about Hobbiton and also answering to all our questions. In no time we entered the Hobbit town of Gandalf, Frodo, Bilbo, Sam.......

We entered lush green farmlands and our private guide was already waiting for us. He was a 90 year old energetic gentleman named Eric. This guided tour gave us interesting information about how the ‘Hobbiton’ movie set was developed and the background regarding how this location was chosen. If you have seen the film or read the book it would make clear sense of what the guide was talking about. 

We got enough time to click pictures with different backgrounds before we went to the Green Dragon Inn for onsite brewed chilled beer. There were about 44 Hobbit holes and interesting to note is that each one was made differently. Unfortunately, I did not take picture of each one of it due to time limitation.

We later went to the Shire’s Rest Café for our afternoon lunch. We were welcomed by their friendly staff who also made sure that we all are having a great time at Hobbiton movie set.

After that we went to the Souvenir shop and every one could use their gift voucher given by Bush and Beach to buy their Hobbiton souvenir. We had a very informative conversation with our guide before we said good bye to him and started heading back to Auckland. 

Everyone was very happy, mesmerised with the beauty of the movie set and amazed to see in real all that they saw in the movie. It was a wonderful experience to be able to actually walk on the movie set. We took a small break on our way back at an ice cream shop. The day was nice and sunny and everyone enjoyed eating ice cream while still lost in the world of Hobbiton. 

If you wish to experience, explore and enjoy this journey of Hobbiton do come and meet us today to book a trip. We will be happy to help you make your journey a memorable one. 

See you soon at 4SightSeeing to book your Hobbit tour.

Reshma

Ferry to Waiheke Island

Thanks to Blue for suggesting me to take a ferry to the stunning Waiheke Island on Saturday.

Fullers run regular ferry sailings from Downtown Auckland to Waiheke Island. Their staff was exceptional and made sure that we had a comfortable and enjoyable ferry ride.

Below were the highlights of my trip

1. The three W’s – Wine + Walk = Waiheke.

2. Spectacular beaches

3. Panoramic views

4. Delicious seafood

5. Olive oil tasting

This is the best way to spend a day away from Auckland, just 40 minutes by ferry. You can rent a car, scooter, and bicycle, take a full day bus pass or just walk around and explore the Island.

Also known as the Island of wine. Its vineyards produce wines of intense varietal flavour, with the freshness and purity of a pristine environment. One must discover Waiheke’s beauty by discovering its wines. They have produced some award winning wines and they are worth trying. Many of the wineries have wine tasting sessions.

I also did the olive oil tasting at Rangihoua estate. I was really impressed with the extensive knowledge of the guide who was a local and explained everything in details. I obviously purchased a bottle of olive oil for using in salads at home and local green herb spread.

Waiheke’s stunning scenery is absolutely unavoidable.

Explore Waiheke at your own pace. There is a lot to do and see. If you need information on how to book a ferry and what all activities can be done on the Island, please do contact our friendly and knowledgeable staff at 4sightseeing. We will make your trip a memorable one.

Some shots from the trip.

Leaving Downtown Auckland

Nau Mai Waiheke

Lush green Vineyards 

Whole bunch of Wineries 

Olive groves

Reshma  

Sulphur City_Flexi Tours

Blue sent me to breathe in the sulphur-rich air of Rotorua & to get the taste of NZ’s most dynamic thermal area with spurting geysers, steaming hot springs and exploding mud pools.

Sulphur city is the most touristed spots on the North Island. I travelled by Flexi Tours. What a fantastic day from the start of the journey to the finish, I would say it is worth every minute and every penny spent. As the name suggests this one day tour is a very flexible plan where you can mix and match activities and create your own itinerary. Out of the 7 different options one can choose any two and I preferred to do Wai-O-Tapu and Skyline Skyrides. Plus you get time to stroll around, sip a cup of coffee and take pictures of beautiful surroundings.

 Flexi Tour makes you feel really special. Our driver was an extremely knowledgeable & friendly guide.Our 4 hours car drive passed by so quickly. He gave us bits of information as and when he could and it was something not really bookish. I would recommend Flexi Tour to anyone who wants to visit Rotorua even for a day or more.As far as the overall experience is concerned you will be surely in safe hands and say it was worth choosing Flexi Tours for your trip.

Lake Rotorua is the largest of the district’s 16 lakes and is – underneath all that water – a spent volcano.

Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland

Basically it means “sacred waters”. This is one of the most famous of thermal reserves. It has many interesting features like the boiling multi-hued Champagne pool, bubbling mud, stunning mineral terraces and the Lady Knox Geyser which gushes upto 20m for about an hour. 

Some of the interesting Sign boards you will find in Rotorua.

Te Puia is the most polished of NZ’s Maori cultural attractions. Here you can discover the work and methods of many traditional Maori weavers, wood and greenstone carvers. More of these arts are displayed at a gift shopwhich stocks excellent range of arts and crafts.

Te Puia puts on three daily shows and one nightly show of Maori cultural performance everyday.

Skyline Skyrides

Swinging up Mt. Ngongotaha is Skyline Skyrides. This gondola cruises upto a hill top which features panoramic viewsof the lake.At the top there is a restaurant, a cafe and walking tracks around the mountains.On your way back you can either take the luge, come back on a chairlift or take a gondola again to come down the hill. 

Thank you Flexi Tours and Blue for giving this opportunity to explore Rotorua "Flexi-way"

Reshma