In 2019, we had two weeks between Australia and New Zealand. We were more intrigued by the adventure highlights on the South Island, but as a big fan of Lord of the Rings, it was hard to go all that way and not see the Shire. So, we flew overnight from Melbourne to Auckland, spent a day meandering through part of the North Island, spent the night near the movie set, and headed back to continue on to Queenstown the next day.
We left Melbourne around 11:30pm, and landed at AKL around 5 the next morning. So, we were running on not much good sleep, but that didn't stop us from a fun day. We were doing the Hobbiton tour and banquet at 2, so had until then to make our way down to outside Matamata.
I can't for the life of me remember where we ate breakfast, but it was a little cafe somewhere in the downtown area. We then parked by the river and took a little walk and sat on a bench. Such a cute downtown area! Perfect for a little stop if you're trying to just make it a day trip.
We really enjoyed exploring the Gardens! I would highly recommend stopping here. We took probably an hour wandering through all the different sections, but you could easily do more or less.
This was really random, but we needed to kill some time, and as we were driving by the lake, we noticed a random sign on the side of the highway pointing down a small road that said "Restaurant." We said sure, worst case scenario we drive down to the lake. But we came upon this super cute boat rental/wedding venue/restaurant/bar high up overlooking the lake. The owners are really sweet - the husband is a Kiwi, and after getting married his wife (from Kentucky) and him decided to move back to the island. We were saving food space for our Hobbiton feast, but enjoyed a drink and the scenery.
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This was such an incredible experience. It's obviously a massive tourist hole, but the tour was so well done, so personal, and was just an emotional experience to get to walk through. I'd highly recommend doing one of the tours with the feast! The party tent was a ton of fun to be in, and was great for getting to know some other people on our tour. I'll add some of our pictures.
Fast forward to afterwards, it was about 4pm, and we were staying in an Airbnb just up the road. There are a lot of great places to stay that are super close, but here was ours: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/17544753?sourceimpressionid=p31611954786ADxj4OjBBEQ2LLJD.
We were obviously super tired, so we just went to our spot, I drank the liter that I bought at Hobbiton (whoops) and passed out super early. We had like a 10am flight the next day, so we needed to get some rest.
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Both routes (there and back) were basically the same length of time, so we decided to go the alternate route on our way back to see more of the island!
And that's that! There's obviously so much more Lord of the Rings locations to see in New Zealand, but if you're looking for a trip that's not done by your hotel tour bus, here's some ideas for how to make it happen!
