Lord of the Rings New Zealand Tour

This is it! The first day of the tour. We left early and headed down South across Auckland city into the Waikato region . We stopped by at the Hobbiton Movie Set , and then stopped overnight at the tourist town of Rotorua where we experienced a traditional Maori welcome, concert and Hangi dinner at the Tamaki Maori Village . Matamata (Hobbiton) We boarded the bus that will take us around the North Island: [Tip: clicking on the image allows you to view it in Live Spaces and download it in high resolution (1280x800)] The Hobbiton Movie Set is located on a sheep farm close to the town of Matamata . The "sign" proclaiming the site of the movie set for Hobbiton, with the Party Tree in the background (it's the one on the left). The hobbit holes are on the side of the hill facing the lake. The location scouts chose this site because of the symmetry and size of the Party Tree. "One morning the hobbits woke to find the large field, south o