A break away - Huka, Hobbiton and Coromandel
Salamander
Wed 26 Jan 2011 22:55
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The day after Tongariro we made a quick visit to
Huka Falls in Taupo, where the Waikati river is the only outlet for lake Taupo.
With the recent rain this was in full flow, giving the jet boats some
fun.
  We then drove on to the Hobbition movie set, we had
decided not to visit last November. As the movie of the Hobbit is about to be
filmed they have been busy re-building the set and we had to sign
confidentiality agreements with 3 foot 7 limited and cannot put any of the may
photographs we took on the blog. We ar enot allowed to discuss what we saw or
heard during the tour with anyone (specifically including family and friends).
We can say we thought the visit was 'awesome'. According to the NZ Herald
filming was due to start in Feb, but Peter Jackson is in hospital recovering
from an op on his perforated ulcer.
We then popped over to loook at Coromandel
Peninsular, which is very like Cornwall; full of tourists, poor road structure
due to the topography, stunning beaches and lots of yummy places to eat (though
not so good at the gluten free stuff).
Hot water beach was a delight - the longest
Caroline has ever sat stil on a beach. As every Kiwi knows, you take a shovel
and dig a hole in the sand, which fills with geothermally heated water. It takes
a while to find a patch the right temperature and then you get to relax in your
own personal geothermal pool.
 The following day we walked along to Cathedral Cove
and along beautiful beaches, continuing the film theme as parts of the
Chronicles of Narnia were filmed there (along with White Island - see
November).
Then back to the boat with loads to do in
preparation for leaving NZ, after returning from Oz at the end of
Feb.
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