We had a wonderful time and especially enjoyed Hobbiton, which was much larger than we had anticipated. Our guide did a very good job of adding both detail and color. Rotorua was interesting as well and we were fortunate enough to see one of the geysers go off while we were there. Our tour driver (you will spend 2-3 hours in the van) was more of a driver than a guide, adding little to the road time. Also, our information had shown this as a 7 hr excursion, when in fact it was closer to 9 hours, with no road problems or other issues that would have elongated the time. We had plenty of time, so it was not an issue, but if we had been closer to our cruise departure time, it could have been a real problem.

diverting

Shore Excursion Hobbiton and Rotorua Geysers The tour started directly at the ship, we sat with about 15 people in the bus. Fortunately, my wife and I were sitting in front. The about one-hour bus ride to the film sets was pleasant, the driver reported a little too much. Hobbiton was really worth seeing, you should watch the movie "Lord of the Rings" but better before, then it is certainly much better. Continue to the Rotorau geysers and performance of Maori folk songs. The driver was very nice, but in my opinion spoke too much. In addition, with the typical slang for New Zealanders, we were a bit exhausted after that, frankly we barely understood the man, although we speak English well.

Rotorua was very interesting, even the HobbitonTour

Although we had not seen the Hobbiton films that were not interesting for us, we were amazed by the wonderful landscape in which filming took place. Rotorua was particularly interesting because it was impressive for us how these Maori families live amidst the many hot springs with the strong smell of sulfur and the fear of possible eruptions of the volcano.