2025 New Zealand - September - Day 08 - Goodbye Napier, Hello Hamilton!

 September 18, 2025

We got up this morning very early (5:45) to see the sunrise over the ocean.  Yesterday was amazing but I did not get my phone out to take pictures (which made Denise crazy).  So today, Denise gets all bundled up and goes out on the balcony with phone camera in hand.  And guess what…a thick cloud bank way off in the distance prevented any type of sunrise to be seen.  So disappointing!  We were both crushed but Denise, well, she was over the edge frustrated.  You just never know.

We were off on our longest journey to Hobiton, where Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies were filmed.  The journey was just over 3 hours on very windy roads in very windy (and rainy) conditions.    Our Mitsubishi SUV has run great, thank goodness.  We arrived at Hobiton around 11:30.  Our scheduled time was not until 2 PM.  But with the conditions as such, I assumed they could get us in earlier.  And sure enough, they moved us to the noon departure.  They drive you with a guide on a big bus back into the 1250 acre ranch where the Hobiton movie set was made.  The first creation of this set was made of wood and materials that were removed after The Lord of the Rings series was filmed.  They came in with steel and concrete to create the same set for The Hobbit series.  The area was pretty cool to see.  Unfortunately it was quite rainy and muddy through out the tour.  It was a bit cold but not too bad.  The tour lasted about 2 hours.  We both enjoyed it but were glad to get back into the car and get some heat going and get out of the rain.  Interestingly, at the end of the tour, they take you into the Dragon Inn and give various types of beer to the adults and to children and those who don’t drink alcohol, ginger beer.  All the beverages were probably appropriate for a warm day as they were very cold drinks.  But for today, I guess you could have turned it down.  But no one did.

After Hobiton we drove the 45 minutes or so into Hamilton to our next motel…and it’s a small but amazingly clean hotel.  I’m writing this in the afternoon as I think we will get ready and head to the temple tonight instead of tomorrow morning.  But we shall see.  More to come.

Yea…we decided to go to the Hamilton Temple tonight.  We first found some crazy sports bar place that served food out near the temple so we could get some food in us before going and doing some temple work.  The food seemed ok.  Filled the hole.  But going to the temple was fantastic.  So peaceful inside.  The people very kind and welcoming.  Always feels like home, or at least what home ought to be.

One more day, tomorrow, traveling around.  I’m growing tired and cranky.  I suspect it is time to come home.  But, more to come tomorrow!

Pictures:

The first set of pictures are scenery pics.  This first one you can kinda see the sunrise happening but it soon closed off and you got nil.

One of the sad things about our journey was all the clear cutting that goes on here.  They have amazing forests.  However, they get harvested frequently.  They do replant.  But visually, it is really sad to see.

As we approached the Hobiton area, we saw so many new lambs in the field.  It was obvious that it had just been lambing season.  The guide said that there were some that were only 2 weeks old out there.

The next set of photos are taken from the set for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.  The sets are all proportionately designed.  However, some have smaller proportions than others.  So it was kind of interesting to see really small doors to hobbit holes and others much larger.

As you exit, because people complained that they never got to go into a hobbit hole, they created two holes that people could go into and admire.  They are fairly new but beautifully constructed inside.  I had to watch my head everywhere I turned.

I believe this is the door to the hobbit hole that was used in the very last scene of one of the series of movies.  I can’t remember which one, honestly.

While waiting for our tour, we bought some hot chocolate.  It looked a whole lot better than it tasted.  However, the chicken cream pie in the background was amazing.  You just never know what you’re going to get.

Believe it or not, this tree is a fake tree with over 200,000 plastic leaves on it.  You couldn’t tell, even up close on it.  Pretty cool it was.

This is a picture of the Hamilton New Zealand Temple during the day time.  This temple, along with the London Temple (where we served) and the Bern Switzerland temple all have the same outside design.  Inside, however, they are much different.  This temple was remodeled in 2022.  So it is completely different inside than the London Temple.

Like the London Temple, they have a center that has a Christus that you can see through the windows.  This one was lovely and sits down the hill a bit from the temple.  The temple grounds is huge, some 38 acres, which I believe is bigger than the grounds in London.

It’s a beautiful temple out away from the hustle and bustle of Hamilton down town area…where our motel is.