Hiking across Mordor and meandering through Hobbiton: if my 13 year old self realised these were activities that one could actually do, they would’ve been near the top of the to do list. Not at the top, though. Catching passes alongside Randy Moss and throwing alley-oops to Kevin Garnett, in no particular order, would’ve been numbers 1 and 2. At the top of the to do list or not, if current Ben could tell past Ben that recent past Ben participated in these Lord of the Rings-inspired activities, 13 year old Ben would almost certainly look forward to doubling his age.
I travel occasionally for work. When I was based in the US, this meant the occasional trip to Atlanta or the East Coast, among other locations. In our Australia office business travel is less frequent. However, with no offense intended toward Atlanta, the destinations tend to be more exciting. This particular trip was to a conference in Rotorua, which is in the centre of New Zealand’s North Island. Rotorua is a tourist town famous for smelling like rotten eggs. I’m not kidding – it’s built on natural hot springs that pump out sulfur. I agree that this doesn’t immediately sound like a great place for a conference, but the hosting event centre managed to avoid the smell. This was surprising because nowhere else, especially my hotel room, was safe from the smell.
I managed to hand out a few business cards, which, of course, is the mark of a successful conference. However, this success is a balancing act. Hand out too many business cards and you may feel like too much of an adult. Not wanting to risk this happening, I high-tailed it out of there as soon as I hit my handout quota. The conference also happened to be over, but let's not get bogged down in details. I got picked up by my lovely chauffeur Linnea, and we headed south for the small hamlet of Turangi. This would serve as our home base for exploring Tongariro National Park, also known as Mordor.
Tongariro National Park is best known as the home of the Tongariro alpine crossing, which is said to be among the best day hikes in New Zealand. The 19.4km track features steep ascents, views of imposing peaks, including Mount Doom, and volcanic terrain. In fact, the hike is nearly all volcanic terrain, meaning hikers are very exposed to the elements due to the lack of vegetation. Because of this exposure, there are many days that are too dangerous to attempt the Tongariro alpine crossing. The day we planned to do the crossing was one of these dangerous days, so we had to postpone and hope for the best for the next day. The next day would be our last chance because we had plans elsewhere on the island, and luckily Mother Nature came through with a day just nice enough to hike in. The hike started like any other, if all other hikes involved not being able to see further than a couple hundred feet in any direction. The region was completely covered in a blanket of fog. It was beautiful in an eerie, mystical sort of way. At least that's what my internal optimist was saying. Really, I wanted the fog to lift so I could see what was around us. As we began to gain elevation, I kept thinking that we were about to emerge above the mist and be able to see. For hours, I kept being wrong. Even at the highest point, we couldn't see anything other than the volcanic rock we were standing on and the handful of hikers who joined us to hike nearly 20km and possibly see nothing. I had given up hope of seeing anything when, about 10 minutes after leaving the highest point of the hike, we could suddenly see for miles. What a glorious moment that was. After seeing nothing for 2.5 hours, we were treated to 3.5 hours of stunning views. I can't speak for all day hikes in New Zealand, but the Tongariro alpine crossing is my favourite so far.
Next was a couple of nights on the Coromandel Peninsula, a lovely area known for its beaches and small town, relaxed vibe. This was highlighted by a trip to Hot Water Beach, which, as the name suggests, is a beach directly above natural hot springs. Dig in the right place and you have a hot tub at the beach! In fact, you have a hot tub of the beach. If that's not relaxing, I don't know what is. After a couple of nights on the peninsula we had to head home, but not before stopping at Hobbiton on the way to the airport in Auckland. If you've seen any of The Lord of the Rings movies, you know that the fictional Hobbiton is an idyllic place of verdant hills and Hobbit holes. I can confirm that the non-fictional Hobbiton is all of those things as well. The location was chosen for how sheltered from modern life it is; no power lines or tall buildings are visible from anywhere, and a ban on air traffic was instituted during a portion of the filming. The Hobbit holes are not the originals, meaning they aren't from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The buildings in that movie were merely facades, intended to last the duration of the shoot and no longer. It wasn't until The Hobbit trology was filmed that they realised fans wanted to visit. Because of this, much more effort was put in to build the Hobbit holes to last. The only way to visit is to take a guided tour, which was full of anecdotes about the films and opportunities to take selfies. As all good tours should, it ended with a pint. Specifically, it ended with a locally-brewed pint at the Green Dragon, home of much mischief throughout Tolkien's books. While admittedly touristy and a bit hokey at times, the tour of Hobbiton was delightful and an excellent way to end our quick adventure on New Zealand's North Island.