23rd February Richmonds Downs - Turangi

In New Zealand, you can't really avoid Peter Jackson and his adaptations of 'Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit'. And so, today we're getting the full dose - Hobbiton, a visit to the film set of 'Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit'.

Peter Jackson flew over the Alexander Farm while searching for a shooting location and was thrilled. Hobbiton was to be built here. And as soon as we arrived on our tour, we felt like we were transported into the film. The loving details, like the bread stand or the laundry on the line or the jam being sold. All created with great attention to detail. Peter Jackson had all of this in his mind and everything had to be designed according to his vision. For example, the oak tree at Bag End, where Bilbo and later Frodo live, didn't exist. So a steel and concrete oak tree was created and adorned with around 250,000 artificial oak leaves. Peter Jackson arrived on set and said that the green of the oak leaves was too bright, it had to be darker. As a result, all 250,000 leaves received a different shade of green. Nobody in the film would have noticed, but... he did!

On our journey, we pass through the geothermal hot area. Here, there are countless hot springs, some of which are used for energy generation or simply for relaxing in spas. First, we visit the Huka Falls, in the Waikato River. The water is forced through a narrow passage of about 15 meters wide and then falls 10 meters. This mixes the water with tons of oxygen, giving it the turquoise color. 220,000 liters of water rush down the waterfall every second.

Lake Taupo is New Zealand's largest freshwater lake and was formed approximately 26,500 years ago due to an eruption of Taupo, New Zealand's largest volcano.