ROTORUA – PIOPIO (TROLLSHAWS) – HUKA FALLS – TAUPŌ, 8 May 2024
This tour keeps getting stronger and stronger!
One of the reasons Red carpet were the top choice for us is their access to private farms through long-term relationships, the only company that has that access. Today was likely the first of many days where we got taken to one of those said farms. This farm *does* run its own tours, BUT their relationship with Red Carpet meant that we got a long extended and much more detailed tour than otherwise would be done.
So…onward to Trollshaws. Limestone Country.
Predominantly, the Trollshaws appears in The Hobbit in An Unexpected Journey, when the Company of Thorin arrive at a wrecked farmhouse and suddenly lose two ponies, only for Bilbo to come face to face with Tom, Bert and Bill. After capturing all the Dwarves and trying to roast them on a spit, Gandalf rescues then by cracking a stone and turning them to stone. The next time they appear is when the four Hobbits and Aragorn rest there when Frodo is stabbed with the Witch-King’s knife.
Following that scene in The Hobbit, the Company ventures into some woods and meets Radagast the Brown, who reveals to Gandalf the start of the sub-plot of a “Necromancer”, which signals the return of Sauron to Middle-Earth.
So… a lot to cover! Warwick and his family on their private farm, did not disappoint. We were taken up in small vans to the foot of the Bluffs before being taken on a tour by Warwick. He was so funny, endlessly quipping little cheeky insights as only a funny, Kiwi farmer could!
I thought, I want a bit of that. So, that night, me, balaclava, took something from the skip.
*pause*
I didn’t take too much though, see…’cause then they’d know it was me!
Despite his petty crimes (along with the wonderful greens teams leaving him a ton of treasures), he was full of insights about the making of the movies. Peter Jackson invited them to lunch, and they saw in his 50th birthday together.
He showed us around the various sites that were used in the film. Helped by him standing with laminates of the movie shots to line up with the scenery. It was just a breathtaking space to be in. Several people along our trip marked “there’s no bad angle here!” And it was entirely true. Every which way you turned there was a beautiful photograph. You can easily understand why it was chosen, then chosen again by several other films and lately, by several sections of The Stranger’s story for Rings of Power.
The greatest wonder was when Warwick lead us down a verge and suddenly, gone were the Bluffs…replaced by rich, deep green forests, fallen leaves, and mossy rocks. It was gorgeous. Here was the site of the Troll’s hoard and the aforementioned Wizard’s conversation, cut short by Warg attack.
Warwick, by the hoard, pulled Sting (Bilbo’s (later Frodo’s) Elven dagger…or letter opener if you’re Balin) from a pile of leaves and luckily, with the same cheeky energy, he giddily told us he was supposed to only take a group shot (as the second group behind us did), but with extra time, he took a ton of photos with each of us solo.
He did this again back out of the forest as the Stranger on a promontory… I felt very magical.
After our visit, we started our 2 hour journey back West to Lake Taupō (the largest freshwater lake in all Australasia. It can fit all of Singapore inside its borders!), passing more limestone cliffs and bluffs and incredible panoramas. It’s true… there are no “boring/bad” views in Aotearoa. They simply don’t exist. In the meantime though, Jon decided to become a contortionist.
After the two hour mark, we arrived at a little turn in the road, nearby to Lake Taupō. Here, we discovered Huka Falls.
They really are that blue!
Finally, 20 minutes later, we arrived at our hotel. With a chandelier hanging over the foyer, I started to raise my eyebrows! These kinda places are not for the likes of lil plebby actors like me!!!! …yet, here I was.
So, colour Jon and I surprised and excited when we opened our second floor room to this view:
So, on that note… I got out my laptop, made a coffee, and got to writing before calling my partner and whiling away the evening over some pizza.
Life truly is beautiful.
– Jake
9 May 2024
P.S. Jon is also writing about his version of events over on his Tumblr page, Misplaced Midlanders! Check it out!
The Long Expected Journey 