World Travel Guides: New Zealand

Matamata - Hobbiton, "The Shire". A voyage to Matamata, New Zealand, Pacific.

Not as well-heeled as Cambridge but just as horsey, Matamata was one of those pleasant country towns you drove through until Peter Jackson’s epic film trilogy Lord of the Rings put it on the map. The residents seem to have adjusted to life in Hobbiton with wry bemusement: ‘Strewth mate, all that elf nonsense doesn’t real- ly rattle my chains but it was nice to see the old Kaimais on the silver screen’.

During the filming Matamata was a great place to live if you were short and chubby-cheeked – 300 locals got work as extras (hairy feet weren’t a prerequisite).

Truth be told, there’s not a lot of point visiting Matamata unless you’re a hobbit-botherer, but it does have a great café, beautiful avenues of mature trees, and its undulating green hills are pleasantly Shire-like. If your souvenir checklist includes a thoroughbred racehorse, this is the place to come.
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AN Matamata, New Zealand, Pacific

Queenstown. A voyage to Queenstown, New Zealand, Pacific.

No-one’s ever visited Queenstown and said, ‘I’m bored’. Looking like a small town, but displaying the energy of a small city, Queenstown offers a mountain of activities. If your ‘Things to Do’ list contains bungy-jumping, caving, rafting, sledging, jetboating, skiing, skydiving and hang gliding, trained operators are waiting on your call right now.

Maximise bragging rights with your souvenir T-shirt in the town’s atmospheric restaurants, laid-back cafés and bustling bars. Be sure to also find a lakeside bench at sunrise or dusk and immerse yourself in one of NZ’s most beautiful views. It’s a pretty good option for an alfresco afternoon picnic as well.

Confident Queenstown is well used to visitors with international accents, so expect great tourist facilities, but also great big crowds, especially in summer and winter. Autumn (March to May) and spring (October to November) are slightly quieter, but Queenstown’s a year-round destination. The town’s restaurants and bars are regularly packed with a mainly young crowd that really know how to enjoy themselves on holiday. If you’re a more private soul, drop in to see what all the fuss is about, but then get and about by exploring the sublime wilderness further up the lake at Glenorchy.Show in Lonely Planet