Little People, Big Mountain

OK, I have a dilemma.

I only have one weekend left in Tauranga, and since I spent the last one in the city, I want to spend this one seeing the surrounding sights. I've narrowed it down to two, and I need your help to decide which one:

1. Hobbiton

OK, all you non Lord of the Rings fans are going to call me a GIANT dork, but as a huge fan of the book and movies, try to look at this from my perspective.

About an hour's drive from Tauranga lies the small farm Peter Jackson and his crew borrowed to create the face of Hobbiton. Instead of tearing it down like they did all the other sets, the owners of the land decided to keep up the gardens, shine up the iconic round doors, and allow guides to take through groups of people. The tour is actually supposed to be quite good, though I'm not sure if there's anything they can tell me that I don't know already...

Price: $100. $50 for the bus ride there, $50 for entrance fees and tour.

Now, this is my first contact with any LOTR-New Zealand stuff, but if you could line up all the possible sets and sights surrounding the movie, Hobbiton would definitely be near the top, if not number 1 (If they'd kept the Edoras set up then it would have topped it, but I'm not about to travel 6 hours into the wilderness to see a big rock that once had something cool on it...).

That's the pros. The cons are that I've asked a lot of people in the hostel what they thought the tour was like, and the reviews were split almost 50-50. Some people said it was great, others said it was just a bunch of holes, and is kind of disappointing compared to the movie (duh). Still, they all said, it's cool to be able to watch the film and know you've been there. Thanks. Very helpful.


2. White Island

A slightly lower profile than Hobbiton for those outside New Zealand, but if you're a Kiwi in Tauranga, this is the place to go. It's NZ's only active volcano, and the tour offered from Tauranga includes bus transport, a two-hour boat cruise to and from the island (4 hrs. total), lunch, and the guided tour around the volcano.

Cost: $150 for boat cruise & tour, $100 for the bus.

Ouch.

Now I was told by Trina, one of the ladies that's living long-term in the hostel, that you can get an InterCity bus and a night at a hostel for cheaper than $100, so there's potential for it to be closer to $200 than $250.

Cons: obviously the price, long travel, and the fact that I might have to go the night before to do it for frugally (that or wake up stupid-early.)

Pros: IT'S A FREAKIN' VOLCANO!! And though NZ has like a million dormant ones scattered across the whole country, this is the only one that's still active. It would be REALLY cool to see it. (And it's also featured at #17 on the 101 NZ must-sees list that just came out).


So that's my dilemma. Little hobbits I can afford but might not be worth it, or a big mountain way outside my budget that I may regret not visiting...

HELP!