Geothermal Highway New Zealand
Updated: Sep 7
An action-packed short disc golf road trip that leaves from Auckland and then starts proper in Hobbiton exploring the movie set in Matamata. Along the way you'll experience the white sand surf beaches of Mt Maunganui, geothermal natural wonders in Rotorua, through the Maori cultural capital and ends in the volcanic wonderland of Taupo.
Cover the distance quickly over three to four days or take time to explore on the way and stretch it out. This could just be a disc golf trip where adventure might outweigh your need to throw discs. Of course you can do both, but you don’t want to spend this road trip throwing more plastic and seeing less of the sights.
The Geothermal Highway gives you the chance to enjoy your favourite sport while travelling through the epic playground of the central North Island in New Zealand. You’ll play three premier disc golf courses. One of them, Spa Park, is the only Southern Hemisphere course to make it on UDisc’s world top 100. It’s a short hop between towns on this disc golf road trip but you’ll need a rental car in order to really explore and get to the courses.
START IN THE SHIRE
Let’s start in the quiet rural setting that is the hobbit’s home - the Shire. This is the actual movie set where Lord of the Rings was filmed for the Shire sequences - it’s in the heart of farming country in the Waikato. Your starting point is the town of Matamata that is now nicknamed Hobbiton. You’re 2.5 hours south of Auckland and in summer it can get very busy with tourists, big tour groups as well as Kiwis on holiday who are likely heading South too. So check in with Hobbiton on the tours, availability and when they begin. Prices start from $130NZD.
MCLAREN FALLS
Half an hour from Matamata, up and over the very steep highway on the Kaimai Ranges is the location of your first disc golf park - McLaren Falls. There’s a lot to do in this park - swimming in the rock pools, fishing, walking tracks, glowworm caves and of course two courses of disc golf. There's the short family nine holes and the 18 hole main event. If you’re on a budget and have a tent you can camp right near Hole 1 or if you’re in a larger group - there’s a basic hostel for hire right up the top of the course with spectacular views out to the Western Bay of Plenty. So there is quite a lot of steep hilly elevation on this course and you’ll need spotters on some holes because lost discs are a common theme - especially in wind. But the reviews of this course speak for themselves. If you happen to be visiting McLaren Falls in October then you might be able to join the annual PDGA-sanctioned Xtreme tournament. Tauranga Disc Golf has all the details of upcoming events. Enjoy the course, it’ll be a slog up and down but you’ll be rewarded with great views and a lot of nature. Once you’ve enjoyed the hills and hopefully left with all your discs in your bag, it’s time to head to one of the top savoury pie shops in the country.
Annual pie awards are a thing in New Zealand, and Kiwis have been known to follow the results intensely. Patrick’s Pies is located in the tiny village of Bethlehem, down the road from McLaren’s Falls as you make your way towards Mount Maunganui. It’s been a regular winner so if you haven’t sampled a staple Kiwi classic, mince and cheese - try one at Patricks.
MT MAUNGANUI
Known by locals as ‘The Mount’, Mount Maunganui has been a holiday destination for many generations. It has a beautiful main white sand beach and rolling surf. Your budget might stretch for an apartment overlooking the beach or there’s the campground at the bottom of the mountain. But there’s also plenty of places to stay in the area -unless you happen to arrive here during the Christmas/New Year period or over summer public holiday weekends. Good luck finding a place to stay or even a car park along the beach. It’s a holiday mecca.
After a round at McLarens Falls, drive to the beach for a dip or you can soak in the hot pools at the base of the mountain. You can walk up the ‘The Mount’ or Mauao. Check its open first. There’s great views out over the beach and Papamoa Beach along the coast and up North towards Matakana Island. A great place to sample some local ales, made in the brewery there and eat is a little further in the from the beach and a locals hangout - The Rising Tide. Try watching a New Zealand pastime and national sport obsession of cricket . It's similar to baseball games - you can experience passionate crowds, hot fried food and beer in a sometimes long drawn out sporting affair that stretches long into the night. There’s a great cricket pitch at the nearby Bay Oval which sometimes hosts national and regional team events in evening matches that happen during summer. Be sure to sit next to some fans and ask them how the game works. You’ll make friends for life.
WHAT’S THE WEATHER LIKE?
If you get a stretch of hot, dry and windless weather on this disc golf roadie - consider yourself lucky. New Zealand at 42 deg below the equator and sitting exposed in the Pacific Ocean is susceptible to strong winds and weather fronts. Summer in New Zealand is the best time to play the course along the Geothermal Highway, although it can be played year round. Rotorua and Taupo can get chilly in the early mornings and Rotorua or Rotovegas as it’s sometimes known, isn’t a great course after a bout of rain because it gets muddy. But just be ready for wind, wind and more wind - especially in spring. But with weather fronts hitting the country, they tend to pass through quickly so it really can be four seasons in one day. However, you absolutely must sunscreen up and put on a hat - it’s a very quick burn time in New Zealand and McLaren Falls and Spa Park both are exposed on many holes. Plus, none of these courses have water on the course, so make sure you bring plenty for your rounds.
A GEOTHERMAL WONDERLAND
Get ready to have your nasal sensors assaulted because next on this disc golf road trip is Rotorua or rottenrua if you want to really spell it out. The smell is not too dissimilar to rotten eggs, however, you will discover that after five minutes you forget about the pungent smell caused from the hydrogen sulphite gas that comes from all the geothermal activity. It’s around an hour’s drive from Mount Maunganui to Rotorua and the Scion Tree Nursery Disc Golf Course. Set in the Redwood Forest - this 18 hole tree-lined course will test your patience and a disc’s structural integrity on those giant trees. It’s a very fun challenging course set in the beautiful forest.
There are a lot of accommodation options suiting any budget in Rotorua - that’s because there’s a lot of visitors to this city. It’s a tourist hub for Maori culture but also has a lot of outdoor adventure activities. Of course there’s the reason for the smell and you can walk past bubbling mud pools in this town - hell, you can even see steam rising from the gutters and holes in the ground almost anywhere in Rotorua.
There’s so much to do in this town that it depends on what blows your skirt up. Go river rafting down the Kaituna River, Zorbing, catch a gondola up to the luge or if you like hiking - venture out to the Blue or Green Lakes or even Mt Tarawera. Activities stretch from driving monster trucks in the forest through to kid-friendly petting farms and sheep shearing shows. The Polynesian Pools are a great place to rest the body in the geothermal hot springs and if it’s summer, why don’t you head back to Scion for another round of disc golf off the short or long tees since sunset isn’t till 8.45pm mid summer. Check out the local disc golf group in Rotorua for information about the Makaripi tournament, another PDGA-sanctioned event that’s usually held late summer or autumn at Scion.
TO THE LAKE
It’s another short hop for an hour to Taupo, the centre of the North Island and an ancient volcanic crater lake that has a stunning mountain backdrop. This is home to the Spa Park Disc Golf Park - the only one outside Europe and the United States to make it onto UDisc’s top 100 list. The team behind it are passionate and dedicated to keeping this course in a popular park that sits alongside the Waikato River. Most Kiwis who have played disc golf will rate this course as one of their favourites. Wide open fairways with all the views that push up and down to the river while a few tricky wooded holes keep you honest and closing your eyes in hope as you tee off. There’s a reason this course is a gem on the Tour Down Under in January each year.
Time your visit and you could play alongside some of the big name pros that flock to New Zealand each year to join this series. It would be rude not to play this course twice - it’s got shorter tee pads and easily played by all ages and levels of skill. After you’ve challenged the OB on Hole 10 and stopped looking at the beautiful flowing river below, jump into the natural pools that give you a bit of warm water alongside the colder temperatures. In summer there’s a cafe there too to grab a cold drink and watch the world go by before heading off on the back nine.
TAUPO ADVENTURES
When you’re not playing disc golf, this is one of New Zealand’s top adventure spots. Whatever you want to do, you can do it here in Taupo. If you’re a hiker then you can enjoy a big day trip walking the challenging Tongariro Crossing - considered to be one of the best day hikes in the world. It passes volcanic craters and stunning Emerald Lakes across the plateau past Mt Doom from the Lord of the Rings franchise - which is actually called Ngaruhoe.
You can drive up to watch the spectacular Huka Falls - a narrowing in the river where 220 cubic metres of water passes through every second or bungy jump nearby. How’s your traditional golf game? Plenty of courses here and try the famous hole-in-one challenge from the edge of the lake out to a pontoon. Get some fish and chips, another Kiwi classic meal, and sit down by the lake’s edge or there’s plenty of bars and restaurants. Sit beside the lake where you can watch the sunset with a drink in hand to toast a successful journey along the Geothermal Highway disc golf trail.
