Hobbiton & Coromandel Peninsula: 21st April.

The next day we decided to surprise Kate with a trip to Hobbiton. After pausing to help a confused French tourist who spoke literally no English in Turangi, we headed up the west side of Lake Taupo, a pleasant change from route number 1 which we had become familiar with over recent days on the east side! The rolling green hills on the way reminded us very much of England. We arrived in Matamata with just enough time to have our picture taken next to the ‘Welcome to Hobbiton’ sign and an evil-looking Gollem with orange eyes!

The Hobbiton tour was the first and last time we did anything officially Lord of the Rings related while in New Zealand.

It was interesting to see the set and why it was chosen, and was taken very seriously by our guide with numerous snip-its of copyright information and legal details. It felt a bit like a tour of parliament rather than a movie set but we did have fun taking photos of the party tree and in Bilbo Baggins’ house:

On returning into Matamata we quickly ate our last supper together before heading our separate ways. Armelle and Kate scoffed kumara chips (which are made from sweet potato) which they later regretted as they felt a little queezy with the sweetness! Shabos then drifted into the sunset escorting Jason and Kate to Whakatane while trusty Cleopatra, Donatelo, Benjamin and 2 weary travelers plodded their way to the Coromandel Peninsula.

After a lengthy, windy, ridiculous drive which gave Armelle a considerable head ache due to eye strain while Jess tackled to keep her eyes open in the passenger seat (offers of driving refused by Armelle due to inevitable death) we arrived at Hot Water Beach. As we arrived after dark we chose to ignore the no camping signs and spent the night in the car park. This was actually a great decision as we woke the next morning to the sun rising over an expanse of golden sand and sparkling blue water with steam rising from the water where the hot water springs were. The effect was serene and magical, helped by the fact that there was almost no-one else around.

Unfortunately our timing was not quite right, as you had to be there 2 hours either side of low water to dig yourself a hot pool in the sand. We meandered along the beach for a while and then jumped back into Cleopatra to head slightly north to Cathedral Cove. We found it hard to resist little detours off the beaten track down to little beaches- Gemstone and Stingray Bays so the walk to the cove took a little longer than intended.

The gigantic limestone arch itself was very impressive and a bombardment of photos ensued before hitting the road once more to Auckland. Retracing our steps, we stopped at a surf shop in Tairua for some Fijian essentials which of course included swim wear to the surreal backdrop of 2 elderly women sounding an unnecessary amount of advice and opinions as well as far too many compliments for them to have been true! We estimated that we must have been their only customers that day or possibly ever!