Mon 7 March (or amazing Hobbiton!)
I'm a great fan of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books and the incredibly well made films, so before coming away we had booked the Hobbiton Tour near Matamata so this was where we headed for when we left Rotorua. We arrived at The Shire's Rest where we waited for our Hobbiton Movie Tour coach to pick us up. On the coach a great guide called David told us about how the movie set was discovered by a scout back in 1998 and also how it came to be a permanent fixture here. His enthusiasm was infectious, a good guide really makes a huge difference and even Nicky, a self-confessed non-fan, admitted she was really looking forward to the tour. The magic started as we descended towards Hobbiton, with views down to the Water Mill, the lake that Gandalf's giant dragon firework flew over and The Green Dragon Inn, all of which made it feel we were right on set. A detailed guided tour followed, stopping off at Hobbit holes here and there including Bilbo's and also Sam & Rosie's and other places like the party tree. We learnt a little of director Peter Jackson's passion for/insistence on the level of detail, for example a tree (not a real tree) had to have 200,000 leaves individually made, painted and wired on to it and it didn't even feature in the final cut. We walked over the delightful stone arched bridge to The Green Dragon Inn where we were given a choice of beers brewed exclusively for The Shire's and drank them by the roaring fire. What was great was that Nicky said just how much she'd enjoyed the whole tour as it was so much more authentic than she expected. Our rainy Sunday afternoons back home will now no doubt be filled with watching all six films. The tour really could not have been any better.
After the tour we drove up to the Coromandel peninsula where we'd booked into the Seaspray motel for two nights. At this point I really do need to say something about the considerable inconsistency we're finding between accommodation price and quality. In common with most of today's travellers we researched each of the places we were staying (17 in all so this took a while!) to find accommodation suited to our budget and requirements, which consisted of a combination of Trip Advisor and other review sites. So when we arrived at the Seaspray we were very disappointed to find that it felt like it hadn't had a thorough clean for quite some time; we needed to wash things before we used them; it was suffering from a distinct lack of TLC; basically it wasn't up to scratch, whereas Fiesta Court in Wanganui that cost about $30 less per night was clean, fresh and felt very modern in comparison. I'm going on a bit I know but this makes us both cross, especially when you're expecting much better. Hasn't the NZ Tourist Board implemented an across the board rating system to stop this happening (or maybe it has one that doesn't extend to motels?). On a brighter note we're looking forward to exploring the peninsula tomorrow which will hopefully include a walk to Cathedral Cove.
Tue 8 March
Just back from our longest day out in the car after about 11 hours exploring, with today's highs reaching 28 degrees so still hot hot hot! We drove up the west coast to Coromandel town that we thought might be worth a look, but it wasn't, nothing to see really. Nicky had picked out Driving Creek Railway just outside the town as something she was keen for us to go to, so we found it and bought our tickets and waited for our train. It's a curiously interesting place thanks to the creativity and ingeniousness of the man who created it all, namely Barry Brickell. In essence, Barry personally laid every inch of a 3km narrow gauge railway over a few decades, a line that climbs through dense bush land and includes three tunnels, viaducts and several places where the train changes direction in order to reach its end at an incredible view point. I could certainly never have achieved (or conceived) such a feat and I'm in awe of the ingenuity and determination of people like Barry.
An even more windy road took us across to the east coast (yes, Nicky had to be driver for the day) and we found a stunning bay to stop for a picnic, the sun was shining, waves breaking on the beach and the views were oh so good. We carried on south until we reached Hahei, where we parked at another amazing and almost empty huge stretch of beach and set off on a hour's walk to Cathedral Cove. In contrast to the Abel Tasman walk, we had incredible views for much of the way and the steep sections ensured we had a good workout. Descending to the cove we could see why this is somewhere so many people come to see, it's beautiful.
After walking back from the cove we drove to Hot Water Beach and had a nice walk along the water's edge before the drive back to the motel. We had some chocolate waiting in the fridge to look forward to, always a positive that one!
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