It was the same weird start as yesterday. I got myself up and ready, and was trying to figure out things to do before Toby and Tessa woke up - when just after 7am they both appeared, dressed packed and eager to leave. So off we set.
Taupo was still and uninhabited when we arrived looking for breakfast. After a short reconnoitre we chose Dixie Browns on the waterfront. When we went inside I realised that I'd indeed been here before at some Taupo Cycle Challenge or other.
It was colder than I expected so after ordering I ran back for my jacket and brought the car around. Which was a good move - my omelette was good but I really need hot sauce with things like scrambled eggs and omelette. But the car was there. And in the car was my gym bag. And in the gym bag was Lee Herd's home made hot sauce, that I've carried everywhere for some weeks so I can get it back to him. It hit the spot nicely!
We headed north again, next stop Hobbiton, but realised that we were far too early. A side trip to Karapiti 'Craters of the Moon' was called for. I had been there before, but not since last century. It was definitely worth the trip and the new $8 admission (which according to the website pays rental fees to DOC as well as supporting local community organisations and environmental work and providing scholarships for local high school students). The steam pressure and ground temperatures had definitely dropped since the 1900s when I went - instead of a truly alien landscape, hardy plants like kanuka had grown up and colonised the area. The really informative and interesting signs on the way spoke to this - over the last 100 years the site has steadily become tamer. But there is still a rich variety of steam vents hissing and brilliant hues of mineral colours.
Back to the car, back to the podcasts (a whole series of a comedic slant on the JFK assassination ... yes really! And it's great!) and Google Maps Woman directing us north. Back onto SH1 after taking a little rat run, and on to Hobbiton in good time for a cafe lunch before our tour.
Hobbiton was fantastic and even the hefty admission fee felt like great value for money. We were loaded into a bus and taken to the start of the tour. A friendly, relaxed and helpful guide took us through the site. He gave the impression that he loved his job and that we weren't the umpteenth group he'd taken through! The Hobbiton site itself is hard to describe but has a vibe and a sense of place that just has to be experienced. I've seen movie sets and movie props before and was expecting something that you had to not peer too hard at before you noticed the plywood and plastic foam and rough spraypainting. This wasn't like that at all. It was detail perfect. The gardens were immaculately maintained at just the right level of overgrown. The hobbit holes looked like their occupants had just left for the afternoon, with their washing on the line and their wares such as cheeses and eggs and breads outside with little pouches to pay. Our guide highlighted all the different scales; some hobbit holes were 'hobbit scale' for hobbits to appear the right size, others were 'human scale' for Gandalf to tower over. All carefully arranged for forced perspective to make the site look right, and I guess larger than it was, at the right angles for the right shots.
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| Hobbiton |
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| Even the vege garden is immaculately maintained |
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| That pose |
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| That pose. Toby was here at this hobbit hole a year ago! |
After a hobbit brewed beer at the Green Dragon pub - the movie set frontage with a replica interior retrofitted after filming - we happily bussed back to base and checked out the gift shop.
One really good thing about Hobbiton is that it is very close to many Waikato destinations - Taupo, Tauranga, Rotorua, ... So next on our list of 'places to stay that Mike has never been to' was a quick flying visit to Tauranga and Mt Maunganui. Google Maps again navigated us (mostly) seamlessly to our accommodation at Academy Motor Inn. Quite a contrast to our last night's accommodation - immaculate and professional. We dropped our gear, sorted our lives and then back into the car to check out Mt Maunganui.
I know nothing about Mt Maunganui other than that there's a beach there and teens go to party on New Years. What would we find?
We found an incredible beach, that stretched as far as the eye can see, along with blocks and blocks of bars, restaurants and cafes on the street a block behind. It felt like we'd been transported to a New South Wales beach town, complete with a warm breeze and what looked like warm water - but those city kids didn't want to get sandy so we didn't actually check out the beach itself. Clearly a lot of money here, but still room for a beach bum surfing culture too.
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| Mt Maunganui |
After wandering about the waterfront we headed back to the food strip and checked out Latitude 37. A really good relaxed place with incredible food. Unusually neither Toby (sticky rice balls with pork) nor I (salmon salad) had steak, or even anything from a cow.
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| And incredible chocolate mousse to finish! |
We left happy and sated and headed back to town. Toby and Tessa spent a good hour in the swimming pool and hot tub here, until after dark.
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