We left the Coromandel peninsula by the same road that we came; there’s not much choice. We stopped for fuel at Tairua then coffee and cake at the Ironique cafe at Te Aroha. Next stop Hobbiton, which is apparently the most visited tourist attraction in New Zealand, and is just outside Matamata. Our guide was a student from Auckland who was just coming to the end of his fourth summer at Hobbiton.

I’ve never read the Hobbit nor seen the films and I wasn’t the only one in our group who hadn’t. Apparently some visitors think they’re visiting Hogwarts.

Towards the end of the tour, just before a swift half at the The Green Dragon Inn, we visited a games field where Susan tried the quoits. She managed it on her 4th attempt; the second quoit bounched out of shot.

Then we continued to Rotorua, stopping at Huka falls to watch people getting wet in Jet boats, and upstream of the falls, a duck wondering what people find so interesting.

Out Motel at Rotorua was only a very short walk to the best fish and chip shop in the town (Oppies) . But it was only a slightly longer walk to the Thursday night market, where we found food and drink in abundance.

We couldn’t smell the sulphur at the market but we could outside our Motel.