Now at Rotorua, but filling you in on the trip & yesterday a bit more.
I seem to have lost Monday. Happy 21st R anyway - xxxx The next time I see KL airport I'll be headed off to the zoo - ook!
Anyway. Picked up the car OK & headed off to Whitianga. The road kill was interesting to say the least: big browny-black things with black bushy tails. Kept stopping to take photos & even took a bit of vid driving up the peninsula rd. Am I naughty or what?
Due to meet T & J at some point & I was running late so took a short cut! Mmmm. It's called 109 & runs up & down through forest, mostly gravel, & lots of bends. Great fun to drive. I pretended I was Richard Hammond.
After checking in & having a shower, I headed off to see if I could find T & J digs, apparently 7k away, but after 18k I turned back, having not found Hahei.
REALLY sleepy on way back so I had an early night.
Today I was up & off by just after 0830, & discovered I'd turned back less than half a K before the Hahei turn off. C'est la vie.
Did a quick detour, found the Church, no T & J. Ah well, I tried.\
Another quick detour saw me at Hot Water Beach. I was tempted to have a swim, but I had an appointment at Hobbiton at 1220, so I whizzed off to Tauranga. At least I tried to whizz, but got stuck behind a camper doing 25k. After hours & hours (well it felt like it), he pulled over & let us all past.
Realising I'd now be pushing for time I called Hobbiton (yes, really), but due to filming, there were no extra tours. Bum
But I went to Matamata anyway, & found a really cute town with horses all over & evidence of a big rugby interest (my kind of town?)
Good news was, that the nice man, Russell, who's in charge (does that make him Thane?), offered to pick me up from here tomorrow, take me to Hobbiton & bring me back. What a stroke of luck.
So some more whizzing to Hamilton to meet Robbie, & then down Route 1 towards Rotorua.
Great roads & beautiful sights, saw me at the Route 5 junction, & I only passed 1 car/caravan & 1 cyclist all the way - about 35k, I think. I knew the roads were supposed to be quiet, but that was pretty amazing.
So here I am, soaked in the thermal spa, showered & ready for some scran, so it's TTFN & OAO