After visiting Rotorua we headed for Auckland, stopping for lunch at Longland’s Farm and Restaurant, a working dairy farm in the Waikato farming area of Matamata.
This was probably my saddest moment as a Tolkien fan. We drove through Matamata and came ever so close to the Hobbiton movie set, but there was no time for a visit. I had to console myself with photos of the “Welcome to Hobbiton” sign and the hobbit-style Visitor Center.
For the remainder of our drive to Auckland we watched the movie “Whale Rider”, which tells the story of a young Maori girl who breaks tradition and becomes the next chief of her tribe.