13th February 2013
Woke up to another sunny day. The beach behind the campsite was really nice, making the campsite a good option for a longer stay.
On the beach we saw a nice David Brown tractor, normally more at home on the rolling green hills of England, it looked like it had been put here using photoshop! It made us think of our friend Phil Harvey from home, who collects David Brown tractors!
After breakfast we set off on the short walk to Cathedral Cove.
Leaving the Coromandel Peninsula we passed another old building, this time the old tavern and hotel. Place to go for a good time in the late 1800’s!
We carried on in a south westerly direction to a town called Matamata, which has become a tourist destination due to being discovered by Peter Jackson (director of Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit). He found a sheep ranch of 1250 acres, run by the Alexander family that had an area that closely resembled Middle Earth as described by Tolkien. Here The Shire was created. There are now over 40 Hobbit holes and the Green Dragon pub. Tours are run to the site for Hobbit enthusiasts.
The whole thing was really well done, and it looked like such a great place to live.
We had booked into a campsite that had some hot springs about 6km from town. Tomorrow we head down to Taupo area.
troopytracks 