“What Would Hillary Do?” was my constant mantra all day long today.
The answer: “Keep to the left!”
It must have worked because we made it safe and sound, all the way from Auckland to Rotorua, without any problem.
Of course I had Judy in the left seat playing the role of Bernie: “LEFT, LEFT, LEFT, EVEN MORE LEFT” at every step of the way.
The GPS lady took us on an interesting route, from freeway to the outskirts of Auckland, normal two lane roads, one-and-one-half lane highways and one-lane byways. Driving on a one-lane, twisty, hilly road that is posted at 100 Km/hr (60 mph) is a bit unnerving but we didn’t meet an oncoming cars and everything worked out just fine.
I only had two problems. First, I tended to drive a bit left of central, leaving more room in the center of the highway. Judy was afraid I would sideswipe someone or end up in the ditch. Tomorrow I’m going to do what I hope Hillary does (assuming she’s elected): move a little bit to the center of the road. Second, because the turn signal is on the left side of the steering wheel and the wiper control is on the left, we arrived with a squeaky clean windshield. Old habbits are hard to break.
The country through which we traveled was a series of beautiful farms and undulating hills decked out in Spring green. Lots of cattle and sheep grazing on the verdant pastures.
Our destination was Hobbiton, as in Lord fo the Rings and The Hobbit.Why? Because it was on the way to Rotorua and so that we could avoid fanatic LoR/H fans who would otherwise say, “You didn’t go to Hobbiton? A once in a life time opportunity and passsed it by? What kind of fools are you?” Judy and I read the books back in college and watched the first half of the first Lord of the Rings movie but don’t qualify as diehard fans.
Our tour guide told us of some fans who came to Hobbiton dressed in costume and then walked for two days, barefoot, to the mountain where the volcano sequences were shot. Upon arrival they bought expensive gold rings and flew via an ultralight over the volcano and then threw the rings into the firey chasm.
We had no idea how to go about touring Hobbiton. Our taxi cab driver in Auckland told us only guided tours were allowed. Solo vistors were not accommodated. Nonetheless, we drove to Matamata to the iSite tourist information center. The lady asked, “How soon can you be ready?” We lucked out by scoring a parking spot directly in front of the visitor center’s entrance so five minutes later we were on the bus and off to see the 44 Hobbit houses set in the side of a hill.
It was a fun visit even for lukewarm fans like us. The setting is beautiful and our guide told us stories about the making of the movies and the incredible detail that was observed to make the movies as realistic as possible.
A sideline benefit was that the setting was some of the prettiest countryside like what we’d been admiring on our drive that morning. Pastoral views of sheep and cattle grazing on lush green hillsides.
We arrived at our B&B in Rotorua around five. Our hosts, Mike and Peter, helped us set our itinerary for the next two days. First up: hot springs baths tonight. Tomorrow, gysers and bubbling hot springs in two locations, a visit to the town museum and a Maori cultural presentation and dinner tomorrow afternoon and evening. On Sunday we’ll press on to Taupo, driving there via Waitomo to see the glow worm caves. That ought to keep us out of mischief!
So we’re in our room, all tingly and glowing from the thermal hot springs and a nice steak dinner. It’s only 11:00 and we don’t have to be up for breakfast until 8:15 AM tomorrow.
Oh and by the way: Judy’s hobby is to rate toilet facilities wherever we go. Compared to squat pits in many parts of Asia, New Zealand’s are just fine. She was especially impressed by the public loo in downtown Matamata that sported fresh cut flowers.
