Rotorua

On route to Rotorua we stopped at Mata Mata which is home to the famous Lord of the Rings set 'The Shire.' Unfortunately the tour was extortionately expensive and the set had been mostly dismantled in any case, so we ended up camping by the village Green for the night and indulging in true hobbit fashion in some more fine Marlborough Pinot Gris and delicate campervan stove cuisine while continuing the chess championship deep into the night. Onwards to Rotorua, which you can smell before you see it; yes it is the hot spring capital of NZ with more bubbling sulphur than the special smell of a student fridge's fry up collection. Having been spoilt living in Hokkaido where you can jump in natural hot pools on the mountain top while skiing, I found Roturua to be too touristy and lacking in what makes hot springs special, i.e. uncrowded pools in the middle of nowhere. We had also just visited the Butcher Pools near Lake Taupo which were wonderful, so posh spas which charged you to get in just did not cut it. However, we did go to one tourist attraction which was very funny and definitely highly recommended: The sheep shearing show at The Agrodrome. This is very cheesy and commercialized but quite hilarious. In essence it's all about making the audience look stupid and involves much participation, for example feeding the lambs and milking a cow on stage (something which I think Mark was amused to realize I could do well – growing up in Norfolk was useful in some ways). We also had a good look at all of the sire prize rams which was interesting in particular the impressive shaggy haired Merino beast. The show was followed by a working sheep dog presentation which was very impressive.

Following the Agrodrome, we had a fun game of crazy golf, which in fact drove Mark crazy…hehe! JG