Feb 7, 2024: Papamoa Beach (near Tauranga)

I woke up feeling victorious at not having been sunburned yesterday, and promptly felt spoiled as well as victorious because Sachi made us french toast for first breakfast.

We sunscreened up and headed off to our tour of Hobbiton. As we got closer, we saw signs reading “Hobbiton movie set and tourist farm”. This is not inaccurate – the outfit is obviously a well-oiled tourist churning machine. There were tours leaving every 10 minutes and a lot of the tour guides’ jobs involved herding cats to keep their group on their time-marks through the set route.

Despite feeling a bit over-encouraged to be hasty, it was still very enjoyable. It was fun to see the scale-sized hobbit doors, the attention to detail, and the mix of fake and real things!

After some of the best captive-audience food I’ve had in recent memory, we attempted to hike to Wairere waterfall. However, as the trail was closed when we arrived, we trundled off to Poripori water holes, where the river was very refreshing. Today was a deceptively toasty, overcast day.
I got deceptively toasted while in the river, and I am hoping my sunburn fades overnight. So much for yesterday’s victory!

Alice