It was a late, cool start (16 degrees) but a pleasant ride through rolling hills and flat cow countryside for 27 kms to NZ North Island highest waterfalls, Wairere Falls. This was followed by lunch at Opal Hot Springs and, a now regular soak for Michelle, Don, Liz & Ed. The remaining preferring instead to continue into Matamata in search for the obligatory coffee. Matamata is all about Hobbits. Even the tourist centre looks like it was part of the movie set. The locals recant about how they played as extras on the film and I suspect they would have gladly provided their autograph if asked. There are bus loads of tourists pouring into town and we were told that Hobbiton had become the highest tourist rating feature in NZ.
Distance: A lazy 43 km