Middle earth tour Day 17. Destination is the Matamata

Middle earth tour Day 17. Destination is the Matamata

The morning turned out to be beautiful and sunny in Otorohanga when I first went out to get something to eat before sorting out my stuff before leaving. The weather changed once I had gotten back to my cabin and it poured and I had hoped that I could get inside before it hit. I was also hoping that it would have pushed on out of the way when I headed to the bus. When I did leave for the bus the weather was fine and windy. I had gotten there early so I could wait and read without wanting to be in much of a big hurry.

Not long after I had gotten to the stop that a taxi turns up dropping to backpackers off there and then the lady realises that she had left one person behind at the hostel in Waitomo so she had to go back or the person. She did ask the ladies if they could get the bus to wait until she got back. The bus turns up on time and the driver ended up talking to the taxi lady on the phone and the driver told h to put her foot down as he couldn’t wait too long. 10 mins later the taxi turns up and the taxi driver hopps onto the bus to get the fare from the two ladies who had not paid yet. I didn’t mind being a little late to Hamilton as I had an hour wait before getting the bus to Matamata. This was one of the reasons I don’t stay too far away from the bus or train stop as I have to rely on local transport to get to the bus. I have had in the past two taxis I booked in New Zealand not turn up at all.

The trip was made up in time by the time we reached Hamilton. I doubt we were speeding or anything as there was no one to pick up at that time, which I thought was good. We made it to Hamilton and the driver showed us the house that had burnt down the day before, which was not a good thing at all. Once at the stop I got some food where I was going to wait for the bus to arrive. The bus was actually destined for Tauranga so that was a good short ride for the others as it wouldn’t take long for them to get there.  We went through Cambridge on the way to Matamata and it did seem to take longer to get there though it could have just been me. We did stop in Cambridge though I would have lovd to take pictures of the town hall. I knew where I was once we had stopped as the information centre is like a hobbithole. Catchy and I knew my way to where I was staying too. The room is actually above the pub and the bar has all witty comments around though I never got to take pics just yet. I have to enter the bar area and walk around and up so I could have a beer on the way through.

Once I was settled in I went back to the information centre to get a map of the area and to find out where the tower museum was in town. Turns out the tower museum is actually 3 kms out of town and while I could have walked there I was actually 2kms from the cemetery in the other direction. The problem with guide books is that there are some that give you the sights in 3 towns and I cannot do that as I need a vehicle of some sort. I did find several other hobbit themed businesses though I never looked in, but found I had to catch the Hobbit bus to where I was going tomorrow so that is a bit better than going from Rotorua. The cemetery didn’t seem that far down the road though the heritage walk I was after was the Matamata one and not the one that would take me through towns like Matamata, Te Aroha and Okaula. Not sure if there is a bus, but could be worth looking into if I do the tower and Hobbiton tomorrow. The cemetery is pretty recent as it was built in 1910 and I did see there was a burial occurring in the distance. The good part was the heritage trail was numbered and the cemetery was part of that. I did wander through a bit before heading to town for a better wander. Behind the pub I a staying in is a park called Founders Park that is dedicated to the founding of Matamata with the settlers.

I headed back to the room for a shower and rested for a while reading a book. I was wondering where to have dinner so tried the pub as I was above it. The bartender gave me a shot glass when I asked for Waikato Draught to see if I liked it then got a pint of it. I think I was the only guy in the pub reading a book before the food turned up. People only started turning up for food once I had finished mine. It does seem strange that I am feeling tired over the last couple of days though its mainly been at night and could just be the three weeks of being on the run and the body winding down. I did laugh at the bus driver once I got dropped off at Matamata as he said my bag was heavy. I told him its because I collect things as I go on my trip. I would hate to try and take it further than 800 metres like several kilometres. At least the town is not as small as several of the others I have visited so far and I think I would be content to keep exploring.