Our expanded stay in Whitianga wasn't as genious as we first thought because the weather didn't obey the weatherforecast. (Maybe you have won the battle, weather, but you haven't won the war).

We took a detour on the way to Rotorua, so that we can see the Cathedral Cove which was recommended by some local people. The cove was very beautiful even though it was quite cloudy and the water wasn't as blue was shown on the pictures of the information sheets. We were hoping that the sun eventually will show up by the time we arrive at Matamata, aka Hobbiton.

When we arrived at "The Shire", we were quite surprised about the lack of Hobbits. We thought that they would be singing, drinking and dancing all over the place but apparently we missunderstood or wanted to missunderstand something. So we had to change the plan of stealing the weakest of all Hobbits and make it our own servant, who we would have forced to massage our sweaty feet at the end of the day. The Shire, as empty as it was, was really cool place to visit. Peter Jackson really gave much thought to details and we were really lucky to visit the Shire after they had rebuilt almost everthing of the set for the new movie. The atmosphere was great but it wouled have been even more special if it had been sunnier and if the "hobbit mob" had taken care of the little annoying brat who was really upsetting us.

We are staying for three days in a cool hostel in Rotorua, "Funky Green Voyager". Rotorua wasn't as smelly as we expected. The owners of the hostel are a really nice couple (a kind, german woman and an energetic, funny new zealander). They put us into a 2-bed room instead of a 4-bed room, for the same price. They recommended a "Maori Experience" evening and added that three swedish girls already had booked this event. So we didn't really have any choice, did we?

The whole evening was fun but very touristic. The Maori showed us how they used to live and what weapons they fought with. The coolest part was when they did the "Haka", a maori battle dance, which even the All Blacks di before every Rugby game. Their spiritual philosophies were really interesting but it was just a short crash course. After this cultural presentation, we had dinner in a big tent with enough chairs and tables for about 200 people. When the tourists were fed and happy, a Maori showed us the glowworms which were in the woods nearby. Some extremely smart tourists thought that they would see the glowworms better if they use their flashlight and point directly at them.

Tonight is our last night in Rotorua. We are going to have some vegetarian hamburgers. To my surprise, there was no rebbelion, no screaming or fighting from Oscars side. He just accepted the vegetarian meal. (Probably because he already had a hamburger for lunch.)

Tomorrow, we are heading to the Waitomo to explore the caves. The famous "Glowworm Cave" is the one we are looking forward the most.