We had planned on doing the abseiling, rafting, rock climbing etc in the caves, but at 160 dollars each it was a little out of our early trip budget, so we have put it down to return on our way back up! So instead we went fishing...you probably could have seen that coming....in fairness it was a lovely little river (Tawarau) in a gorgeous setting so both Phil and Shane were happy.....especially when dinner was caught within the hour!!!...and Shane got another one for good measure but let that one go back! We called it a day not long after that, and decided to head up towards Cambridge. We had a beautiful campsite next to Lake Karapiro to ourselves, and went to bed well fed with Shanes 2 pound trout! On the way back from the river we did a few little walks and took in the Marokopa Falls, Piripiri Caves and Mangapohue Natural Bridge. We had a beautiful campsite next to Lake Karapiro to ourselves, and went to bed well fed with Shanes 2 pound trout!

The main activity the next day was Matamata....to those in the know....Hobbiton...The Shire!!!So we joined our tour there at 9am, a little more than we wanted to pay, but how often are we going to be on a movie set?!...We started by viewing some of the 37 Hobbit holes....they were so impressive and intricate...with every detail thought of and put into the design...for instance the clothes were all to scale, there were fresh veggies outside the houses, all the tools were to scale...it was amazing!!! We eventually got to Bag End to see Bilbo and Frodos house....from there we went down to the party tree (which was next to the lake and the reason why this location was picked!) and then over to the Green Dragon Pub...where we got a glass of ale and cider...which were surprisingly nice, and went down very well even at 11 in the morning!!!...we can see why the Hobbits were happy here...even though the portion was a bit on the Hobbit size for our preference!!!