December 12, 2020
Te Aroha to Middle Earth.
Long straights to Matamata in the morning and pretty hill views to Hobbiton in the afternoon.
We breakfast with our fellow ‘occupants’ - our Dutch friend who is watching Country Calendar, his favourite programme, apart from the Dutch cycling one, and a family from Christchurch who stay at the Nunnery often. They seem to make a habit of it. (No more- I promise.) The husband is from Newport originally, and still retains a powerfully strong Welsh accent. We discuss Welsh language and Christchurch earthquakes.
As we depart, the 5 litre V8 Jaguar is being given its daily wash on the lawn. We call goodbye and head for the cycle trail, only to be overtaken by Denise, our host, who has a phone charging cable and plug, I’ve thoughtlessly left behind. How kind of her! There aren’t too many signs for the trail as we leave town, and we find out why when we come across a local councillor who tells us that the signs keep getting pilfered. At the tourist info we’re given the necessary, get out of town details, by a young woman with an English accent who tells us that she came to Te Aroha 30 years ago and never left. We can see why. We find the trail, which stretches away towards the hills like the yellow brick road.
The path eventually becomes gravel, but it is well compacted and a firm track. High up in the hills to our left, we see the thin lines of waterfalls among the bush clad slopes. The largest of these is the Wairere Falls, clearly visible in the distance. A few kilometres off the trail there is also a memorial to a 1963 air crash, when an NAC DC3 was caught in such turbulent winds that a downdraft slammed it into a ridge on the kaimai Range. It took rescuers 2 days to locate and reach the crash site.
The path to Matamata follows the line of the range and includes some long straight stretches. We seek refuge in an ice cream at the 1929 dairy factory at Te Aroha West. We’ve encountered another of these dairy factories in the Waikato and their solid and classical looking exteriors are well suited to use as a restaurant or wedding venue. The renovation of this one is particularly plush- especially the toilets.
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The variety of farms in this area becomes apparent from some of the signage. From the huge dairy cow herds one would be forgiven for thinking that this is the only form of farming practised, but there are sheep and goat milking herds, as well as crops of maize, reminding us of Germany.
As we approach Matamata houses become more massive in size. Clearly our childhood experiences of a shared bedroom is a thing of the past. We approach Matamata via Tower Road. The Firth Tower, built in 1882 was supposed to have been a look out. It still stands out, and so must have been very visible back in the day. It’s now a museum. We don’t stop, but move on to Broadway which is busy and awash with cafes and eateries of every kind. We order fish n chips, which we take to a nearby park to consume.
Before tackling the road to Hobbiton, we stock up on a few supplies from the supermarket. The route out of town is on Hinuera road - busy but drivers are very good about giving room and there’s also a good shoulder. After a couple of kilometres we reach the turnoff to Buckland Road which is a smaller road running about 15 kilometres, over a few hills, to Lake Karapiro. It’s about 3:00pm and we’ve booked an overnight stay on a farm just past Hobbiton- about halfway.
Buckland Road is a revelation- quiet, pretty little farm buildings here and there, and the views looking east to the Kaimais are beautiful. The road had frequent arrow markings as a reminder to overseas Tolkien fans of which side to use. The climbs are all manageable, though quite long, and they have some long dips which are fun. Soon we reach Hobbiton but only stop briefly to see if we can spot Bilbo or Gandalf lurking behind a bush. But no, there’s no one in sight and the car park is only full of a number of tired green buses that look like they’ve not moved for some time. Covid seems to have done to Middle Earth what Mordor could not.
Just beyond Hobbiton, we find Ransom BnB, our place for the night. We meet a welcoming couple, Sharee and Peter who run beef on the property. They have converted the end of their home into a very comfortable, well set up and pleasantly decorated flat. We appreciate the Temuka kitchenware. Dinner is chicken, rice and salad. It’s dark outside - could there be Orcs hovering? But there are only pleasant bird noises as we nod off.
Today's ride: 61 km (38 miles)
Total: 247 km (153 miles)
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