So last night I met the group for the first time. There are 14 of us, all travelling on our own except for one couple. Our tour leader is called Herbie and is German, although he has lived in New Zealand for at least 30 years. It is now 24 hours since we met and we have already identified the woman who has been late for every rendezvous. Herbie drives the bus as well as tour leading.

This morning we started at a reasonable hour for a tour of Auckland. Unfortunately, it was pissing down so when we went up Mount Eden (an old volcano that has a Pa on top of it and a 360 degree view of the city) we could see very very little and got very very wet.

After that, we went to a place called Matamata where they filmed Hobbiton for Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Apparently it was all plywood and polystyrene for LotR but when they went to make The Hobbit, they had to replace it so Peter Jackson and the farmer came to an agreement and they built it more substantially. They now share the profits 50/50. Its very thorough – British plants and British weeds and even British birds so the background sound would be right. The town tourist information office is built in the same style and a whole coach full of Japanese tourists were putting their lives in danger photographing it from the middle of the road.

Been out to dinner for fish soup and white wine and now in my personal hotel shed watching British telly again.