Sunrise over the Bay of Islands is beautiful. We see it from the car as we make our way to the deserted airport and solve the conundrum of returning the hire car. Eventually passengers and staff drift in and the de Havilland Q300 arrives with quite a few on board. Then we scamper across the tarmac and we are off on a short hop back again to Auckland. Here we get a new car, a Mazda and it has everything except a USB port, which is vital for our TomTom. But soon we have a work around and it all should be good from here on.

Heading off in the car to the Hobbiton Movie Set where The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Trilogies were filmed. When location scouts found the Alexanders' spectacular 1250 acre sheep and beef farm just outside of Matamata, it was clear this would be the perfect setting for Sir Peter Jackson's adaptation of these classic works by J.R.R. Tolkien. We hear some of the stories about the building of this place and the filming that happened here. Problem: Birdsong is spoiling the recording of the actors as they speak. Solution: Bring a trained Eagle from the USA to keep the birds away. Problem: The book says there are Plum Trees in Hobbiton, but Plum Trees are not photogenic. Solution: Plant six apple trees and prior to filming remove all fruit and leaves. Prepare 8,000 artificial leaves and 600 artificial Plums and spend three days attaching them to the apple trees before filming. Payback: Seven seconds of film where they can be seen. More stories like these entertain us and shed light on the art of film making.

Indeed we agree it all paid off. The tour is very well organised. As a group we move from one location to another and after some information get some free time before moving on. Then we have a break at the Green Dragon Inn for a free drink. Although no interiors were ever built for filming, a mock up of an actual interior set has been created and we are free to explore it. Well worth the visit and even better having watched the first half hour of The Felowship Of The Ring, last night.

Rotorua is the next stop for two nights. We are staying quite a way up this dormant volcano overlooking the city. Our host has provided much food and drink for us. We do go to Woolworths nevertheless. Now we have a car for the next three weeks we can stock up in the catering department, which we do.

Early days to be drawing up thoughts on New Zealand, but some are forming. Climate and Geography are immutable and create a race, but what of other factors that work on the population? How are they affected by living 'at the bottom of the World'? Yesterday at Waitangi Treaty Grounds there was a map of the World and in the bottom right corner was New Zealand. Contrast to being brought up in Britain seeing it front and centre of every World map. And Britain has so many countries nearby we can avail international travel with ease. But is there less choice and further to go for the population here? No rights no wrongs to draw from this, but would Darwin or Freud explain my own questions to you better than I? I shall pen them a letter.