Tauranga

To help celebrate Royston's birthday we treated ourselves to a night at a top hotel in Tauranga. On route we stopped off to see the view back down the valley over to Matamata (otherwise known as Hobbiton as a large part of Lord of the Rings was filmed in this area).





The weather was stunning, so we spent some time walking around the waterfront area - largely dominated by restaurants and bars.




The hotel was certainly a treat after most of our nights away here being in a tent. This is Royston's arty shot from our balcony over to Mount Maunganui. The evening was topped off with a lovely meal at one of the waterfront restaurants.