Departing Auckland at 7am you will take a pleasant drive south over the Bombay Hills into the rich dairy farmland of the Waikato, then turning East. A short stop at an elevated view over the Hauraki plains, with the Kaimai Coromandel range in the distance, makes for a great group photo.

It’s all plain flat driving across the plains through farmland to a disused dairy factory for a coffee/tea break. Just a few minutes down the road is the information centre at Matamata, which resembles a hobbit house. Here you can strike a pose with the statue of Gollum.