Auckland to Rotorua

We completed the first leg of our journey yesterday.  We met up with our travel companions (the Randle family) at their hotel and hit the road to Rotorua, approximately 2 1/2 hrs from Auckland.  I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't quite was I was thinking I would see.  I think I expected beautiful Lord-of-the-Rings-like mountain tops the moment we cleared the city limits, but what we found instead was farm land, and more and more cows and sheep.

The 4 lane highway quickly became two lanes.  The traffic was not bad at all.  There were growing hills and a lot of twistiness in the roads (we are NOT in Kansas any more).

We stopped for lunch in Matamata and had a great lunch at a local cafe.  The proprietor was standing on the walk and welcomed us, and the proceeded to say that the restaurants on either side of his cafe also offered excellent food.  We opted to go with his cafe : )  Lots of familiar British specials including fish and chips, but also lots of other fusion type food options.

We didn't eat here, but I liked the name of the restaurant.

Lots of fresh fruit stands - especially "Avos" - avocados and "Strawbs" - strawberries