I know you're excited about seeing Hobbiton and I'll get there, but I'm a stickler for going in order, so you'll have to wait until the next post for all things Shire!
First things first, we bought a tourist package called The Middle Earth Trilogy Package. I don't know why they call it the Middle Earth Trilogy Package because the only thing Middle Earth about it was Hobbiton. The other 2 locations had nothing to do with Lord of The Rings whatsoever. Just thought I should inform you of that little detail up front because it confused the heck outta me! Anyway, the package included Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Hobbiton and Te Puia geyser and cultural village. I know you have no idea what any of this means, but basically we did a 2 day road trip south to the mid-west section of North Island. It was similar to our last road trip, in that we drove all over, saw everything we could and were exhausted by the end. Day 1 was Waitomo Caves (and we made a point to stop and see the world renowned Hamilton Gardens). Let's go!
We woke up at 6am, packed up Tui and off we went! It took us about 2 hours to reach Waitomo Caves and our tour wasn't until 11am, so we had awhile to wait. Here's the front:
Get used to my Shark Warrior sweater, I wear it every time I feel even a slight chill in the air.
When I picked up our tickets, I found out our package included 2 caves!
So, this threw our schedule way off. I thought we were doing an hour-long cave tour, but the second cave was another 2 hours! Whoa! I had to chop some of our sightseeing plans, but the caves were so worth it.
While we were waiting, I grabbed a flyer:
Inneresting.
We were going to get a snack at the cafe, but everything was so expensive, we decided against it.
Now, here's the rub: the Waitomo Glowworm Caves contain (you guessed it!) glowworms and glowworms are super sensitive to light and sound. Also, the caves were discovered and are owned by the Maori people and they didn't want any pictures inside. For those two reasons we were forbidden to film or take photos of any kind. I got the entrance though:
and the exit:
Not all that exciting, but let me just tell you WOW! The cave itself was beautiful, but the glowworms were definitely the highlight. I've never seen anything like it! So, the first half of the tour was just your typical cave: cold, dark, wet-ish with stalactites and stalagmites and great acoustics. Our guide said they even have Christmas concerts in the big open area. Then when it was glowworm time, we were told to be as silent as possible and no lights allowed (except the flashlight our guide held). We walked down a narrow path to the Waitomo River, where we boarded a boat and were taken on a boat ride. It was completely silent, except for the sounds of water dripping and it was pitch black until we saw all these incredible bright blueish green lights! There were thousands of them! I got some pictures from the internet and they are photoshopped, but let me tell you even they don't do it justice:
These are of the actual Waitomo Cave, just retouched (and with lighting). It was the most beautiful sight. I could've stayed in that cave for hours, just looking up at them. Incredibly cool.
We were told that although there are glowworms in other parts of the world, this particular species is only found in New Zealand. Just amazing!
After our tour, we took a 10 minute bus ride that would take us to Ruakuri Cave, where we would take our next tour. In Ruakuri we were allowed to take pictures, even of the glowworms (just not too close and no flash, of course).
Man-made entrance:
They had this giant spiral staircase that dimly lights up (it reminded me of Star Trek or something space-y):
At the bottom was this rock:
Then we walked through this tunnel (reminded me of Hunger Games, when they lived in District 13 underground. Yea, I watch way too many movies).
Finally, we were in the actual cave (not man-made):
These formations are called "curtains:"
I've never seen anything like that before.
Seashell impression:
This cave used to be underwater and while it was being worked on, divers would have to dive to the entrance of the cave, carrying all their materials (cement for the floors, metal bars to make walkways, etc). Their lunch would be delivered through a 200ft tube connecting the cave to those up above:
They kept the tube in place, just to acknowledge the hard work put in by these divers every day for 2 years.
It was really hard to get good pictures because it was pretty dark (duh, cave!).
Are you ready to see some real-life, un-retouched glowworms? Oh man, you're in for a treat!
NOT! These look like crap! Only the super bright ones would photograph, but imagine this to look like a sky full of bright blue stars (some really close to you). We tried as best we could (without disturbing them, of course), but to no avail. This looks nothing like what we were seeing. So frustrating!
Our guide this time had no problem shining a light right on the little suckers. They hang a sticky (poison!) silk thread from their bodies to catch and paralyze insects:
Here's one hanging down and dragging it's silk thread back up with a mosquito on the end:
Don't worry, Aaron got it on video! The guide said it wasn't common to catch them feeding, so we lucked out!
Our tour was fantastic! We went on a cave tour somewhere in Greece (I forget where) and it was decent, but this was really great. I saw things I never thought I'd see. Next time, we need to black water raft (basically sit in an inner tube and ride around in the cave in the dark). Ohh spooky!
We completed Waitomo and Ruakuri Caves! Whew! It was already 2:30 when we got back to the car, so I wiped everything off our schedule except the Hamilton Gardens, recommended by my Lonely Planet guide book. It was about an hour drive to the city of Hamilton and this time I drove:
Aaron was so freaked out, but I didn't kill us! I have to say, now I'm used to us being on the other side of the road (just from watching Aaron drive all the time), so I'm way less confused about where I need to be when I turn (although we both still have our moments where it takes us both a minute to realize we're on the wrong side..oops!). BUT it's way weird having the steering wheel on the right side!! It's so hard to judge how close you are to stuff on the left side of the car and it took me AWHILE to get the hang of staying in my lane (when you're perfectly in the lane, it feels like you're too far over to the right and you constantly feel like you're playing chicken with oncoming traffic). Man, it's strange! I'll admit that I curbed poor Tui hardcore when trying to parallel park on the left side. Not my best moment, but she's only got a scratched rim. I let Aaron take over after that.
We got to Hamilton Gardens with only an hour until closing of the central gardens. We better hurry!
I forgot to take a picture of the sign, but this next one was the Italian Garden:
All of these gardens are insanely gorgeous, right? Check out the American Modernist Garden:
It's a goddamn kiddie pool with a random white blob sculpture and a Marilyn Monroe wall. Utter crap!
I gotta say: I loved this place! Even if you're not so into gardens and plants, you can't deny the talent and effort that went into all this. I can't say I know all that much about gardens, but I love themes. I think anything following a theme is automatically fantastic and super fun. I loved all the different themed gardens and appreciated how unique each one was. This place was awesome! No wonder they won Garden of The Year:
and they're still expanding:
I guess the Tudor Garden just opened and we got to see it in all it's splendor!
There's a long river that runs through the entire area and you can take a boat cruise, if you're so inclined:
While I was in the loo, Aaron was admiring this wood carving:
I guess it took 2 people 7,000 hours to create. Wow.
From Hamilton, we drove to our final destination of the day: Matamata (about 45 minutes).
Right near Matamata is where Hobbiton is and we passed our it on the way to our campsite:
Our tour was 9am the next morning, so we thought staying nearby was a good idea (we were only about a mile past this). Woo Hoo!!! I'm so pumped!
I downloaded an app called Campermate on my phone and it tells me all the campsites in New Zealand with reviews and details of prices and facilities. It's really great (not sure if it's exclusively for New Zealand). People are all about camping in New Zealand. Tourists (and I'm sure locals) rent campervans and drive all over. Sleeping in your car at a campsite is commonplace too. Camping is by far the cheapest (and usually most convenient) way to sleep, if you can manage. Tui is a bit snug, so it's a challenge, but we manage just fine. I found Brock's Place on my app and it was the closest thing to Hobbiton I could find and it was only $5/person/night, so it sounded perfect!
Brock's Place is actually someone's property, which could have been super awkward, but they were so friendly and accommodating and it's obvious they've been capitalizing on their location for awhile now, so they know the drill.
Here's their house (the bathroom all the campers use is in a detached room in the back, behind that cage):
They even provide a living room area with plugs if you need to charge your devices.
You pay here:
and you enter the backyard through here:
We made it!
Great view on both sides:
Sink with drinking water provided:
It was perfect. We got some Indian takeout when we were in Hamilton and we watched The Hateful Eight on Aaron's phone until it got dark. We were able to shower ($2 for 5 minutes of hot water, so we tag-teamed it...yes, we're that cheap) and brush our teeth and stare at the stars awhile before passing out and dreaming of The Shire.
Trust me, you don't want to miss Hobbiton!!
Such a gorgeous country so unique!
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