Day 6: January 6, Hobbiton & Waitomo Caves

Since I’ve spent much of my life either living in or visiting cities in my business travel, I try to get out big towns when on most vacations.  So rather than spend a day in Auckland, I booked a tour to go get my geek on in Hobbiton, the set used in the shooting of all three Lord of the Rings movies, and the more recent Hobbit trilogy. The afternoon tour was of caves discovered in 1887 with rooms of stalactites and stalagmites and an underwater river filled with glowing worms.

But first, Hobbiton — set in 12 acres of a sheep farmers’ 1,250 acres, the first trilogy had the Shire built of temporary materials.  After the films released, people flocked to see the remains of the set, so they were re-built for permanence for the Hobbit films.  Peter Jackson is known for his attention to detail, and it’s quite evident here.  There are both 90% scale and 60% scale Hobbit holes, so that the perspective would be right for when Gandalf visited.  There was laundry on the clothes lines, vegetables in the gardens, and the tree above Frodo and Bilbo’s house was stripped of it’s native leaves and had oak leaves individually wired on, and then spray painted the right shade of green.  We had a specialty beverage only brewed for Hobbiton in the Green Dragon, and were even permitted to go into one of the set houses, although there wasn’t much inside.  A thoroughly enjoyable experience, especially after having been on a tour of Weta Workshop 8 years ago in Wellington where I saw all the costumes and prosthetics — Hobbit feet and ears hanging in the storage area!  These films have made Peter Jackson and Weta Workshop heroes in NZ — bringing a robust film industry and additional tourism to the country.  Even the Air NZ safety video features the characters from the films!

From there is was to the caves, which were a bit of a disappointment after the morning.  No photos were allowed, and descriptions won’t do justice so suffice it to say that the caves were dark, chilly and the centuries of limestone very impressive.  We then sat in a boat and were pulled through the underground river to see the glow worms, which hold fast to the walls and ceiling of the caves and glow a beautiful blue/green.  Because it’s dark it was like drifting through a starry night.  You had to be quite because too much noise could make them dim their lights, so other than the chatty year old baby in my boat it was a peaceful and pretty amazing 15 minutes.

It was a long day with too many hours on a bus (over 500 km around the area south and east of Auckland), but I was glad to have seen the countryside, which is gorgeous. Rolling hills, very green, lots of sheep and cattle.  NZ has been known for sheep for decades, but after the GEC, the country incentivized moving to dairy and then beef cattle, both of which are prized because the volcanic soil here produces tasty grass, which improves the creaminess of the milk and the beef.

And a final treat — the bungy chair next to the hotel was in use as I walked back from a quick dinner — looked terrifying to me!