Tuesday, February 18, 2025 — we knew it was going to be a long day…. we had to be ready and in front of the hotel by 6:10am. The driver came by about 6:20 and we were off to Hobbiton, followed by a visit to Waitomo Cave.
I have never read any of Tolkien’s books or seen any of the movies based on his writings. So while I’ve always been a little intrigued by the whole hobbit deal, I really didn’t know what to expect on this tour.
We learned the backstory of the location and the production of the movies. The complete story is way too long and complex to relate here, so here’s the shorter version… location scouts flew a helicopter over a grumpy old farmers land and decided it was the ideal place to create the set. The following week, with the producer in tow, the crew arrived by car and knocked on the door of the farmhouse, where the grumpy guy’s wife invited them in against his wishes. He was involved in watching a very important rugby match between New Zealand and Australia. The grumpy guy told them if New Zealand won the rugby match, he would listen to their proposal, and if NZ lost, the crew would have to leave. So they had to sit through the entire rugby match and New Zealand won 20 to 19 in sudden death. A short ways into their presentation he stopped them and told them to ‘draw up the contract’. That was the beginning of one of the highest-grossing movie series of all time. And the grumpy old farmer is sitting on a gold mine. Millions of dollars are earned annually for his family from the tourist attraction ‘Hobbiton’ that was created when the filming was complete.
Since I’m not familiar with the stories, I can only share things were visually and artistically interesting to me. Those of you reading this who have knowledge of Tolkien’s work will have a much clearer understanding of what is captured in my photos. The sets we saw were incredibly detailed and realistic. It was almost as if you expected a hobbit to open the door and say “what the heck” or whatever a hobbit would say! Cheers, maybe?
Upon completion of the Hobbiton tour, we loaded up and headed out to get lunch on the way to the Waitomo Caves. On the drive we passed through Kihikihi town, where Steve Williams (Tiger Woods’ former caddy) was raised, currently lives part time and owns a beautiful golf course!
On to the caverns… in the 1800s, and maybe before, the local Maori people were aware of but had never extensively explored the limestone caves at Waitomo until 1887, when a local Maori Chief and an English surveyor started to explore them. The caves are protected by the government and the tourist concession is owned and operated by the descendants of the Māori chief. They are one of the more popular tourist destinations on the north island of New Zealand. The unique attribute of the caves are the glowworm species found exclusively in New Zealand. Their bioluminescence is created by a variety of naturally-occurring chemicals that cause a blue-green glow.
After descending into the cavern, the dry cave leads to the underground river. At that point, we settled into the boats and floated the remaining section of the cave. This river portion is where the most glow worms are visible, they are very pretty and a have little bit of a magical vibe. As we reach the end of the float, the exit of the cave appears and provides a grand finale blending of rainforest and cavern coming together in a beautiful reflection.
We made the 3-hour drive back to Auckland, and after our 12-hour day, we had dinner and went off to sleep.
Travels with Nance 