Waitomo & Rotorua Experience

The end of our glowworm boat ride

New Zealand is much more than it being Middle Earth. While I was still in Auckland, I booked an all day tour with Great Sights to see Waitomoto and Rotorua.  Waitomo is famous for its glowworm caves. In addition to the incredible limestone formations, we went on a boat ride through the pitch dark area of the cave so that we could see all the glowworms on top of the cave. It felt like a night sky filled with stars!  It was incredible. Of course, these glowworms, Arachnocampa luminosa, which is unique to New Zealand, live in complete darkness so no photograph is allowed.

After the Waitomo Glowworm tour, I went on a farm tour at Agrodome Farm. You know I couldn't come all the way here without visiting a farm. I actually looked into farm stay as an accommodation option. Unfortunately, it would be difficult for me to get to the farms without renting a car, so I ended up staying in city centers for all 3 stops. At the farm tour, I got to witness the process of shearing a sheep, sheep dog demo, hand feed a bunch of wooly sheep, and visit the baby animal nursery.

The dog was incredible. The training started at 3 months old, and he is now 3 years old with the ability to herd 500 sheep all by himself!  He doesn't bark at them. He just stared them down and ran back and forth to gather them together.  For the demo, only 4 sheep were used. The dog was calm and extremely focused.

Sheep dog working

After the dog demo, we all go on a trolley  that was pulled by a tractor so we could go around the farm to visit various animals. The dog went on the farm tour with us, too. I sat next to him, so I could pet him. The farm animals totally knew what was going on when they saw visitors coming by in trolleys. They all quickly ran up to us because they knew they were going to get treats!  While some guests were turned off by the smell of sheep, I loved it!  You know I am a farm girl at heart. I was so excited at the sight of the fluffy wooly sheep running up to me. They were all over me within seconds to get the pellets in my hands.


After I said goodby to the sheep, the tour took me to Te Puia, a Maori culture institute, in Rotorua. The history of Maori people in New Zealand has a lot of similarities as our indigenous people in the States. We started our tour with a welcome ceremony from Maori people in their traditional attires. After we were invited into their meeting house, they did a performance for us. After the fabulous performance we got to tour the rest of Te Puia. They have a kiwi house on site, and there I finally got to see 2 kiwi birds!  Rotorua is covered with active steam vents! The steam and sometimes water coming out from the vents is extremely hot.  It's an incredible sight. People use the steam to cook, to bath, and to heat up their homes.

I would definitely like to spend more time in Rotorua area when I revisit Middle Earth.

Weta Cave

As soon as I checked into my hotel in Wellington, I went look for LofR tours. Although I normally enjoy exploring on my own, my time in Middle Earth is PRECIOUS!  I borrowed a phone and called up Wellington Rover Tours to reserve the first tour available. Unfortunately the all day tour was all sold out, so I had to settle with a half day tour in the afternoon. The tour guide drove us to Mt. Victoria, where many scenes in The Fellowship of the Ring were shot.

Of course we stopped by Weta Cave, a.k.a. Wellywood.  I personally would compare it to Pixar since this is where all the models, props, weapons, and digital effects were created for LofR, Avatar, District 9, Elysium, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, etc., etc. I think of Hollywood as more of a gather of actors and actresses.  Weta Cave is a gather of visual artists much like Pixar.

It's free to visit Weta Cave. You get to take photos of all the models and watch a film especially created for Weta Cave visitors. They also offer a tour of their actual workshop that requires an admission fee. Photos aren't allowed in the workshop, which is understandable.  Weta is a magical place. I envy the people who get to do what they love for living.

Arriving Middle of Middle Earth

Yesterday I said goodbye to Auckland and headed over Wellington, the capital of New Zealand via Jetstar. The locals have been telling me how windy Wellington is. As I stepped off Jetstar after one hour flight, I was greeted with the sight show in the picture above!  Oh, yea, this IS the middle of Middle Earth.

As I stepped further inside of the airport, I could not take my eyes off the large installations hanging from the ceiling in the food court. The movies created a phenomenon for New Zealand.  After I checked into my hotel, I was able to borrow a phone from the front desk to make a reservation for a half day Lord of the Rings location tour with Wellington Rover for tomorrow afternoon. I really wanted the full day tour, but it's fully booked already. I will have to figure out another way to get to Rivendell.

Hobbiton, Matamata, New Zealand

Ever since I saw The Lord of the Rings in 2001, I knew I wanted to visit Middle Earth, a.k.a. New Zealand. It's hard to believe that was 13 years ago!  Now I made my way to Hobbiton. The excitement had my blood pumping and heart beating fast. The whole time I was in Hobbiton, I was so overheated that I didn't need a jacket. The weather's kind of interesting here. It's almost tropical as it would rain for five minutes and then the sun would come out for a couple hours. It would then start raining again for a few more minutes and repeat.

The vegetable garden in Hobbiton

It took about three hours of driving to get from Auckland to Matamata.  I took InerCity bus to get there and back. The tour lasts for 2 hours. As I stepped off the tour bus, I just couldn't stop smiling. On the way there, I met up with one LoR fanatic from Norway. He had watched the movie in the theater for 87 times when it was released! He was able to answer almost all the questions our tour guide quizzed us. The only one he couldn't answer was answered by me!  I was very impressed with all the vegetable patches in Hobbiton. They are real vegetables. You know I can tell that sort of thing. The tour guide explained that they have several full time gardeners to tend the vegetable patches to make sure they always look nice.

The one question the guide asked that was answered correctly by me was who lives in the hobbit hole with the yellow door pictured below. It's Sam, Frodo's loyal companion. The very last stop of the tour was Green Dragon Inn, which is a real operating tavern in Hobbiton. The tour included one complimentary drink. I had ginger beer which is what kids get since it's non-alcoholic. I felt a little sad as I got back on the tour bus to leave Hobbiton, but I look forward to visit more LoR film locations in Wellington.

Sam's home

Prior to my trip I took some time to upload The Lord of the Rings soundtrack to my phone. As we were walking around The Shire, I had to play Concerning Hobbits at the same time while taking a short video clip. This might be the only opportunity for me to do this ever.

First Day in Auckland

Sky Tower

On Wednesday, I got on BART about 5:30 a.m. to catch my flight at SFO for Auckland, New Zealand. I flew with Hawaiian Airlines. I didn't even know Hawaiian Airlines flies to many different countries, and it's the last American airlines that still serves meal in flight! I was fed well on my way here.That's true Hawaiian hospitality!

On my first full day in Auckland, I went up Sky Tower, took a harbor cruise, and visited Devonport. I also found out that Downtown Shopping Center has free WiFi, so I am able to blog about my trip.

View from Sky Tower

The weather has been quite nice here even though this is supposed to be the peak of winter.  It often rains in the early morning and late at night but sunny sky during the day. On my flight here, I watched The Lego Movie. The song from the movie, "Everything is Awesome" kinda stuck in my head. Now I am walking around downtown singing the song because everything IS AWESOME!

The Ferry Building