Hobbiton & Waitomo Caves

Hello everyone! Our first few days in New Zealand have been so great! The flights were long and uneventful which is a good thing! But we made it through, had good flight mates and had no problems in customs. Once we got to Auckland, we took a bus straight to our hostel and were able to stash our bags while we waited for the check-in time. (Thank goodness!) So we walked around Auckland, found a beautiful park and an amazing pier called Queen’s Wharf to chill on for a while, burning our faces and breathing in the salty water air.

We made it!

Queen’s Wharf

By the time we were able to check in to our hostel we were quite tired and in desperate need of showers. We crashed pretty early and managed to sleep solidly through the night.

The next day was the big tour day which was so incredible! I was finally able to do something I really thought I would never have the chance to do: visit Hobbiton. For those of you who don’t know, I am a major fan of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I read The Hobbit in grade 9 English and it was probably the only assigned reading book in all of my schooling I actually really liked. And of course the movies were so so great! So needless to say I was so stoked for this day!

The drive up to Hobbiton was gorgeous. The scenery more than made up for our bus driver going on and on about dairy farms and random history (Though to be honest, I found some of his facts pretty interesting!). It was farm after farm on these crazy hills with daring sheep standing on the steepest of slopes. There were some mountains in the distance also. I’ll just let these pictures speak for themselves…

Then we get to Hobbiton. It is honestly the most beautiful, lush, and cutest places I have ever been in my life. There were 44 hobbit holes, each infused with so much detail it was unbelievable! Seriously I just wish I could live in a hobbit hole for the rest of my life! The gardens and flowers were so gorgeous and well taken care of. It was really like stepping right into the movie, because of course, the movies were actually filmed there! Like, I stood where Gandalf and Bilbo had their conversation about his big adventure. So beyond cool!

We had about an hour’s tour to walk around, see all the hobbit holes, and have our pictures taken in front of them. My favourites were definitely Bag End, the Party Tree and The Green Dragon. But at the same time, just everything was my favourite!

View from Bag End

Bag End

Samwise’s House 🙂

The Party Tree

Next we picked up a complimentary beer or cider from the Green Dragon and had the best Hobbit feast in the cutest party tent. We ate lunch with some cool people too, including a pro-baseball player which Ashley was beyond excited about.

Ciders at The Green Dragon

The lunch tent.

After lunch, we moved on to the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures in the cave because it causes the glow worms to stop glowing for a time. I don’t think I can do this experience justice by describing it, but here goes. The cave itself was so gorgeous. The stalagmites and stalactites were so interesting. Everything was white because of the calcium build up in the water that dripped down from the ceiling. In the largest part of the cave, it  was like standing in a huge gothic cathedral. It was so creepy yet so beautiful.

Then we moved on to the part with the glow worms which was so cool. We hopped onto a boat in the pitch black, then were pulled down the river by our guide. Looking up it was like looking at the starriest sky. The glow worms are actually fly larvae that glow to attract prey, catching it in these little fishing lines coated in a sticky substance. Sounds kinda gross, but the bright bluish green light they cast is beyond beautiful. They cover all the stalagmites that come down which gives it almost a 3D effect. It was just so amazing. Like I said, this description probably doesn’t do it justice, but I would highly recommend this experience to anyone.

All in all, it was one of the best days I’ve had and I would do it all again in a heartbeat!

Today it is raining but warm and we are bumming around Auckland. Tomorrow we have our last day in Auckland and we plan to check out the art gallery and do some more wandering. Sunday we move on to our first WWOOF host way up north which we hear is so beautiful and we can’t wait.

We can’t get over how lucky we are to spend this time in the most beautiful country. Sometimes it still doesn’t feel real even though we are here. Pinch me!