new Zealand must-do Archives | Amiekay's Adventure

March 26, 2018March 28, 2018

Hobbiton: A Day in the Shire

Despite the fact I fell asleep the first time I tried to watch “Return of the King,” visiting the Hobbiton Movie Set here in New Zealand was on the top of my “to do” list for this part of the world. Unfortunately, it took me almost the entire year to get here! A lot of this had to do with timing and cost but was eventually able to go thanks to a gift from my family, and a new friend.

The good news: It was worth the wait.

Bag's End at Hobbiton in Matamata — No visit to Hobbiton is complete without a stop to Bag’s End. (Which by the way, doesn’t actually have an interior. Those scenes were shot on a sound stage in Wellington.)

In case you don’t know: Hobbiton is the movie set where they filmed scenes for the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” movie series. Both are based on fantasy books written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

While I have since rewatched the entire “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and thoroughly enjoyed them, you don’t have to have seen any of the movies or read any of the books to enjoy a trip to Hobbiton. In fact, the tour guide told us about 40% of visitors have no experience with Tolkien in any form. While I personally enjoyed nerding out, the set is simply a really fun place to see and experience.

You can’t get on the grounds on your own; everyone must take a guided tour. But don’t worry, the tour guides are a lot of fun and full of facts to share about the movie filming and production.

Samwise's Hobbit hole — Samwise’s Hobbit hole, one of just a handful of Hobbit Holes actually built to scale.

Hobbit Hole in hobbiton — One of the 39 Hobbit Holes found in Hobbiton. All are varying shapes and sizes

Some of my favorite facts I learned about the set and the films:

Almost all of the plants on set are real. (Including the giant pumpkins!)
In the books, Tolkien references how hobbit children spend their days playing under the plum trees. However, plum trees didn’t fit the aesthetic of the set and don’t grow naturally in New Zealand. So, the set artists spent hours making an apple tree look like a plum tree for filming. The tree only made it into one scene.
Peter Jackson initially had picked out 12 different shooting locations in New Zealand for Hobbiton. He scraped all of those locations once finding the Alexander Farm near Matamata where the set is now permanently constructed.

The Party Tree at Hobbiton — One of the things that lead Peter Jackson to choose the Alexander Farm was this tree, which would eventually become the Party Tree in the movies.

The Party Field at Hobbiton — The Party Field, waiting for the next big celebration in Hobbiton

The set that stands there isn’t actually the one that was used to film anything from “Lord of the Rings.” That was torn down after filming was done. However, trips to The Shire were so popular after the series hit theatres that they decided to make it out of durable, long-lasting materials when it was time to film “The Hobbit.”
The Hobbit Holes are all different sizes. The small ones were built to make the actors playing wizards look tall, and the big ones were built for the actors playing Hobbits.
During filming for “Lord of the Rings” the scene where the Green Dragon burns down is actual footage of the set burning.

The Green Dragon Pub, where you can order real food and drink

Things to know before you go:

The tour starts at one of three places: The Shire’s Rest Cafe, the Matamata I-Site, and the Rotorua I-Site. The Rotorua option is quite a bit more expensive than the other two, as they are busing you in from almost an hour away.
If you don’t do the Shire’s Rest option, you will not see that cafe and gift shop. However, all tours include a free drink at The Green Dragon pub from the films and a visit to the gift shop on the set grounds.
Each tour is on a very strict time schedule, so you won’t get to spend too much time on set, in The Green Dragon or in the gift shop.
The bus rides include specially-made videos that include interviews with director Peter Jackson and the family that owns the farm the set is on. They also include clips from “The Hobbit” films.
The tour guides are happy to snap photos for you, so don’t worry about not getting photos of your adventure if you go alone if you go alone!

Amiekay in a Hobbit hole at Hobbiton — My tour guide snapped this expert photo

Amiekay’s Personal Advice:

I really recommend stopping in the town of Matamata if you can, as the town has really embraced its Tolkien-themed tourism industry. The I-Site, for instance, is modeled after a Hobbit Hole, and there are places with Hobbit-themed food and names, such as “Hobbit Sushi.”

The Matamata I-Site, designed to look like a Hobbit Hole

If you have a car, get your tour to leave from The Shire’s Rest. I am a bit bummed I didn’t get to check out this Hobbit-themed cafe.
The entire set is “nerd-friendly.” The tour guide invited us to re-enact the scene where Bilbo runs down the street yelling “I’m going on an adventure.” While I didn’t actually do it, I was extremely tempted.

Gandolf's Cutting — Called “Gandolf’s Cutting” this passage is extremely narrow in order to create forced perspective

Amiekay at Hobbiton — Amiekay taking a stroll. (Photo by my talented friend Margie)

February 5, 2018February 21, 2018

Rotorua Hot Springs on a Budget

New Zealand is known for its unique and beautiful landscape. From Milford Sound in the South Island to the Tongariro Alpine Crossing in the North, this country is made for people who love the outdoors. And while some are free, a lot of them end up costing you a bit of money. For instance, even though the Tongariro is free to hike, you have to pay a shuttle to drop you off and pick you up because of parking rules in the area. For Milford Sound, you really need to hire a boat or kayak to access the area’s gorgeous views.

The hot pools and hot springs in Rotorua are no different. The most amazing sights in this area all charge an entry fee. I understand in this case some of it is to protect and preserve the natural resources, but it can get pricey for anyone on a budget. But there is a free option.

Kuirau Park is located on the edge of Rotorua’s downtown and is home to several natural examples of geothermal activity in the area. Sure, the sights aren’t nearly as colorful as those in the paying attractions, but you can certainly get the feel of what makes this place unique. (Including the sulphuric smell!)

Kuirau Park is mostly home to different pools of bubbling, hot mud. While this is actually quite neat to see, the main attraction here is the area’s massive boiling lake.

One of the many mud pools at Kuirau Park

Kuirau Lake is fairly large, and there are pathways built all the way around it for you to see it safely. Full of dead trees and smoke rising from the lake, the whole area feels like a villain’s secret lair. Making the whole atmosphere even more spooky? A story behind its name and founding that sounds like the plot of a horror movie. According to Maori Legend, Lake Kuirau used to be a cooler lake and was called Taokahu. In fact, they say it was cool enough that people could bath in the water, and that’s exactly what a woman named

One of the viewing platforms at Kuirau Lake

Walk through the smoke at Kuirau Lake using this platform over the water, but be warned: it is quite smelly

According to Maori Legend, Lake Kuirau used to be a cooler lake and was called Taokahu. In fact, they say it was cool enough that people could bath in the water, and that’s exactly what a woman named Kuiarau was doing when a legendary creature name Taniwha dragged her to his lair below the lake. Legend has it this action angered the gods, who made the lake boil to kill Taniwha. The lake has been boiling since and was renamed after the woman who died.

Makes you want to visit, doesn’t it?

As I said previously, Kuirau’s attractions aren’t all that colorful and are fairly limited in scope. (It’s mostly mud, outside the lake.) Kuirau Park is also missing a place for you to actually get in the water, although there is a place to dip your feet in. Personally, I was okay not getting into any hot pools, as they are breeding grounds for amoebas that lead to meningitis. But if that’s your thing, there are a lot of free pools outside of downtown for you to take a dip in.

The lush, tropical greens in other parts of the park are in stark contrast to the dead plants dotting Kuirau Lake

Kuirau Park is uniquely beautiful, and I highly recommend it to anyone who appreciates a spooky location and doesn’t have a lot of money. It’s an especially useful find for backpackers in the area who don’t own a car to make it out to the paying attractions, which are all a bit of a drive outside of the city.

However, if you are willing to spend money, check back next week when I take you through some of the colorful attractions at Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland.

This shot of Kuirau Lake makes me think of Scar’s Pridelands from Disney’s “The Lion King”

January 29, 2018February 21, 2018

Magic in Real-Life: New Zealand’s Glowworm Caves

Note: All Photos in this post courtesy of Spellbound Glowworm and Cave Tours unless otherwise specified.

If Epcot ever gets a New Zealand pavilion, I already know what the ride should be: a quick sail through dark waters illuminated only by glow worms.

Let me explain. New Zealand is home to a lot of magnificent sites. From its many mountains to its hot springs, to its Lord of the Rings filming locations, there are a plethora of natural things to see and do here. And while I haven’t seen them all, I have seen quite a few, yet none of them have been as magical or as memorable as my time spent in Waitomo.

Waitomo is a small town on the North Island that has a population of about 50 people. However, its population grows by the thousands on any given day, as travelers from all over come here to see glowworm caves. Now, to be fair, glowworm is a nice name for the fly maggots that glow with bioluminescence in the area, but still, they are a really beautiful sight to behold.

A close-up of the magical glowworms in Waitomo

The many caves in the area are also where Waitomo gets its name. In Maori, the language of the native New Zealanders here, Waitomo is a combination of two words: “wai” or water, and “tomo” or hole. According to the town’s official tourism site, the combining of these words literally translates to “stream which flows into the hole in the ground.” It is these streams that provide the unique environment needed for the glowworms to grow and thrive.

Oh, and because this is New Zealand there was also a hike involved. Here’s a look at some of the limestone rocks that line the Waitomo countryside, and are responsible for the caves in the area (Photo by Amiekay)

There are a number of companies that run glowworm tours in Waitomo, including one that allows you to go rafting through the caves. However, because I went sort of unplanned, we had to call around and really just go with whichever tour would take us. This ended up being Spellbound, a private tour company who has access to caves outside of the town center. For Spellbound’s tour, we took a bit of a lengthy car ride through town, parks, and eventually a private farm. During this time, our comedic tour guide asked us silly questions like “if you were a cake, what kind of cake would you be?” to pass the time. He also told us a bit of history about the area, including the opening of sinkholes that would often result in the deaths of cows.

The tour we were on included a boat ride through a wet cave and a walking tour through a dry cave. Both are interesting and informative, but the first cave is far more spectacular. During this tour, not only are you treated to your first look at the glowworms but also you are given plenty of time for your eyes to adjust before getting into the boat. This means you see more glowworms more clearly.

A picture of the raft we took through the cave.

I have to be honest, the whole thing really felt like a ride at Disney World. It seemed totally unreal and completely out of a storybook, and I found that I had to repeatedly remind myself it was in fact, not only real life but also a natural phenomenon. Sure, the lights were being made by maggots but they are beautiful. (Our comedic tour guide also told us that the glowworms sometimes fall from the ceiling, but luckily this did not happen on my trip.)

After the boat ride, our tour stopped off for coffee and biscuits before heading to the dry cave. The dry cave is a little more traditional and features the tour guide explaining the difference between stalagmites and stalactites. However, there were some only in New Zealand moments. Including a close up look at the skeleton of a Moa bird, an ostrich-like animal that was killed off when the Maori arrived on the island hundreds of years ago. (We also were shown cave wetas and a huntsman spider, but I was a little less thrilled about those things.)

The skeleton of a young Moa that experts believe fell into the cave and died

Another skeleton we were shown, which our guide told us is the “most photographed dead cow” in New Zealand. I think he was joking… (Photo by Amiekay)

Overall, I have to say the glowworm caves are a must-see for anyone visiting New Zealand. While there are glowworms elsewhere in the world, the ones here are larger and more plentiful than anywhere else. And the tours aren’t expensive, either. Our entire tour cost $75 NZD and was 2 hours long, but some of the other tours cost as little as $35 NZD. Much cheaper than Disney World.