On our way to Waitomo Caves and Hobbiton, our guide told us more about New Zealand.

Although New Zealand is made of 600 islands, there are just two main ones: the North Island and the South Island.  Aukland is on the north island. 

The city is very long and narrow positioned between the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea.  Aukland has the most coastline of any city in the world. 

The total population of New Zealand is 5.2 million on a land mass about the size of Japan.  Aukland was the nation’s second capital between 1842 and 1865 (now Wellington). One third of the population of New Zealand lives in Aukland.

New Zealand is a democracy holding elections every three years. Their former prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, became quite famous for her very aggressive, and successful, approach to fighting the COVID pandemic.

Power in New Zealand is generated by hydro and wind. This is the last operating coal plant. It is due to be decommissioned soon.  Coal is imported from Indonesia.  Fuel is imported from Singapore. 

There are no snakes or crocodiles in New Zealand but they do have mosquitoes so it isn’t perfect.

New Zealand’s largest industry is dairy farming.  They export product to 170 countries around the world.

Tourism was the largest industry before COVID with 3.5 million annual visitors.  Now it is the second largest industry, but coming back.

We arrived at our first of two primary destinations, Waitomo Caves.

Waitamo means water caves. These sandstone caves were formed over millions of years.

We saw the beautiful rooms and formations such as stalagmites, stalactites, pillars and columns.

On our way down to the river still running through the cave, we learned about its more recent history.

Local Māori knew about the caves but they had never been fully explored. Chief Tane Tinorau and English surveyor Fred Mace did so in 1887.

They experienced the multitudes of glowworms lighting up the ceiling of the cave.

Each worm has an attachment that gathers their food.

In 1889, the caves opened to tourists.

The government took over the cave in 1906 but it was returned to Māori descendants to operate in 1989.

Two floods have impacted the cave and temporarily reduced the number of glow worms.

Picture taking was not allowed in the cave so these are internet stock photos or pictures I took of post cards I bought in the gift store.

This experience was magical and reminded us of the bioluminescent bay in Puerto Rico.

Our day continued with a very nice box lunch and the marginal experience of eating it on the coach.

Our next destination was Hobbiton, the movie set used in the Hobbit and Lord of the Ring movies. 

Prior to leaving on this big adventure to New Zealand, we watched the first Hobbit movie.  I intended to watch all three but didn’t enjoy the first enough to spend more time on it.  Randy watched the entire Hobbit trilogy.  He had already seen Lord of the Rings years ago so he filled in the general story line for me.

Hobbiton is a popular place,  with 2500 visitors each day.  It is among the top five tourist attractions in New Zealand. 

Nathaniel, employed by Hobbiton, came aboard our coach and gave us some history of the movie set.

In 1998, location scouts for the Lord of the Ring movies were looking for rolling hills, a lake and a large tree.  They found what they were looking for on the Alexander family’s 1200 acre sheep (13,000) and cattle (500) farm.

“The Shire,” home to the Hobbits, would be built on 120 acres leased from the family.

The New Zealand Army helped build the road into the shire site and several soldiers were rewarded with roles as extras (Orcs).

Thirty-nine temporary Hobbit Holes were created for the Lord of the Ring movies. 

“The Shire” was later reconstructed with more robust materials beginning in 2009. That process took two years!  The set was used for only 12 days of filming in 2011 for the Hobbit trilogy. The work, time and artistry on any given aspect, may only have seconds of film life in the movie.

Two artificial trees were constructed with leaves sewn on the branches, including this one above Bilbo Baggins’ Hobbit Hole. The director was not happy with the color of leaves so art students were acquired to paint 200,000 leaves before filming began.

The landscaping and settings are so detailed!

Remember those 13,000 sheep the family owned?  The director thought another breed looked like they belonged in “The Shire” and he had a different breed imported from the south Island of New Zealand.

We had a completely enjoyable hour with Nathaniel walking around “The Shire” and hearing stories about the various cottages.

We were able to go inside a Hobbit Hole and see the level of detail used on the inside sets.  

The interior scenes were actually filmed at a studio in Wellington and re-created here as part of the Hobbiton experience.

We finished off Hobbiton with a visit to The Green Dragon Tavern. A complimentary beverage is part of the experience. We opted for amber ale and apple cider.

The Alexander family still owns the land and one son still runs the farm and lives in the family home.  The Alexander’s also own the company running Hobbiton.

Our visit to Hobbton was completely delightful. I am now inspired to watch the last half hour of the final Hobbit movie as Bilbo Baggins returns from his adventure.

PS.  Randy and I were just fascinated, and a bit saddened, to watch these two young women.  We first noticed them as the one meticulously fixed her makeup while in line to go into the dark Waitomo Caves. I believe they were Japanese so have no idea if she is famous or maybe just wants to be.  The second woman was always taking her picture – so many times!!  I hope they were employer and employee because if they were friends, there was a definite imbalance in the relationship.

We were at the Waitamo Caves and Hobbiton on January 18, 2025.

Next up: We board Westerdam for our cruise!