Day Thirteen - Hobbiton and Glow Worms

It’s off to Hobbiton today! We woke up at 5 am and got packed and ready so that we could meet our tour at 6 am just across the street. We got on our way on schedule so we had time to stop at a little place for some breakfast along the way. There was a fantastic bakery that I wish we had closer to our hotel. So many amazing looking pies…

If you aren’t a fan of The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings, Hobbiton is the home of Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins, and Samwise Gamgee (among others), some of the main characters in JRR Tolkien’s most famous books. It’s a quiet hamlet where hobbits live and keep their gardens and farms, and generally have peaceful and happy lives, free of any adventure whatsoever. At least, that’s how the stories begin…

We arrived at Hobbiton about half an hour before our tour, so we had plenty of time to find some souvenirs in the shops before it was time to head out on our bus to visit the set.

The weather was cooperating and we were able to walk through Hobbiton in beautiful weather and got some amazing photos. We went into a couple of hobbit holes and got to take some photos inside before we headed to the Green Dragon for drinks at the bar (cider for me and ginger beer sans alcohol for mom).

Oh to be a hobbit for a day…

The hobbit hole is so cute! I stopped to fix the knitting.

The clouds started rolling in right as we ended our tour, so we had perfect pictures during our walking tour. We got back to our bus and headed towards the Waitomo Glow Worm caves, but first we made a stop for lunch at the Thirsty Kiwi in Ōtorohanga. We had time to eat a bite and do a bit of shopping. Mom went for some souvenirs while I found another book to read (Throne of Glass) since I had finished Lightlark on the way down.

We got on the road to Waitomo and (after a brief stop to feed an ostrich) arrived at the Waitomo Glow Work Caves. Still no rain, but we brought our raincoats just in case, and we started our tour shortly after we lined up.

The caves were found in the 1890s and belong to a local Māori family whose ancestor found the caves. And they’re enormous. We weren’t allowed to take photos most of the time (light flashes kill night vision) but it’s a winding limestone cave that is partially flooded (sometimes completely flooded, yikes) and the glowing larvae grow on the ceiling to catch the bugs that live around the surface of the Waitomo River. And there are thousands of them.

We walked through the caves and then did a boat tour in the complete dark to see the area where most of the worms are found. It was so cool! We were able to take some photos at the end, so I was able to take a short video of the ceiling.

We left the cave and just as we were about to get in the bus, the rain started. Perfect timing. Back on the bus we had a very rainy ride back to Auckland and got stuck in some terrible traffic just outside of town, so mom and I both got some reading done on our books.

We got back a little while before 7 and after a quick run through the rain, we got back to our hotel, dropped our things in the room, and came back downstairs for a bit of dinner. Back in the room, we unpacked and re-packed our suitcases to prep for the flights tomorrow and then put on some face masks and relaxed while we watched HGTV before bed.