01/5/2017 - The Adventure Continues

Day of Week: Thursday

Cities visited: Tongariro National Park Village, Waitomo, Matamata, Cambridge

Lodging: Traditional bed and breakfast in Cambridge

We got up with an alarm for the second day in a row and hit the road early to get to the glow worms tour. Zach cleared the sleepys from his eyes to drive us since Emma's broken glasses were a liability. The ride was quick and quiet with hardly any cars on the road, so we arrived early and had breakfast on the patio outside the Spellbound tour's starting spot. 

To start the tour the 12 tourists were driven to a working farm where the farmer had discovered caves that had formed through sinkhole formations as his animals fell down the holes. Then he planted trees around the holes to help deter his livestock from the danger zones. 

We went through two caves about a 20 minute drive from the pickup point. The first cave was heavy on glow worms! The guide had us turn off the lights on our helmets and not use our phones. At first we couldn't see anything, then the eyes adjust and tiny green lights are everywhere on the ceilings and walls. With a flashlight the guide showed us the strings hanging down from the lights to catch flies and other flying food. Basically the lights are the glow worms themselves and the strings are created from the maggots' poop. The insects are attracted to the lights, get stuck in the sticky strings, then the maggots reel in the strings until they can eat their prey. After about ten months as a maggot they cocoon and emerge as a flying insect. As insects they have no mouths and have 2-3 days to mate and lay eggs before dying of starvation! The insects sometimes get eaten by their maggot cousins.

Glow worm strings visible with flashlight

The first cave also included calm boat ride on which we could see glow worm light reflection in the water after our eyes adjusted for a while. There was a tea break after first cave, then a short walk to second cave with a few glow worms but mostly different rock types and animal bones including moa. Moa are now extinct but were once massive dinosaur-sized, ostrich-ish looking flightless birds roaming the land.

We were glad we went on the less-touristy, small group, chill tour of the glow worms with a guide who grew up in Waitomo. The more popular alternatives may see bigger caves with more glow worms, but at the expense of the quiet and small group experience. We also learned that the larger Waitomo glow worm caves are experiencing a carbon dioxide problem from having too many people passing through. It got enough attention that the company running those tours now proactively addresses the carbon dioxide issue on their website.

After the tour ended we had lunch in Waitomo, a combination of leftovers and sharing a burger. In addition to British food, American style burgers are a staple here. After lunch we made our way to Matamata for the Hobbiton tour. Before we got there we stopped to hang with some cows who were hanging out behind a fence but very close to the side of the road. They were interested in us, and as we stood there for a few minutes more cows congregated at the fence line. They were afraid to get too close to us, except for one extra brave cow. They all won the staring contest. We got a sense of their daily lifestyle when within five minutes of watching them they started peeing freely and humping each other.

Cows cluster cordially

Courageous cow briefly makes contact

On to the Hobbiton tour. Definitely the most touristy place we've been, packed with people from around the world. We toured the gift shop and got, among other things, a welcome mat with a line from a LOTR poem saying "not all those who wander are lost" which was Zach's high school yearbook quote. Then we got in line for the tours which were very factory efficient, leaving every ten or so minutes with several tour groups on set at the same time. We agree with the Trip Advisor consensus -- it's very touristy and lots of people in the tour group, but you get to be on set which was pretty awesome. It was also fun to hear some of the insider trivia, such as how over 200,000 fake leaves were individually attached to a fake tree and then repainted -- on the tree! -- because Peter Jackson didn't like the color. We took a million photos, spurred on by the touristy vibe, so feel free to ask us if you'd like to see more (Zach's dad).

We were so excited we stopped to take a photo of the sign...

Because it's a movie set, they needed hobbit holes that were both regular sized...

... and hobbit holes that were smaller

Obligatory photo of Zach in front of Bilbo's hobbit hole

After the tour we checked in to our B&B, then went to dinner at nice Italian restaurant called Alpino, after which we went to bed.  

Throughout the day Zach's allergies were quite bad, worse than they had been so far on the trip. We knew something needed to change. We were both were also a bit sore following the alpine hike, though the two walking tours helped us stay limber.