Hobbit Holes, Glowworms, and Kiwi Birds

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Geo: -36.8474, 174.766

We were up very early for our private tour to Waitomo Caves and Hobbiton. We were on the first shuttle from the ship going through the industrial section of the port to where private guides were allowed to meet their passengers. The ship is too large to dock on the usual cruise ship wharf and has to dock in the cargo ship area. Last night, I set the alarm on my phone to wake us at 5:45 so we would have time to get ready and have breakfast in the Kings Court buffet. The phone has been stuck on Santiago time since we were there, so I had to calculate the wake-up time based on that time zone. As it turned out, before the alarm went off, my phone made the three beeps that indicate three texts had come in to welcome me to the New Zealand phone service. Fortunately, I was alert enough to check the phone's clock to see if it had reset to New Zealand time as well. Indeed, it had. I reset the alarm so it would go off at the proper time in the new time zone and went back to sleep for about another hour.

The first shuttle was delayed even after receiving clearance from New Zealand customs and immigration. The crew had a struggle to get the gangways in place. We made it off the ship and went through only a minimal bit of red tape to be able to enter the country. They expect to see the cruise card and a government-issued photo I.D. There was a dog sniffing people and bags, but he found nothing interesting to point out to his handler. We made it through, and about the time I was going to ask for directions, Philip saw the person holding a sign with my name and the Zealandier Tours company name. We had found Jan who was our guide and driver for the day, and the other couple on the tour were there, too.

Jan is a great guide. She is the owner of the business and the person with whom I had communicated to set up the tour. When I first emailed about reserving the trip, I did not have specific information about when the ship would dock in the morning. We did know that it would be there for a long day. The ship did not offer a tour to Hobbiton, but it did offer another shore excursion that took twelve hours so we knew we had time to go that far. Jan made contact with the port office to find out when and where the ship would dock. I appreciate her doing that for us. Assured that she would be able to pick us up and get us to Hobbiton, we booked and paid for one of her regular private tours from Auckland to Waitomo Cave (the glow worm cave) and Hobbiton (the Lord of the Rings movie set). A couple of weeks before the tour, but after we were on the ship, Jan emailed that another couple from our ship also wanted to take the same trip, but she had no more cars or guides available. Would we be willing to share and get a partial refund for the cost we paid? There was no pressure to share, just an offer. We were happy to share and save a large part of the price. Andrew and Linda from New South Wales were amicable companions for the day.

The ride out of Auckland went smoothly with only a couple of places of heavy traffic and one slowdown for construction. We made it to the Waitomo Caves in just over two hours and a little early for our booked tour. Jan was able to move us up to the next available tour. We got in line and started our trek through the cave down the steep stairs and through different rooms of the cave where their guide pointed out the features—stalactites, stalagmites, a few glowworms, and some named formations. In the cathedral, she asked if anyone wanted to sing since the acoustics are so good, but no one would. After we had moved on and another group entered the cathedral behind us, we heard a woman's voice singing Amazing Grace. She did a fine job of demonstrating the sound quality in that part of the cave.

After walking about twenty minutes, we reached the river that cuts through the cave. We were asked to stay completely quiet as any noise causes the glowworms to go dark. We stepped into small wooden boats that glided through the cave under the glowworms that attach themselves to the ceiling. They were fun to see, but it was almost as interesting to watch the guide navigate through the dark cave. She stood on the bow of the boat and pulled us through the water by grabbing a series of ropes hung overhead. There were no lights other than the glowworms.

After leaving the glowworms behind, Jan said that she wanted to show us some kiwi birds. Did we want to go to the Kiwi House on the way to Hobbiton? Everyone did, so we rode the short distance to Otorohanga. Jan's favorite kiwi, a great spotted Kiwi named Atu, was awake and scratching around first running to the back of the enclosure then to the front pecking the ground, the wall, the window, and the air the whole way. Kiwis are a little bit larger than chickens but smaller than turkeys. They have no wings, but they do have long, strong, powerful beaks. Very funny to see them running about armless. They are nocturnal so the keepers have turned the kiwis schedules topsy-turvy by keeping their space dark during the day and turning on lights at night so the human visitors can see their activity easily.

Next, we headed toward Hobbiton, another hour or so drive away. We were early there, too. We had time for lunch at the Shire's Rest and still move our tour time up fifteen minutes.

The tour of the Hobbiton movie set was the highlight of the day. To reach Hobbiton, you must take a five-minute bus ride from the Shire's Rest. It was hot walking through the grounds, but the guide made it fairly easy to go up and down the trails by stopping frequently at various hobbit holes and talking about trivia from the stories. With the afternoon sun often in our faces when we stopped at a hobbit hole, it was hard to take photos. Some of them turned out quite nicely in spite of the fact that it was hard or impossible to see the screen of the camera and frame up the shot while facing into the sun.

Our guide was May from Ireland--just there for the summer job. At the end of the tour, we stopped by the Green Dragon Inn for a refreshing cold drink; lager, porter, cider, and ginger beer were on tap and offered by May as our bartender. Philip enjoyed the Oatbarton Brew, a traditional dark English ale, saying it's the best dark beer he's ever tasted. Because of the way it needs to be stored, it is not available for purchase to take or to ship home. I had the Frogmorton Ginger Beer. After our rest in the inn, we took the same bus back to the Shire's Rest to find Jan. She had cold bottles of water for us, too.

The drive back to Auckland was pleasant as Jan showed us more points of interest along the way. The traffic was very heavy as we neared the city as Jan had said it would be. The ride back from Hobbiton was almost three hours.

We opted for dinner in the room since we were tired when we got home. Sometime during the day, we realized that in our excitement and hurry to get out early in the morning, we had forgotten to put out the sign for Jerel to clean the room. He had taken care of it though telling me that he waited until 11:00, then phoned the room before deciding that that was what we'd done. I guess that is Cunard's usual protocol.

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