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Published: November 3rd 2013
So Friday was a driving day.... having to swing back in through Auckland to be able to continue heading south. The bane of my existence,
the motorway, was even used just to make it worse. But before I got too settled in to the seat, it was time for a proper breakfast.
Bacon and eggs?? Toasted muffin?? Pancakes??
OK.... so maybe not a
proper breakfast.... maybe more of a tradie's breakfast. A spring roll and a giant cup of coffee to wash it down from the bakery in Te Hana. Now I was ready to hit the road.
So... As I said.... back down through Auckland, straight down the motorway (also known as SH1), all the way to
Hamilton. Now 2pm and still no idea where I was intending to end up for the night, I thought I'd take a punt on
Waitomo so that I could get an early start in the area the next day. By 3:30pm I was booked in to the holiday park and had tickets to the
Glowworm Caves, as well as an adventure planned for the morning.
Making the most of the daylight, I headed for the glowworm caves and squeezed
onto a tour. With not as many formations as what I'm used to seeing in caves, the main drawcard was always going to be the glowworms. Endemic to New Zealand, they hatch from their eggs on the roof of the cave, usually above the water, and then hang tiny lines like spider webs from above to trap any mosquitoes or other insects that have washed down the streams into the caves. The prey fly towards the light of the glowworms thinking that they're the night sky.
What I did find interesting was that in New Zealand, if you own the land above, then you own what's under it too. This meant that the original inhabitants of the area are the ones still running the tours. Our guide was the great-great-great grandson of the original Maori guide that helped map the caves in the early 1900's. His family is huge, his father being one of 18 siblings.... I guess that means that the business is in good hands for a while as at their last family gathering there were over 100 relatives that showed up. It also means that he works all day every day with his family, making some
good days.... and some very bad days.
The days since leaving Auckland have been beautiful for the most part (except the gale force winds off the cape) but the nights have been getting progressively colder. Tonight is expected to be 2
oC so I guess I better start acclimating cause the South Island will only get worse.
The morning dawned cold.... very cold..... as expected, and the thought of what lay ahead made shrinkage an ever-present frustration that wasn't quite enough to quell the excitement, for today I was to go abseiling, zip-lining, tubing, swimming, crawling, and the occasional stumbling through caves!!
Black Water Rafting Company (as the name suggests... like white water rafting but in the dark) operates one of the most well organized, fun and exhilarating adventures around in my opinion. I'd decided to do this before I'd even touched down in the country and it didn't disappoint one bit.
Choosing the Black Abyss adventure, we were kitted out with 2 piece wetsuits, booties, boots, harness, everything needed for the next 5 hours. Abseiling 37m into the dark, through a hole that felt only just big enough to squeeze my shoulders through, led us to
a zip-line in pitch black. Not knowing where the end was and with the sound of rushing water all around got the adrenaline pumping, before jumping into the underground river on our tubes. Did I mention it was cold?? The air in the caves stays at around 14
oC all year round.... an improvement on the outside temperature. The water on the other hand sits at about 7
oC and nearly stopped the heart.
Heading up river on arm power we spent the some time seeing the formations and underground waterfalls, where we were informed that Waitomo literally means
water hole (wai=water and tomo=hole).
What a remarkable thing tourism can do for an area, a city, a people, even a humble insect. You see the glowworms are
not actually worms at all. They are the larval stage of a fly that only lives for 2 days due to not having any digestive system. The flies get busy, lay around 120 eggs on the cave roof, and hatch out the larvae. For those that don't know, a fly's larvae is usually referred to as a maggot. The first larvae to hatch cannibalizes it's unhatched brethren which then gives it just enough
energy to make the feeding lines and start the digestive juices to glowing. And what do we see glowing?? Where the waste is excreted. Therefore, what you are actually looking at is shiny maggot shit.... doesn't quite have the same ring to it as glowworm does it.
Linking in a chain and being slowly dragged back down the river on our tubes in the dark was surreal. These guys (along with a bit of help from mother nature) really know how to put on a show.
Out of the tubes and wading down the river passed fossilized whale bones, we squeezed through on stomachs, stumbled through passages, belly-flopped into pools, and climbed 2 waterfalls to emerge back into daylight.... intact, exhilarated and in awe of the experience. A big thanks to our 2 guides with which it wouldn't have been half the laughs and probably wouldn't have been anywhere near the same.... YOU GUYS ROCK!!! Caving has always been something I've loved.... when combined with abseiling, zip-lining and tubing it was a sure fire winner!!
Taking off from Waitomo, I was on the hunt for Hobbits. Near
Matamata is one of the filming locations,
Hobbiton, for the
Lord of the Rings trilogy and more recently
The Hobbit. When Peter Jackson did an aerial survey of the country, he was looking for 3 things for the location of The Shire.... rolling green hills, a lake, and a symmetrical tree on the lakes edge. With Tolkien fans being as fanatical as they are, it had to be just perfect. When he sighted Alexander's Farm and asked the owner for a look, he originally was going to film The Shire in a number of different locations. Once seen, it was perfect for the need and the entirety of the Shire scenes were done on the one site. Of course that meant some remodeling was needed.
The New Zealand Army was brought in to build roads for the equipment to be trucked down, began the major earthworks to make the ground as needed and then catered for the entire cast and crew during the filming. For the Lord of the Rings trilogy all the structures were temporary and dismantled afterwards. When they came back to film The Hobbit, the farm owner asked for more permanent structures to be made and entered an agreement with the production company to maintain it
exactly as in the movie. This now means you can walk around the Shire having a look at all the Hobbit holes and even have a drink at The Green Dragon. Amazing what they were able to accomplish for a movie.... and no wonder that movies cost so much to be made.
Fishing the day with a solid drive to
Rotorua, I pulled into a DOC campsite on the shores of Lake Okamere at 8:30pm praying that there was still space for me. Managing to find a place, I crashed out after a full on but brilliant day.
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Suzanne adair
non-member comment
Looks and sounds fantastic
Hi mark thanks for your insight to your NZ adventure and pictures. You look relaxed and happy so glad you are enjoying your trip. suz