Matamata & Waitomo Caves

The past two days have been filled with fun tours. We drove an hour from Rotorua to a town called Matamata. Seriously, every other town has a name with two of the same word. We literally drove through Whatawhata on the way there which pretty much sums up how much effort they put into naming towns in NZ. Matamata is specifically known for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies being filmed there. We bought tickets for the tour then drove 20 minutes to where the set is located. We then hopped on a shuttle bus that takes you onto a private farm that the set was built on. They have a ton of sheep and Angus cows roaming around their rolling green hills. Really a beautiful area. The man who owns the farm originally told the film makers when they were filming The Lord of the Rings that they could use his property as long as they took down the set when they were done. After the filming was complete and they came back to film The Hobbit he decided to keep the set up and split the tour company ownership with the film makers. Smart business man right there. We walked all around the set which was a lot bigger than I expected. Although I had seen only bits and pieces of the movie (my attention span is nowhere near three hours) the tour was still very fun and really cool to see.

After the tour we drove an hour to a small town near the Waitomo Caves because we wanted to go to their famous caves the next morning to see the glow worms that live in there. When we got to the hotel we realized it consisted of 5 standalone buildings that look like sheds and a brick house that the owner lives in. Luckily, when we checked in the owner said the unit (shed) we were going to get is getting some work done and that she would upgrade us to stay in the house instead. Bypassed that disaster! We dropped off our stuff in our room and then drove into town to get ice cream at McDonald’s. I was really craving a chocolate dipped cone but apparently no McDonald’s in Australia or New Zealand sells them so I had to settle for a hot fudge sundae. Not a bad substitute though. We took the treats back to the house and played with Tyson outside to enjoy the sunshine. He really got a kick out of Marshall throwing a tennis ball against the garage door. He grabbed the ball and spent the next hour throwing the ball at the door, laughing hysterically, then chasing it down the driveway trying to stop it before it went into the yard. Would be great to see him be able to entertain himself with those kind of wholesome games for the rest of his childhood.

After a while we all started to get hungry, so we drove to the little town about a mile away to see what our options were. We stopped in a pizza place and ordered a large pizza to share. While we waited we walked over to the mini mart to pick up some milk for Tyson then picked up the pizza and took it home to eat. I took about one bite and nearly spit it out. It was seriously the worst pizza I’ve ever had. I asked Marshall if he liked it and he said it was edible so he kept eating it. The only other thing in our room to eat was cereal so I ended up having that for dinner, lol. --Not the first time and likely won’t be the last. I’m the pickiest eater in the world and seriously need to change my ways before Tyson grows up. If the apocalypse came and all the chicken and cereal in the world were to somehow disappear, I’d starve to death even if there were mounds of food around me that was perfectly edible and from what I’m told by my loving husband whom I trust and adore, are actually pretty amazing and delicious. (Obviously Marshall added that blurb. Haha!)

The next morning we packed up the car and drove 15 minutes to the Waitomo glow worm cave to see what the fuss was all about. The tour started with walking through the cave looking at the stalactites and stalagmites that have built up over millions of years. 1cm apparently takes 200 years to form and these suckers were huge. If my math’s right that means they were really stinkin’ old. We then hopped onto a boat that was in a pitch black part of the cave where nobody was allowed to talk from fear of scaring the bugs that the worms eat. As we were flowing through the cave we looked up at the ceiling and saw thousands of glow worms lighting up the cave. It felt like we were star gazing in a different universe. So, so cool!

When the tour was over we hopped back in the car and drove an hour back to Auckland. We took a scenic route and saw lots of cows along the way but way way more sheep. I swear I’ve never seen so many sheep in my life. Apparently its birthing season right now so there are a ton of cute little lambs running around everywhere trying to catch up with their mommas. We love New Zealand and have really enjoyed driving through the beautiful green rolling hill countryside.

Tomorrow we’re taking a two hour flight to our next destination.
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Next stop: Queenstown, New Zealand