Tangled Up In Yellow

Early the next morning, we kitted up and headed out for another awesome adventure - black water rafting. Now, if you've never heard of black water rafting, don't feel bad - the Kiwis made it up (they are know for being daring and adventurous). Basically, you crawl into a small river in a cave and go tubing on the water. Until you get to the waterfall, that is. Then they push you off it backwards in the pitch black. And why, you ask yourself, in the world would you do this? We couldn't take our cameras with us, but here is a decent video of why...

Now, that wasn't the cave we were in (there are several places with the glow worms around NZ on both islands), but it does capture a bit of what it was like to quietly float on a tube in the pitch black and see the hundreds of tiny lights high above you. Stunning.

This video is the trip we went on (not our specific trip, I have no idea who these people are). The water was COLD and even with out wetsuits and boots and helmets, it was chilly. So so worth it, even though it was one of the more touristy things we did! I love to do things that are truly unique to the place. We both had a blast - it definitely got us out of our comfort zone!

Once we took a (kinda gross) shower and got some soup, we got back in the car and headed for Whangarei. I know that right now in your head, you are trying to sound out Whangarei. And I am here to tell you that whatever verbal acrobatics you are doing in your head right now, it is not correct!

Took us an embarrassing attempt or two before someone set us straight. There is a long peninsula north of Auckland (the largest city in NZ) and Whangarei is almost halfway up the peninsula, called the Northlands.

We passed by Auckland on the way to Whangarei.

Bye, Auckland, we'll be back!

We checked in to our Top 10 Holiday Park Cabin. This is something that sounds kind of weird here, but is actually pretty common in NZ. And it was fantastic! Our own teeny little house for the night. We were looking for something low key to do before dinner, and settled upon Whangarei Falls. It was beautiful, though we were super spoiled by the Milford Track. Though it was considerably easier to get to and likewise considerably drier!

Chillin on the front porch.

Whangarei Falls.

Pretty pretty!

This might seem like a random picture, but I recognize these rock formation as very similar to the one's at Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland and Fingal's Cave off the west coast of Scotland. I think they are called basalt columns.

Mike specifically requested a pic with this palm tree (they are his favorite and he loved to see so many up north!)

One more of the falls.

I can't remember where we went for dinner, but it was over some pretty hilly terrain. After the big mountains on the South Island, we speculated that the Northlands would be relatively flat, but boy were we wrong! Hilly and windy road. But it was worth it for the spectacular sunset with dinner.

This was actually from the car ride back, but it was beautiful!

We spent the next morning driving from Napier to Matamata via Taupo and Rotorua. We stopped briefly in Taupo to eat a quick PB&J for lunch and snap a pic. We took the slightly longer route to Matamata through Rotorua just to check the place out, but we were both glad we didn't plan for much time there - it was super touristy. Most of the appeal of the place were the hot springs and geothermal activity, but we had just been to Yellowstone the year before so that was not on the top of our list.

Lovely scenery out the window - it rained a bit but cleared quickly!

Typical sight of the road.

Lake Taupo lunch spot.

This is the only picture we took in Rotorua, a little piece of Mass. in paradise.

The big part of our day was in Matamata, a teeny town north and west of Rotorua. What was in Matamata that was so special?...

The visitors center (called i-sites) in Matamata - now can you guess?

Even though we had visited the Weta Cave and LOTR filming sights, visiting the Hobbiton was the no-doubt-about-it, gotta-see-it-no-matter-what thing we had to do in New Zealand. If we had done nothing else besides this on the trip, Mike would have been happy. Unfortunately, due to my grossly underestimating the distance between the town of Matamata and the actual location of the Hobbiton, we did not make our tour time. We had a frantic 20 minute car ride with HORRIBLE directions given to us at the i-Site in Matamata (wow, you'd think they would have that down!) and another almost-made-me-feel-sick-to-my-stomach-if-I-had-caused-Mike-to-miss-this 10 minutes waiting in line to see if we could get in the next tour group (thank goodness we could!).

After the panic had subsided and we calmed down, we got on the bus that took us the mile or so away (they don't allow pedestrians in) to the Hobbiton. On the way, they told us about the property and the story of how this sheep farm came to be transformed to The Shire for the LOTR movies, and then subsequently, the Hobbit movies, too. After the LOTR movies, the set had been completely dismantled. When Peter Jackson came back wanting to film The Hobbit movies, the owners said "OK, but on one condition - build everything permanently and leave it all as it is." That was the smartest thing ever! It is a huge money-maker and tourist attraction. They even have The Green Dragon Inn for parties, evening dinners, weddings, etc.

Now on to the pretty pictures!

The welcome center - hard to find!

Our short ride in on a coach - pretty place.

We're here!

Does this spot on the path look familiar?
(No idea who the random person is.)

There are 37 Hobbit Holes, some of which didn't make it onto any of the movies!

There is a small garden, the property owners employ a staff of full time gardeners to keep everything looking good!

The doors were blue, green, yellow, or red.

Some of the Hobbit Holes were built extra small so that full size humans (Gandalf) looked extra big standing next to them.

The windows and chimneys are built right onto the hillside.

It definitely looked like a Hobbit could go walking by at any time.

Each piece was painstakingly made and then painstakingly "aged" by Weta.

Want to see inside a Hobbit Hole?

Jut a plain wall - some of the doors didn't open at all and the ones that did were just so someone could step out.
All inside scenes were filmed in a studio.

See the big tree in the middle? Then see the smaller tree to the left? Remember that smaller tree.

OMG, love that smile!

The detail was amazing.
Each inhobbitant had a profession and the signs of their trade were incorporated into the set.
This person was a beekeeper, selling their honey.

The Party Tree!

Little bee hives!

We had another GORGEOUS day!

There were even little pots, curtains, and other items in the windows.

Mike was pretty much ready to move in!
Funny aside, they keep the gardening implements in the Hobbit Holes - can we get one for our lawnmower?

Looking down into The Shire.

Remember that smaller tree from earlier? For the LOTR, it was a real tree. However, since they filmed The Hobbit movies AFTER the LOTR trilogy, but it was supposed to be set BEFORE the LOTR, they cut down the original tree, found a similar one nearby, bolted it to the top of Bag End, and HAND ATTACHED ALL THE LEAVES!
THIS IS A TOTALLY FAKE TREE.
I will never complain about busy work again.