Adventures continue through the central North Island of NZ:
Waitomo Glowworm Caves
Waitomo looks like a standard NZ village, with 41 residents, you would never guess that there was another world underground. We hiked down to a dark cave entrance with our guide Norm and ten other travellers. Norm was a fantastic guide with a passion for caving. He knew every nook and cranny of the pitch black caves. We went around and introduced ourselves, put on our safety helmets and headlamps, and climbed aboard our black water raft. Once inside the caves, Norm had us turn out our lights and it was so dark you couldn't see your own hand in front of your face. After drifting for a couple minutes, we began to see tiny strands of lights hanging above us. Soon there were millions of glowworms lighting up the inside of the caves. It looked just like a dark night with more stars than I have ever seen. The cave we were in was the exact location that Discovery Channel's Cave episode was shot for Planet Earth.
After about 30 minutes in the cave, we got out off the rafts and went on a hike through another cave. The highlight of this one was a 20,000 year old skeleton of a moa (an extinct large flightless bird similar to an ostrich).
Hobbiton Movie Set
Peter Jackson, the director of the Lord of Rings movie flew all over NZ searching for the perfect rolling hills to create Hobbiton. He found the perfect farm outside a small town called Matamata, and now the public can visit the movie set. We got to stand right outside Bilbo Baggins' hobbit hole, and relax under the party tree. They are in the process of reconstructing the set for the upcoming filming of The Hobbit. Our glowworm guide Norm ran outside waving in his boxers while filming helicopters circled the area, he thinks he might get to be an extra hobbit now ;) Unfortunately, that is about all I am legally able to write, we both signed strict confidentiality contracts and can't post pictures of the set until the movie is in theaters.
Sheep Farm
We saw a demonstration of a sheep being sheared, which is equal parts occupation and sport. The current NZ (and world) record is an average of 30 seconds a sheep for a hours straight. Our sheerer took about a minute, which still seemed very fast. After that was another highlight, we got to bottlefeed milk to baby lambs! They were just darling, and I am on an official break from eating lamb (Mike is not, he had lamb stew two hours after the show...)
Skyline Gondola Ride and Mountain Luge Course
New Zealand residents have an incredible ability to take their beautiful scenery and turn it into an extreme adventure playground. For this one, we rode up a mountain on a gondola to beautiful views of the city and Lake Rotorua. At the top, you put on a helmet and choose your course to drive a small cart down a cement loge course. It was a blast, tons of hills, twists and turns through the forest until you reach the end, then head back up for another round.
Wai-o-tapu Geothermal Wonderland
We hiked through a huge volcanic area full of craters, geysers and bubbling mud pools. There were signs everywhere warning you to stay on the trail because inches away was mud and pools over 200 degrees F. The whole park felt a bit like landing on mars, and smelled strongly of sulfur. The scent changed throughout the hike, at parts we smelled rotten eggs, curry, and maple syrup. Our favorite sections were:
Artists palette: a pool full of all different colors of mud pools.
Champagne pool: a large bubbling pool with orange and teal edges and five feet of steam.
Birds nest crater: a small mudpool at the bottom of a crater, 3 species of birds use the crater walls to nest, because the temperature is ideal for incubating their eggs.
Devils bath: a large crater filled with thick liquid the color of a green highlighter. It was Sounder's green, so bright it was hard to look at without sunglasses.
Huka falls and Lake Taupo
We stood on a footpath over a raging river, which picks up speed and crashes into a pool below. Lake Taupo is a crater left from a volcano that was 100 times the size of St. Helens. It erupted before NZ was established, and ash from the explosion was found in China and Italy.
There is more to do here than we could do in a lifetime. We are so happy we will be here for long enough to begin exploring. Good news - after emailing back and forth with the farm that our Wwoof co-workers recommended, we officially have our job secured in January. It is in a perfect location and we know what to expect (no surprise toilet scrubbing). Month one of our travels will be tough to beat, but we are looking forward to the next adventure!
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