Day 2 - Hobbiton & Glowworms
Sunday, July 5
The Hobbiton movie set is 14 acres amid the rolling green hills dotted with sheep, trees, and a small lake. It is part of 1250 acres containing sheep and cows farmed by the Alexander family. The original set was not permanent, but this came about by requests to visit Hobbiton after the success of of the movies. They have several sizes of hobbit houses as different scenes were shot from different perspectives depending on the size of the actors, to make the hobbits look as small as they were supposed to look.
All of the hobbit houses are just facades. However, enough people asked to see the inside of a hobbit house, that in 2012 they undertook the building of two interiors, which took 10 years.
After visiting the hobbit houses, we went to the Green Dragon for a drink (at 10:30am!).
After our drink at the Green Dragon, we went for Second Breakfast at the Old Mill. (And sat next to people from Wisconsin!)
Then we strolled around the shire a bit.
We left the shire and drove through the lush countryside to visit the Glowworm Caves in Waitomo.
We stopped briefly at a Lavender Farm
Glowworm Caves of Waitomo
Geological and volcanic activity has created around 300 known limestone caves in the area. New Zealand and Australia are the only places in the world where they exist. Glowworm larvae build a mucous tube that hangs horizontally from the rock and is attached by a network of threads. Long threads hang down forming a curtain effect. The glowworm larvae lure prey with their blue light, and the prey gets stuck on the sticky droplets on the hanging threads. In the dark of the cave the glowworms look like stars on ceiling. (And I couldn’t get any pictures of them!)
Food Today…. Breakfast at our hotel
After the Glowworms, we drove to Rotorua. We’re still waiting for our luggage which is supposed to arrive in New Zealand tomorrow.
Tomorrow we learn about the Maori culture with a visit to a living history Maori village.