When looking into booking the caves I came across what is called the 'Middle Earth Trilogy Tour'. Considering the price for the caves we wanted to see alone was going to cost half of the whole trilogy tour, we decided to go for all three. We were SO glad we did. Before I go into my photos and how much I loved each place, let me just say, NZ does tourism RIGHT. It was so slick, so well done and all of the people we dealt with were amazing. I can't recommend it enough.
First stop...Waitomo Caves. The reason for the trip! In the eyes of the 30 before 30 anyway. We saw two caves - the Ruakuri and the Glow worm cave. Both limestone caves with stunning scenes in all directions.
The Ruakuri cave starts off with this sweet spiral entrance and then you're hit with some serious stalactite and stalagmite action. I found the caves really magical. It's like you've stepped into a completely different world. I'm a big fan of 'The clan of the cavebear' series and I often found myself thinking of it during the tour.
I'm in the middle of compiling my 40 before 40 list and will definitely be putting the Black Water Rafting experiences that are offered at the caves on that list. I was so enchanted by the place that I have to take everything they have to offer!
We also went into the glow worm caves, but you're not able to take photos in there. FYI you also see a few glow worms in the Rua Kuri cave with their icky little strands of fishing line spit. Amazing little creatures they are with their glowing poo.
Our second stop was Te Puia. Which has both a gigantic geothermal park as well as some cranking night life in the way of Maori performers. We attended 'Te Po' which is their 4 and a half hour night experience. Amaze balls. We spent an hour and a half looking at the geothermal doo dads and went into see their pepe kiwis in the kiwi house.
The cool part of Te Puia is that it's also a working Maori arts school so at the end of the tour we were able to go and have a look at their carving and weaving. For people like us who come from New Zealand it's really nothing new, but I'm sure for people over from other parts of the world, this sort of thing is really exciting to see. As is the Maori performance. Our group of 60 or so was 'welcomed' onto the marae by a group of performers and they were awesome. I wish I was more forward when taking photos because these aren't great, but to tell the truth. I was captivated by it and didn't want to watch the whole thing through my lens - which I have a tendency to do!
My husband will tell you that the best part of the trip was the dinner that Te Puia put on for us as part of the tour... and he's basically right. It's incredible. I was just expecting to get some hangi in a tin foil package, but oh no. Hangi cooked root veges and meat (lamb, chicken and pork), seafood, soups, yummy steamed pudding and pavlova desert. It was great! Just what we needed on a cold night. Nom!
Our last stop was Hobbiton.
