We decided it would be fun to take a road trip for a few days. Our first stop was to see the glowworm caves in Waitomo about 2.5 hours south of where we have been staying. It was the boys first time in a cave. We got lucky and were able to join the next available tour. It was a quick 45 minute tour that was mostly walking around in the caves. At one point our guide, who was of Māori descent shut off the lights. We were in the portion of the caves called the cathedral. He then proceeded to sing a Māori song to show off the acoustics in that part of the cave. He had a wonderful voice. Near the end of the tour we all pilled into wooden row boats in the cave to navigate the waters. Our guide pulled us along the pitch black cave by ropes strung through out the caves ceiling. After a few minutes we came upon the portion of the cave with the glowworms. It was spectacular. It felt like we were looking up at the stars on a crystal clear night. We could hear the kids saying things “wow” and “awesome”. It was quite incredible to see. Unfortunately they don’t allow photos inside the cave so we stole the one below from Google images.

Up next, we drove 1 hour and 15 minutes to Hobbiton. This was one of the movie sets for the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings movies. It was very high on Tom’s list of things to see in New Zealand. We watched the beginning of the Hobbit movie with the kids a few days earlier. We wanted them to see The Shire beforehand so they would understood its significance. Chelsea inquired about the evening tour which included a meal at the Green Dragon Inn, but it was sold out. We were able to get spots on the 4pm tour and only had to wait about 20 minutes. They have tours that leave every 10 minutes and they last around 2 hours. A very nice Hobbiton coach bus picked us up and drove us about 10 minutes to the actual set location. The set is located on a small section of the Alexander farm which consists of 1250 acres. Seeing The Shire in person was truly magical. We could not believe the level of detail and craftsmanship that went into each of the 44 Hobbit Holes. They made sure every home was perfect from the props to the real gardens growing in front. Our tour wound it’s way through the village up to the top of the hill. This is where Bag End was situated, the home of Bilbo Baggins and the later Frodo Baggins. It was very cool to see it up close and in person. The actual insides of the Hobbit Holes were built in a studio in Hollywood so you could not go in any. There was one called The Painters house where you could open the door and go inside. We were able to pose for a family photo standing in the doorway. There was nothing in the actual house. Just a small room with an unfinished wall behind us.

After reaching the Shire’s summit we started our journey down to the Green Dragon Inn. The path leads over a bridge located next to the mill and into the Inn. The Green Drangon is finished inside and out. We were each allowed one free drink at the bar and there was food available for purchase. The kids loved their ginger beer while we took down a cider and an ale. After the Inn we met back up with our tour group and caught the bus back. It ended up being an incredible place to visit. For sure one of the top things we have done so far.

We booked a hotel room about 20 minutes down the road through hotels.com. It was called the Kauri Lodge. We were not exactly sure what to expect. It ended up being a farm located in the middle of nowhere off of a long and winding road. Turns out the owners had just bought the property and we were there first guests. Our room was down the hill from the main house and was attached to their maintenance shed. It was a nice enough place and the farm itself was situated on a beautiful piece of property. The owner told us all about their plans for the property and walked the kids down by the cows the next morning. They were super nice people and it ended up being a fun place to stay.

October 10th was Tom’s birthday so we got back on the road in route to Rotorua about 1 hour away. Rotorura is best known for its geothermal activity and for its Maori villages. Maori are the native people of New Zealand. Rotorura reminded us a lot of Wisconsin Dells. We decided to make our first stop at Skyline Rotorua to celebrate. We took a gondola up to the top of a mountain. Once we were at the top we all got helmets on and went over to the luge course. It was a concrete track that wound its way down the mountain. The carts were easy to drive. Each of us took one kid in each cart and we were off zooming down the switchback course. When we got to the bottom we got in line to take a chairlift back up to the top and then got back on the gondola to go back down again. Mason said the luge was the best thing he has done in his life. 

After a quick lunch we headed over to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. The park was full of geothermal activity. We saw boiling mud, a radioactive-looking lake, and the steaming Champagne Pool amongst other cool things. The hike around the path was about 2 hours and had 23 points of interest. The whole family had fun checking out the park.

The plan was to drive nearly 4.5 hours from Rotorua back to our Airbnb in Auckland putting us back around 9pm. We voted and decided to go back a different way towards the coast which was a little more out of the way. We figured it would be an adventure. It ended up being a lot of tough driving through country roads. It was very scenic, but the Pacific Coast Highway did not have more than 2 minutesof coast line. After about 2 hours we stopped at a rest area to take a break. It was a beautiful area by the river with a cool bridge going over it. They had a walking trail that went through an old railroad tunnel under a mountain. We decided it would be a fun area to spend the night. Besides it was getting dark and Tom was exhausted from driving through a extremly curvy and narrow mountain pass. We got a room at a motel across the street and drove into the nearest town of Paeroa. We had dinner for Tom’s birthday at a delicious Thai place.

The next morning we woke up to a grey and raining day. After some deliberation we decided we should still do the hour hike. We packed up, threw on our raincoats and headed out. Our first stop was the Owharoa falls. A small but cool waterfall that was only a 5 minutes walk to get to. Next we drove back to the rest stop and started our wet hike on the Hauraki Rail Trail. It was an awesome hike over, bridges, along the river on narrow paths and through the woods. The entire hike along with the 1k trail on the old railroad tunnel through mountain ended up being one of our favorite things we have done.

In all we figure we drove around 800 kilometers or 500 miles. It was an epic cross country journey that we will never forget. New Zealand is such a beautiful place and what better way to see it then on a roadtrip!