This is part 4 of a series of blogs on my 2024 trip to New Zealand.
Click here to see all posts in the series.
Welcome back to our Tour through New Zealand. We finished in part 3 in the town of Rotorua.
The weather was so perfect for Hobbiton, so we were on a high. This holiday was going so well, and it couldn’t possibly get any better.
Having seen the most famous filming location of the LoTR films, you would be forgiven for thinking it was all downhill from here. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Thursday 6th: Trollshaw Forest
Today we were travelling South-West to New Plymouth. We would be spending about 5 hours in the coach travelling between the two cities; a fact not made better by a 06:30 start1.
At this point we were seasoned at living out of our suitcase — every night I re-packed and squashed our luggage closed — so all we had to do was get dressed, head downstairs, gorge ourselves on another cooked breakfast, and roll ourselves into the coach.
Today I wasn’t dressed like a low-budget Gandalf, so I had far fewer synthetic hairs in my mouth.
As we left Rotorua, I was sad that we didn’t get to see the Polynesian Spa or the Rotorua Museum, but I guess this just gives me another reason to come back.
Waitomo glow-worm Caves
The first stop of the day was the Waitomo glow-worm Caves.
On the way there, one of the other people on our tour — a lovely lady named Pui who we went to dinner with the night before — finished knitting a hat; a green beanie with the phrase ‘I am no man’ stitched into it. Pui gifted the hat to my other half.
We were blown away, not only by her generosity, but also the speed at which she knitted it (she had only started the night before).
You will see it in all the photos for the rest of these blogs. I’m not sure if they ever took it off.
Pui, if you’re reading this, Loz wears this hat all the time and still loves it.
Thank you 
!
We arrived at the glow-worm Caves and begun our ‘glow-worm tour’. After saying goodbye to the sun, we entered a small hole in the hillside, and began descending deep into the mines of Moria (well of course, not Moria, but a room known as the Cathedral).
This cavernous cave really blew our minds; here we learned about the formation of the caves and their subsequent discovery. After a brief dimming of the lights, the tour group sang ‘Misty Mountains’, and the guide sang us a traditional Māori song (which was beautiful). The large cave had excellent acoustic properties, and it was obvious why it was named the Cathedral.
The tour then turned to the main event: glow-worms.
We embarked on a short boat ride through the glow-worm grotto, which would allow us to see them in their natural habitat, the pitch black.
No artificial light was allowed in the caves because it disturbs the glow-worms, so it was just us, floating through the darkness.
We had seen some glow-worms at the Māori cultural evening, but that was nothing compared to this.
Hundreds of glow-worms adorned the roof of the grotto; it looked as if we were sat under the stars (but we were deep underground). It was almost silent, except for the sounds of the boat moving slowly through the water, as we gazed up in awe.
As we emerged from the darkness of the cave I was sad it couldn’t have lasted longer. It was about an hour, and I don’t normally get to see glow-worms in the UK, so I wished I could have stayed all day.
Although the glow-worm caves were not related to LoTR, they were very cool.
★★★★☆ 4/5 - A great mix of history, geology, and the opportunity to see cool insects!
Hairy Feet Waitomo
Another hour in the coach brought us to our next filming location: Hairy Feet Waitomo - Hobbit Film Location Tour.
Hairy Feet2 is run by Warrick and Suzie Denize — the third generation of the Denize family to own the property — and has been the filming locations for the Hobbit and, more recently, the Rings of Power. Like many of the filming locations in New Zealand, Hairy Feet was (and still is) a farm, which was scouted by Peter Jackson’s team.
Similarly to Hobbiton, the owners have built an additional revenue source showing nerds around their property.
However, unlike Hobbiton, Hairy Feet lacks the movie sets left over from the filming. But what it lacks in physical structures, it more than makes up for in natural beauty.
When we arrived we were split into two groups. My group getting a tour from Suzie, and the other Warrick.
We were guided around their land for about 2 hours, beginning at the filming location of Staddle Farm; the abandoned farmhouse in Trollshaw Forest. Although cool, I spent more time in awe of the beautiful mountain range that loomed in the background.
As we were guided around, Suzie told us personal stories from filming that really brought the tour to life. Even pointing out the exact rock Richard Armitage sat on when reading his lines:
Bottom: My other half, sitting on the same rock
We then travelled into the forest, seeing the Trolls hoard ‘cave’ where Bilbo is gifted Sting by Gandalf:
Bottom: My other half, finding sting under the same rock
The same forest was also used for the scene where Radagast finds Thorin and Company, and hands Gandalf a morgul blade.
Heading back out of the forest we toured locations used for the newer ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’; such as the rock that the ‘Mysterious Stranger’ stands on to look at the stars:
Bottom: Me, having almost fallen off the rock twice
Suzie was a fantastic tour guide and made the experience unique and enjoyable. No question our group asked was too stupid, and always got a fun story in response.
All things considered, my other half and I agree that Hairy Feet was better than Hobbiton.
Yes, I said it.
Hobbiton was great, but it was more like a LoTR ‘Disneyland’; polished for tourism. Whereas Hairy Feet felt more authentic. We weren’t rushed, we got to ask plenty of questions, and Suzie’s excitement at showing us around was genuinely infectious.
★★★★★ 5/5 - This was a fantastic family run tour!
New Plymouth
All movie location-ed out, we jumped back on the coach for our final stretch down to New Plymouth.
I cannot tell you much about New Plymouth. It was dark when we arrived. It was dark when we left.
All we did was crash on our hotel bed and order some room service.
In retrospect, we should have gone out to see something, but we were too tired. The Novotel New Plymouth Taranaki was a nice hotel regardless.
Friday 7th: Wellington Bound
The downside of having to cover the whole of the North island to get from Auckland to Wellington, is that there’s a lot of country to get across. Lacking the ability to cut to an Indiana Jones-style montage, where we follow a red line across a globe, we have to make our way to Wellington the slow way; by coach.
We all jumped back in Shadowfax — the name of our coach — and begun a 5-hour drive South.
As we left, the sun rose, and a majestic Mount Taranaki sat shrouded by cloud; which was quite cool. Being on the left side of the coach did not help us get a good picture however:
The screens on the coach played The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the countryside rolled past, and I napped on and off.
About half way our tour guide ran a LoTR quiz. Now, as someone who cannot remember many things, I am not good at your average quiz. A LoTR quiz where I had to recall the name of Aragorn’s sword? I had no chance.
I scored a nice round 0.
We arrived in Wellington later that day with sunlight to spare.
We were staying in the Copthorne Hotel Wellington in Oriental Bay. However, road closures meant that our coach couldn’t approach from the West, and we had to do a giant loop around Wellington’s coast, approaching from the East along ‘Great Harbour Way’.
Great Harbour Way is a winding coastal road with beautiful views out into the Wellington bay. As we travelled along it, I recognised some houses from a Tom Scott video. Many of the houses along Great Harbour Way have private cable cars; allowing owners to get up to their houses on the side of Mount Victoria.
We checked in and were greeted by an amazing vista from our hotel window.
Fuelled by a temporary insanity — being on a coach for 5 hours can do that to you — I decided to take a lovely walk along the coastal road. I looped back through the Southern Walk Way which, I learned, was a very steep path along the side of the hill.
After about 1 km cosplaying as a mountain goat, I made it back in one piece.
We decided to go out to dinner at Lulu Bar, which I thoroughly recommend if you like cocktails! On our way back to the hotel we stopped in the town square where a brass band called ‘Crash Bandihoot’ had set up:
I’ve never been to New Orleans, but from extensive research watching NCIS: New Orleans, Wellington was giving off a very laid back and fancy-free vibe.
There was a lot for us to see and do in Wellington, so we will be spending 4 nights in our hotel. I even dared to unpack our suitcase a little.
Saturday 8th: Getting Wētā Again
Well, here we are again. In the next edition we will go off-road to more filming locations, as well as spending more time at Wētā.
Kia Ora! See you in part 5!
