We left Rotorua this morning to drive across the country to Waitomo, a place we had been before on our tour of NZ. We would be returning to take a different type of tour into the famous glow worm caves, and to spend a night at one of the top 5 unusual motels in the world.
The drive was a pleasant one, passing through open countryside and rural towns. For those Crowded House fans reading we drove through the Finn brother’s home town Te Awamutu, NZ’s version of Gracetown.
We arrived in Waitomo at lunch time and booked our glow worm tour for tomorrow morning. We then went to check in to our accommodation…the famous Hobbit motel at Woodlyn Park.
As we pulled up at the property we marvelled at the place, set into the ground, complete with round windows and doors. Luckily for Ben the scale had been upsized for real people and not Hobbits!
We checked out our pad…it was a touch of luxury after the campervan and cabins, Tracy even has her own room, with a choice of 4 beds!
After lunch we headed over to the Kiwi Culture Show, a unique 1 hour interactive show that involved a lot of audience participation! We sat in the large barn, in old cinema chairs with old farming equipment displayed around us.
We were then greeted by one of Billy Black’s crew, who talked us through the history of the early pioneers and the harsh conditions they worked and lived in. As the great majority of NZ was covered in forest it had to be cleared before farming was possible, the equipment used was basic, and as Ben found out, hard work!
We then watched as the tree felling technique was displayed, with the ‘steps’ up the tree trunk.
And, then Nicola volunteered for the ‘explosive’ display, where a metal tube with dynamite is inserted into the trunk and lit, causing it to split. As she lit the fuse and ran, she figured this wasn’t the best part of the show to volunteer for, as she is the jumpiest person she knows!
The pictures didn’t come out very well, the above being the best of the lot…unluckily for Nicola the video Ben took came out perfectly, complete with Tracy and Ben’s sniggering!
Next up was the kiwi animals; the kiwi bear (or possum as it is better known), the kuni kuni pig,
the faithful sheep dog, the sheep, and finally the huge steer.
In between all appearances we had the chance to help with the sheep shearing, which Tracy and Ben found out, was hard work!
All in all a fantastic show, in which we can all proudly say we participated!
Back in the Hobbit rooms we chilled for the rest of the day, taking advantage of our spacious residents, and listening to the sounds of the farm. From our rooms we could also admire the other ‘unique’ motel units; a train carriage, a Bristol Freighter aeroplane and the most impressive of all the WWII Fairmile Patrol Boat, 406 “the Motunui” an ex Waiheke Island ferry.
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