Hobbiton Village, Glowworm Cave & Mystery Spot | Auckland Day Trip | Aug 2023

You can be another David, you know, the David on BBC, talking about animals. Edinburgh. David Edinburgh. Hello, travel buddies. Today marks our second and last day in Auckland. Just a reminder, we've dedicated a mere week to explore New Zealand. Our plan today is to visit the Hobbiton movie set, a two-hour drive from our base at the M Social Hotel. We're part of the cosy ensemble of ten, embarking on the small group Hobbiton and Waitomo day tour with lunch from Auckland. Our passage was secured through bushandbeach.co.nz, and Damien will be our trusty guide for the day. As we draw nearer, the quaint charm of the Hobbiton village is beginning to envelop us. Hold on, we've not quite reached the Hobbiton movie set. This is just a souvenir shop. To actually set foot in Hobbiton, we will need to catch the dedicated bus, conveniently departing every ten minutes. Let's pop into the shop for a gander. I'm quite taken with these statues. They're incredibly realistic. Yet I've resisted the temptation to buy one, as the prices are rather steep. A hand-sized statue will set you back upwards of AU$120. It's time to hop on the bus. That's Peter Jackson, the mastermind director behind the Hobbiton movies. Rumour has it the whole landscape around us was a grand stage for the films. Arrived at the set, I'm eager to see the Hobbiton holds. Just look at the view. It perfectly captures the essence of Hobbiton, just as we've seen in the films. Nestled in the rural splendour of Matamata, a New Zealand Waikato region, this Hobbiton set sprang to life on the Alexander family's pastoral land. The location was selected for its undulating hills and pristine scenery, which bore a striking resemblance to Tolkien's Shire. The set's construction commenced in 1999. Wow, the set is meticulously crafted with details that really make it authentic, including Hobbit holes, flourishing gardens, and other structures that vividly evoke the spirit of the Shire. I stand at 5 feet 1 inch tall. How tall is a Hobbit then? Here in Middle Earth, Hobbits are known for using honey to bake their delightful bread. Do you recall the large oak tree featured in the movie? This majestic oak is perched above Bag End, the fictional adobe of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. It's quite the marvel, constructed from a blend of steel, concrete, and urethane. What's more, its foliage is an assembly of 400,000 leaves, each one imported from Taiwan and meticulously painted and affixed individually to create its lush canopy. The Hobbits source their fresh water from this spot. Welcome to my hole. I'll check whether I have mail. Oh, no, I can't because it's sealed. I just finished my laundry. I'll just hand them there. Ah, look at my plants. I'll just give them some water. They're so prosperous. Now I'm just checking my email. No, mail. Oh, no, I guess I don't have any bill to pay. I guess my sister is not in. I'll come the other day. I'll see whether my brother is in today. Hey, Frodo, Frodo. No, none of them are home. I'm taller than my brother, but I'm still Hobbit. I'm Hobbit young. Hey, I made them. You want to try some? These eggs are pretty delicious. During this visit, we weren't able to enter any of the Hobbit holes, but now a new adventure awaits. Doors have been opened, inviting visitors to step inside and discover the charming adobe of a typical Hobbit family. It seems we're due for a return visit to fully experience this new aspect of the tour. Oh, hey, I have beautiful beer in there, but it's not for you to drink. You can go to tavern to drink it. So this is the green dragon inn. That's Hobbit's tavern, and we can have beer in there. The first beer is free. Let's go. This bridge is man-made, but I think all the good movies are set in Mother Nature. It's never in the houses or the rooms with green walls around. So that's why Hobbit and Lord of the Rings can make such a success. It's because it's actually set in nature. Each of us received a cup of free ginger beer. Cheers. After the free drink, we're going to enjoy the included lunch. Hungry? Let's go in and get something to eat. It's actually delicious. After enjoying our lunch, we concluded the Hobbiton set tour. However, our day's adventure isn't quite finished. Damien, our guide, is now taking us to a surprise next destination, an unexpected addition to our itinerary. So this is the bridge. You'd think it's scary, but it's quite stable. See, I can dance in here, but it's not moving. This is the Waikato River that we've got flowing here, the longest river in the country. And there are nine hydro dams on this river, and this is one of them that you can see over here. So effectively, up above this dam, you might be able to see all the construction area, the electricity area. That's where they store all the energy that's created from this dam. And the electricity is used for most of Auckland in New Zealand, the biggest city in New Zealand. And this is where, obviously, a lot of it is created. What you can also see around here is very natural New Zealand native bush. You can see a lot of ferns as well here in the background. So those ferns are New Zealand's native plant. You'll see them on the shirts of a lot of our sports people, called the silver fern. And they're green, you can see them green, but if you lift up, look underneath, they're silver. The Maori in the old days used to break a little bit off, put it on the ground. Because they were silver, the moon reflected off it. So at night time, people could see the trail that people had taken, and they could follow the trail by looking at the silver ferns. You can be another David. David on BBC, talking about animals. Attenborough. David Attenborough. In our rivers, like the one you've just seen, the only real fish that they had there that was worth catching were eels. The eels in New Zealand can be really long and really big, really fat. And when you're wanting to feed a whole tribe of people, you've obviously got to try and catch big fish. And a lot of them. This is how they caught eels in those days. Very, very strong. You'll never break it. Made of lots of fibres. You can see the fibres. It's all lots and lots of little fibres. They would cut one of these off, bend it down like this, put a rock underneath, a rock on top. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Taking all the green off. So there's just lots and lots of fibres. The eels in New Zealand can't see. Very, very bad vision. But great sense of smell. So the Maori would get one of these, put it in, say, an old fish head to get the smell on it, and then they'd put it in the water. The eels have three front teeth that come down from the top that curve backwards like that. As soon as they smell this, they couldn't see what it was. It smelled good. They would take a bite of it. Their teeth get caught in the fibres. Pull them out. Really, really easy way of catching eels. I've caught eels like this with my children camping in the bush. Our next stop is the mesmerising Waitomo Glowworm Cave. In the cave, I'm unable to film as lights are not permitted. Photography or video throughout the cave. Now, there are a number of reasons for this, the first one being it is quite dark and quite wet inside. So we don't want you guys being on your cameras or phones and then end up slipping over. The second reason being the cave is considered very tapu or very sacred. So it is very disrespectful. But don't worry, I'll be letting you guys take photos at the end of our tour and our boat ride, so don't worry about that. Now, let's record the sounds and atmosphere we experienced during the boat ride in the cave. I wish you guys all the best today. We're coming out of the Glowworm Cave now. Just like this. We can't do any filming or photography there. But it's absolutely stunning. It's like you're actually looking at the stars in the sky. And it's quite tranquil. And you can see it's quite rainy now, but it's not raining. It's so moist. And the glowworm only live in the moist and dark area, like in the cave. And I hope you guys will come here to experience it yourself. On our return trip to Auckland, Damien treated us to New Zealand's famous Hockey Pokey ice cream, a delightful part of the country's culinary culture. This unique treat combines vanilla ice cream with crunchy bits of honeycomb toffee, a must-try for anyone visiting New Zealand. By the time we headed back to the hotel, night had already fallen. Tomorrow, we're off to Queenstown, known as the adventure capital of the world. We will be staying there for five nights. Looking forward to seeing you there.