[Nz2003] Turangi -> Rotorua

[Edmund A. Hintz]

    We packed a lot into this little leg of the trip. Started at Turangi
with a 3 hr charter of "boatylicious", a local fishing boat. Hunter and I
went out while Sam stayed at the motel due to the ear problem (and a
distinct lack of interest in fishing). Had a good time, got 4 rainbow
trout all told, threw 3 back. Hunter got one of them and was beside
himself with excitement, it was pretty cute. In the people photos, his
fish is the last in the photos, good trout. I'd planned on having one of
the local outfits cook up our trout, but they're all closed until dinner.
However, one of them was kind enough to give us a small styrofoam cooler
and a wee bit of ice, so we took our trout with us to our next stop: Mordor.

    In LOTR, during the prologue, the scene where Isildur cuts the ring
from Sauron's hand was filmed at Whakapapa ski fields which was
conveniently located about 20 miles from Turangi and Lake Taupo. So, off
we went. I got several photos of the rock, and once again the GPS was
invaluable, I'd have never found the site without it. Having successfully
taken the ring to Mordor, we headed off for the general vicinity of
Waitomo caves.

    After much looping about we eventually ended up staying at Otorohanga
and had our trout cooked at a local restaurant. They were slightly amused
at the request-having your fish cooked for you is a everyday occurrence
around Lake Taupo, but 2hrs drive away it's much less common. However,
they did a magnificent job on it, and I enjoyed it immensely. Among the
photos is one of Hunter reading the local newspaper at the restaurant; he
was bored, and we were pretty surprised at how well he was reading. There
were a lot of complex words coming out of that kiddo's mouth. 

    The following morning we headed for the Waitomo Caves. The Waitomo
Caves were carved over millions of years by water; erosion caused all
kinds of tunnels and such, so it's a fascinating place. Probably their
biggest claim to fame is the glowworm. It's a rather interesting little
evolutionary dead-end. Hatching from an egg, the small worm takes around
a year to mature, during this time it likes quiet, dark, damp places, so
naturally the things love Waitomo. They set themselves up on the roof,
and hang down a long thin strand of mucous, in the cave conditions with
no wind to disturb them the strands can get to be as much as a foot in
length, perhaps even more. They also emit light, about the same
brightness as a star in the night sky. All of this is to get bugs; the
light attracts them, and the mucous strand acts like a spider's web,
snaring the bug which the glowworm then reels in and eats. After the
glowworm reaches maturity, it morphs into an insect, but it has no mouth.
So, at maturity, all they do is mate, lay eggs, and die of starvation,
all in about 24 hours. Like I said, a strange little dead-end of
evolution. Anyway, the last part of the cave tour is a short boatride
through the Glowworm Grotto, which has thousands of the little buggers up
on the roof glowing away. Quite spectacular, but we weren't allowed to
take photos so you'll just have to go visit for yourselves.

    From Waitomo we hot-footed it over to Matamata, the site of the
Hobbiton movie set. Just barely caught the 12:30 tour (they kindly held
it up 5 minutes for us). The original contracts called for the
destruction of the set, and returning the site to it's original state,
but they only got the outlying stuff done before the fall rains came in
and made the slopes too dangerous for the bulldozer, so the contractor
said he'd come back the following summer and finish the job. Meanwhile,
folks started popping up at the farmer's front door asking to take a
looksee, and he realized he just might have something useful... 2 years
later, just this past December, he finally got it all worked out with New
Line Cinema and started running tours. Pretty good business, at $50/head,
and there's been something like 4000 people who've done it since they
opened. Something like a thousand a month; at $50/head that's not a bad
business at all. Of course once the movies are done with the attendance
will likely drop, but in the meantime that family stands to do quite
well(New Line isn't getting anything out of the deal). Anyway, what
remains are the framing and plywood of the hobbit holes, the facades were
polystyrene and were taken down right after filming. Interestingly, the
party tree almost got cut down about 10 years ago; when herding sheep
invariably a few would try to take a shortcut behind the tree and end up
in a swampy area and the guys would have to wade in and get 'em out. The
farmer wanted to chop the thing down, but his sons pointed out that it
would fall into the swamp area and be even more trouble to get out, so he
let it be. Of course, once the film scouts flew over and saw the
location, the tree gained security... Anyway, the tour was quite fun, and
we got a few photos of ourselves with the ring at Bag End. Back at the
info center, as the next tour was getting ready to go, somebody mentioned
that we had the ring, and another fellow popped up with his. Young French
guy, there with his girlfriend, doing the backpacking thing. Asked if he
was going on the tour and he said the $50/ea was beyond his budget-so Sam
said to me we should help 'em out. Good idea, got them tickets and made a
couple of folks very happy. Payback for all those Dead tickets folks used
to buy me.

    After Hobbiton we headed down to Rotorua to catch the Maori dinner.
Ended up going to the Mitai family, good stuff. All the performers, and
indeed the whole operation, is a family gig, and it was a very enjoyable
evening. We learned a lot about the Maori history and customs, and got to
have a nice long chat with the "chief". After dinner they took us on a
short evening walk around the compound, down to a spot where water
bubbles up out of the ground and starts a stream, and there were of
course all kinds of glowworms. After observing them for a bit, they
flipped the light switch in the pond, and there were several eels and
rainbow trout in the pond, very cool.

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Regards,

Ed Hintz
ed@hintz.org