The Ally’s and Ray Get Kinda Cray - Week 5, part 2 in NZ
Picking up where we left off…
That last morning at the farm, before heading off to explore the caves, Ann cooked us an ostrich egg omelette breakfast. Her husband opened the egg in front of us, using a power drill and then an air compressor. He first drilled a hole with a small drill bit, and then widened it with a larger one. He took the air compressor tube, stuck it in the hole while the egg was over the bowl, and turned it on. A stream of deep yellow liquid burst from the hole and started to rapidly fill the bowl. It was WILD. The contents of the egg filled an entire mixing bowl, and according to Ann is the equivalent of 30 chicken eggs. Though higher in protein and minerals, the omelette tasted very similar to any other egg dish I’ve had. It did feel like good fuel for what was ahead though!
Near the Airbnb are the famous Waitomo glowworm caves. Instead of your run-of-the-mill tour, we opted for a true adventure: rappelling down waterfalls deep into the cave. With our guides, Craig and Harrison, and a couple from the US, we geared up, practiced rappelling, or abseiling as they call it here, and went down into the dark depths!
Trying to gear up was an adventure all by itself, as Ally and I seriously struggled to squeeze into our wetsuits. We’re both relatively small, but also muscular gals. We could not get the darn wetsuits up and over our thighs and then butts to save our lives, but we sure gave it our best effort, giggling and falling over with almost every shimmy, and pant-hoisting jump. I finally managed to get it on, but the butt area was SO uncomfortable and saggy feeling; the thing was absolutely not on right. I wasn’t sure I could not pick at it for the entirety of our 4 hour tour, so I walked out to check with Harrison if the suit was the wrong size. He laughed as he pointed out that it was on inside out. That explained a lot.
Our first rappel into the cave was over 20 meters, following a waterfall. It was dark and so wet, both not my favorite conditions. Ally and Ray had already gone down, so with just my headlamp for light and with Craig safety belaying me from above, I slowly lowered myself through the water and down into the cave.
The rest of the exploration was a mixture of “being flushed down a toilet on a rope” as someone described, and crawling and squeezing through small spaces with water gushing all around. I was cold and I felt like I’d never be dry again, but holy cow was it fun.
On one rappel, I was being blasted in the face by a waterfall, unsure of where I was in time and space, and so I just kept lowering myself down into the dark abyss below. Suddenly I felt a whole lot more wet than I had before, which was confusing because I literally was just being pummeled with water. I also realized I was weightless and that took me by such surprise that I started to flail; I think my brain thought I had lost control of the rope and was falling, in which case, flailing would have been zero help. Instead what had happened was that I had rappelled into a deep-ish pool of water and was, in fact, just floating. All of my flailing was just splashing poor Harrison who was trying to help me get my footing so I could untie and the next person could go.
I have to laugh because we signed zero waivers for this entire experience. They asked us if we had any medical conditions prior to departing, but that was all. I can’t tell if it’s because NZ doesn’t care one bit or if it’s that the US cares too much… maybe a bit of both?
Once done with the caves, we set out for Rotorua, the geothermal area of the north island and my last stop with Ray and Ally. This was our home base for Hobbiton and some hot spring relaxation.
Though I am not an avid Lord of the Rings fan, Hobbiton was a big highlight of this trip. The drive there was quite stressful- we didn’t leave with enough buffer time, we were running low on fuel, Ray was anxious about that, and then we got stuck behind every single slow driver on the road that day. We thought for a bit that we may miss our tour.
Once there, it was delightful and well worth the minor panic of the morning. Our guide, a very young and quirky young guy named Kane led us through the rolling green hills, making bad jokes and giving us fun tidbits of info. The whole community was so vibrant and lush, and had a large variety of food producing plants and trees- We learned that there are 40 or so gardeners that work on the property and they apparently get to split all of the fresh fruit and veggies that come from their hard work.
There was a lot of exclaiming how adorable things were, and remarking at the immense detail at every Hobbit hole- each one belonged to a Hobbit with a different job in the community and they outfitted the yard and house to reflect that.
Toward the end of the tour, we got to enter a new part of the experience, an interactive exploration of the inside of a Hobbit hole. We were allowed to touch anything, pick up things, and get in whatever we wished. I spent some time in the bathtub which gave many a person in my group a surprise and then a chuckle as they rounded the corner into the bathroom. Ally and I also did some lounging on the beds, which were surprisingly comfortable.
Post-interactive exhibit, we were given a free beverage at the Green Dragon Inn, and told the story of how it had to be restored because Sir Peter Jackson, in his dedication to things being as real as possible, lit the entire thing on fire for a scene that is seconds long in the film. They had firemen dressed as Hobbits in the scene, who put it out when Peter Jackson had gotten the footage he wanted. That footage appears for mere seconds in the film.
This was not the first story that our guide had told us about Peter Jackson doing rather ridiculous things in his dedication to his craft and the story. Kane also told us that the 200,000 fake leaves on the tree above Bilbo Baggins’ house, after being attached one by one, had gotten discolored by the sun and so he had people paint every single leaf individually so that they were the correct color. Additionally because the book mentions the Shire having plum trees, but plum trees do not provide the correct scale to make humans look Hobbit sized, he had apple and pear trees planted, but then stripped them of all their fruit and wired on plums. The trees aren’t even really visible in the film, and apparently only appear in the background of a few-second Shire scene. He also had the farm that the Shire is on remove all its sheep because they weren’t the right coloring and replaced them with sheep he deemed satisfactory for his vision. There were countless other stories of his strict attention to detail. And I thought I was particular!
Our drive back from Hobbiton was much less stressful, we had some amazing Korean food - the international food here is pretty killer- and then each had our turn in the private hot spring at Ally and Ray’s hotel.
Our final day all together was very relaxing. Well, for me. We found the coolest natural hot spring river 30 minutes outside of town and, after swimming and playing there, we did some forest walks.
On our way to the airport, Ally got notified that their flight to Wellington had been cancelled. That posed some logistical issues with the rental car and their hotel, but it all worked out and they dropped me off at the airport so I could make my way back to the South Island and my little van that I missed so dearly. I got the biggest, longest hug from Ray, who felt like a second dad by this point. He wasn’t joining Ally and I on the South Island when they were done in Wellington, so I wasn’t going to see him again. I very much so look forward to reuniting in the States at some point though!
Once inside the airport I had one of the most confusing airport experiences of my life. The Rotorua airport is so small that they have zero security and they don’t check your ID. I literally went through the entrance, walked 100 ft to the tarmac door, and boarded my flight. NZ is wild, y’all.