KKday User
As a fan of the Lord of the Rings, I have always wanted to visit Hobbiton, where the Hobbits live in the movie, in the North Island of New Zealand. Today, my wish finally came true... Today, I participated in KKDAY's Hobbiton + Waitomo one-day tour. Due to the long round-trip distance (more than 300 kilometers), we had to gather and set off at 6:20 in the morning. When I got on the bus, I realized that there were only two of us in this group, so it was basically a chartered tour, haha... When I arrived at Hobbiton, the scenery in front of me was really beautiful. In winter, there were still green fields, cattle and sheep all over the mountains, and 44 exquisite and small caves built along the mountain, which was amazing. In addition, the Chinese tour guide kept narrating every movie scene, as if recreating the scene where Frodo, the protagonist of the Lord of the Rings, first met Gandalf, which made people nostalgic! Then I entered the hobbit's cave scene to take pictures. Various beautiful miniature living homes made people unable to help but take a lot of pictures, which was a special kind of fun! Finally, we entered the Green Dragon Tavern and enjoyed a beer or ginger ale, ending the one and a half hour fantasy journey in Hobbiton. I was so excited that I finally experienced the scene in the Lord of the Rings movie and satisfied my personal wish... At noon time, we were asked to find food in the town of Ōtorohanga by ourselves. We unexpectedly found a cheap and delicious pizza restaurant. After another 20-minute drive, we arrived at Waitomo GLowworm caves. After getting the ticket and walking into the entrance of the park, there was a photographer responsible for taking pictures. In order to protect the ecology inside, no photography is allowed inside! This time we were scheduled for the 2:00 session, and a Maori girl was responsible for the English explanation, leading us into the cave. What came into view were all kinds of strange-shaped stalactite caves. I have been to Guilin, and it felt like I was back in Guilin in a second. Then the tour guide took us close to the dark limestone to see fireflies (different from the Taiwanese species, the larvae emit light in the larval stage to attract other flying insects as food). After the larvae hatch, they will build nests and hang down silk threads to prey (like spider silk, the silk threads hang down like ice crystals). Finally, we took a boat in the underground cave. In the pitch-black cave, the staff slowly and laboriously pulled the rope to make the boat move forward. From time to time, there were drops of water 💧 dripping down. At this time, we just need to look up to see countless blue dots, like shining stars. It's so beautiful and dreamy! (This trip is shorter, about 45 minutes) Before 3:00, today's trip ended successfully. The team leader also took us back to the hotel to rest. It turned out to be New Zealand's getting off work time, and we were stuck on the highway for a long time. Thank you team leader Kevin for his hard work today. Let's give him a 👍👍👍!