Hobbiton and the Glow-worms!

We got down to Hamilton on the 14th, after putting the car through it's WOF test (MOT equivalent) which it passed with no problems much to our delight. We are staying with another of Holly's relatives named Derek. The day after we arrived we went into the center but soon concluded there wasn't a great deal there, so returned back to Derek's for a wine drinking session that seemed to happen whether he had guests or not!

The next day we went to Hobbiton, which is where some of 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'Hobbit' films where made. We had a tour of the set, where we learnt about the ridiculous amount of detail that went into making sometimes just a 1 second shot. It was a really great morning, including a pint in The Green Dragon, followed up in the afternoon by going to the cinema to watch the final 'Hobbit' movie. 



On the 17th we drove across to Waitomo to the glow-worm caves. You weren't allowed to take pictures, though I doubt they would've come out anyway. The caves were incredible and the guide was great, we had about half an hour walking through, before getting on a boat and floating down the remainder of the caves in complete silence, with thousands of glow-worms hanging above us. The caves were amazing, though we decided glow-worm was definitely a better name for them than what they actually are, which is the lava stage of a fungus gnat.