Wandering Wilhoits: Caving Hobbits

My dear Frodo,

Once upon a time you asked me if I had told you everything there is to know about my adventures. While I can honestly say I told you the truth, I may not have told you all of it...

Last weekend Wellington celebrated its city-wide holiday, leaving Adam with a well timed three days off from work. Always looking to capitalize on opportunities to put check marks up on our "too see" list, we headed north this time to the under appreciated city of Hamilton. Enjoying cheap plane tickets up to Auckland, we enjoyed a quick jaunt back down south towards the tiny town of Matamata, made famous by Sir Peter Jackson and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Matamata is home to Hobbiton, and while we can't share any of the pictures we took while on tour of the movie set, we can show you a very Gollum-like Adam...

and a hobbit-like Callie.

No, this isn't where we get to start revealing all the inner-most secrets of the film...confidentiality agreements are iron-clad and binding...but we can tell you that we very much enjoyed our tour - at least up until our tour guide informed us that the way movie producers make average-sized actors look larger than Hobbits is by bringing in children to make the scale appropriate. REALLY?!? While it may seem flattering to be a child-like thirty, I bit my tongue.

Having left the shire, the next day we ventured a little farther south to the Waitomo Caves area. Blackwater Rafting has been on our radar pretty much since we arrived in Wellington - we simply hadn't found a good time go. This was our chance - and we had a great, albeit chilly, time.

The adventure started with a bit more abseiling practice. In order to win the race down the hill, one needed to invert oneself entirely. While I'm not sure I was first down the hill - I was the only one willing to attempt a wet-suit cartwheel in this group.