Black Water Rafting at Waitomo Glow Worms + Hobbiton Movie Set

Some of the most popular attractions in New Zealand, are Black Water Rafting at the Waitomo Glow Worms cave and the Hobbiton movie set — both within the Waikato region.

Last year when we visited New Zealand, we completely missed the Waikato Region. But this year, we were lucky to have a private tour of the caves, with a chance to film the whole experience!

Follow our 6 week road trip through New Zealand

This post is just a small chapter of our extended road trip throughout the North and South Islands of New Zealand. Make sure to check out our whole trip and detailed itinerary within the main post!

Unfortunately, the general public aren’t allowed to bring cameras or GoPros during the tour, so we were grateful to have this exceptional opportunity to film the experience and to show people what it’s like.

Check out our vlog from the day and subscribe to Joe’s YouTube channel for future updates!

The Waitomo Glow Worms and Hobbiton can be booked together on a single ticket package, as they are only an hour’s drive apart. This is actually very convenient, as you could fit both activities in one day, if you really wanted to.

However, if you wanted a slower pace to your itinerary, then you should probably follow our footsteps and stay a night after exploring the caves. We stayed at the Waitomo Top 10 Holiday Park in a one bedroom cabin that’s, actually large enough to sleep up to 3 people.

Seeing the Hobbit movie set was utterly incredible; plus, knowing that Peter Jackson wanted to make it a permanent attraction for others to experience is just so cute!

Seeing any type of movie set, from Harry Potter studios in the UK (the only other studio I’ve been to) to Hobbiton in New Zealand, I am always in awe of the intricate details to all the props and scenery!

Watch our vlog from the day exploring the Shire, including a sequence at the end in tribute to the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films.

For the standard movie set tour, you’ll be taken on a 15 minute coach drive to the set and then for 1.5-2 hours you’ll have a full guided tour around the Shire.

You’ll be let in on all the secrets of what went on behind the scenes and the details that went into making the set. Eventually, you’ll finish off with a beer/cider in the Green Dragon pub and then taken back to the car park, next to the cafe and souvenir shop.

We had such a fun time exploring the caves and Hobbiton and would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting the North Island of New Zealand. Both experiences really felt like pure New Zealand activities! Damnit — there’s really no escaping their marketing tagline, is there?!

We would like to say thanks to Black Water Rafting, Hobbiton Tours and Waitomo Top 10 Holiday Park for inviting us as guests to their activities and stay at Waitomo. As a disclaimer to you guys however, all our thoughts and opinions remain our own.

If you enjoyed this post and the rest of our content, then follow us on social media to stay up to date with where we’re travelling and what we’re posting!

Join thousands of others and get updates straight to your inbox! Plus, get a massive 40% OFF some bespoke Lightroom presets, instantly.