Driving from Los Angeles to the Redwood National Forest in California is about a 11-12 hour drive. Driving from our AirBnB in the city to the Whakarewarewa Redwood Forest took less than 10 minutes. There was a sudden transition from bustling city to wooded forest but it was nice to be so close! We had a really refreshing walk in the forest to start our morning before the drive to Tauranga.

Before we left Tauranga, we had breakfast at a small cafe. All I have to say is that New Zealand coffee is the BEST.

For some reason that I can no longer remember, I wanted to find out how much gas cost in NZ compared to the states. But the fact that it was in NZ dollars and in liters really threw me off and I ended up spending an embarrassingly long time trying to remember how to convert units.

Tauranga is such a beautiful town. On our way to the Shire/Hobbiton, we drove up and down hills with lush, green grass and lots of sheep grazing all over the place. P was particularly excited for Tauranga because we were finally going to visit Hobbiton, the set for the Shire from Lord of the Rings. We got to take photos outside various hobbit houses and visit the Green Dragon for some drinks.

Our day in Tauranga didn’t end there. After making a pit stop at our AirBnB, we set off for our nighttime kayaking trip. Glow worms are an extremely popular tourist attraction in Tauranga. There are short hikes you can do to see them but of course we had to take it one step further.

Late in the evening, we joined a group for some cheese and crackers as we waited for the sun to set by the lake. As it darker, we started to prep our gear, putting on waterproof shirts and vests, and climbed into our kayaks. There was still a little bit of light out so we paddled down the lake, surrounded by trees on both sides. Eventually, we got to a point where we were battling the current so we linked up kayaks and the guides used all their muscles to get up upstream. The lake was actually getting kind of scary as it got darker and darker. At one point, we passed a huge, noisy generator and I swear Godzilla was going to come screaming out.

Finally, we reached an area where the lake got smaller, barely wide enough for two kayaks to sit side-by-side. By this time, there was only a tiny bit of light, the lake barely illuminated by our headlamps. The guides chatted with us for a little bit before asking us to turn off our headlamps.

In the darkness, we saw little twinkles of light from the glow worms next to us and above us. As we sat in our kayaks in the dark, the number of twinkling glow worms increased and intensified. It was so magical! It was like riding in a Disneyland ride.

We kayaked back to our starting point and when the lake got wide again, our guides turned off all of their lights and had us blindly paddle and follow the little blinking red lights on the back of each of our kayak.

Needless to say, P and I were exhausted by the time we got back to our AirBnB. Maybe we were hungry and tired but we had the best lamb curry for a late night dinner and then knocked out for the night.