Things to do in Waikato & The King Country
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Glow-worm Cave
The 45-minute guided tour of the Glow-worm Cave, which is behind the visitor centre, leads past impressive stalactites and stalagmites into a large cavern known as the Cathedral. The acoustics are so good that Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and the Vienna Boys Choir have given concerts here. The highlight comes at the tour’s end when you board a boat and swing off onto the river. As your eyes grow accustomed to the dark you’ll see a Milky Way of little lights surrounding you – these are the glowworms. You can see them in lots of other places in NZ, but the ones in this cave are something special. Conditions for their growth are just about perfect so there are a remarkable number of …
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Green Glow Eco-Adventures
Green Glow Eco-Adventures runs customised, small-group Waitomo tours, putting caving, rock-climbing, abseiling, photographic or glowworm spin on your day (or all of the above!). It’s based in Te Kuiti, 20 minutes from Waitomo.
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Orca
A day started at Orca’s window seat, looking over the water, with some eggs Benedict and a superb coffee is a day well launched. Come back in the evening for seafood paella, wine appreciation nights and live music.
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Raglan & District Museum
The small, musty Raglan & District Museum explores the stories of local Maori and Pakeha pioneers through artefacts, photos and newspapers.
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Rangiriri Heritage Centre
As you follow SH1 south you’re retracing the route of the colonial army in the spectacular land grab that was the Waikato War. On 20 November 1863, 1500 British troops (some say it was 850 – either way, there was a lot of ‘em), backed by gunboats and artillery, attacked the substantial fortifications erected by the Maori king’s warriors at Rangiriri. They were repulsed a number of times and lost 49 men, but overnight many of the 500 Maori defenders retreated; the remaining 183 were taken prisoner the next day after the British gained entry to the pa (fortified village) by conveniently misunderstanding a flag of truce. It’s worth stopping at the Rangiriri Heritag…
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Hobbiton Movie Set & Farm Tours
Hobbiton Movie Set & Farm Tours is the country’s top attraction for LOTR -ites, and pretty interesting even if you haven’t seen the movies. Due to copyright, all of the intricately constructed movie sets around the country had to be destroyed, but Hobbiton’s owners successfully negotiated to keep the hobbit holes, albeit without their wonderful exteriors. Still, for the devotee (of which there are many), it’s an opportunity to let your imagination fly. Also on offer is a hands-on Sheep Farm Experience, explaining all things woolly. Free transfers leave from the Matamata i-SITE. Otherwise, head towards Cambridge and turn right into Puketutu Rd and then left into Bu…
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Maungatautari Ecological Island
Can a landlocked volcano become an island paradise? Inspired by the success of pest eradication and native species reintroduction in the Hauraki Gulf, a community trust has erected 47km of pest-proof fence around the triple peaks of Maungatautari (797m) to create the impressive Maungatautari Ecological Island. This atoll of rainforest dominates the skyline between Te Awamutu and Karapiro and is now home to its first kiwi chicks in 100 years. The shortest route to the peak (an hour and 40 minutes) is from the northern side while the entire north–south walk will take around six hours. Take Maungatautari Rd then Hicks Rd if coming from Karapiro, or Arapuni Rd then Tari Rd fr…
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Hamilton Gardens
Stretching over 50 hectares of riverbank southeast of the centre, Hamilton Gardens incorporates a large park, cafe, restaurant and extravagantly themed enclosed gardens. The Paradise Garden Collection has separate Italian Renaissance, Chinese, Japanese, English, American and Indian gardens complete with colonnades, pagodas, dovecotes, raked sand and a mini Taj Mahal. Equally interesting is the Productive Garden Collection with its model family-sized sustainable garden, a fragrant herb garden and the precolonisation Maori Te Parapara garden. Look out for the impressive Nga Uri O Hinetuparimaunga (Earth Blanket) sculpture at the main roadside gates.
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Ruakuri Cave
Culturally significant Ruakuri Cave has an impressive 15m-high spiral staircase, removing the need to trample through the Maori burial site at the cave entrance (as tourists did for 84 years). Tours lead through 1.6km of the 7.5km system, taking in vast caverns with glowworms, subterranean streams and waterfalls, and intricate limestone structures. For as long as this cave has been open to the public, people have described it as spiritual – some claim it’s haunted. It’s customary to wash your hands when leaving to remove the tapu. Tours depart from the Legendary Black Water Rafting Company.
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Turangawaewae Marae
Ngaruawahia (population 4940), 19km north of Hamilton on SH1, is the headquarters of the Maori King movement. The impressive fences of Turangawaewae Marae maintain the privacy of this important place, but twice a year visitors are welcomed. Ask at the post office (3 Jesmond St) for directions. Regatta Day is held in mid-March, with waka races and all manner of Maori cultural activities. For a week from 15 August the marae is open to celebrate Koroneihana, the anniversary of the coronation of the current king, Tuheitia. Call ahead to find out about the opening day’s flag-raising ceremony and history tours.
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Waitomo Adventures
Waitomo Adventures offers five different cave adventures, with discounts for various combos and for advance bookings. The Lost World (four-/seven-hour trip $270/395) trip starts with a 100m abseil down into the cave, then – by a combination of walking, climbing, spider-walking, inching along narrow rock ledges, wading and swimming through a river – you take a three-hour journey through a 30m-high cave to get back out, passing glowworms, amazing rock formations, waterfalls and more. The price includes lunch (underground) and dinner. The shorter version skips the wet stuff and the meals.
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Legendary Black Water Rafting Company
Legendary Black Water Rafting Company claims to have invented black-water rafting! Its Black Labyrinth tour (three hours, $110, minimum age 12) involves floating in a wetsuit on an inner tube down a river that flows through Ruakuri Cave. The highlight is leaping off a small waterfall and then floating through a long, glowworm-covered passage. The trip ends with showers, soup and bagels in the cafe. The Black Abyss tour (five hours, $215, minimum age 16) is more adventurous and includes a 30m abseil into Ruakuri Cave and more glowworms, tubing and cave climbing.
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Riff Raff
One of Hamilton’s more unusual public artworks is a life-size statue of Rocky Horror Picture Show writer Richard O’Brien in the guise of Riff Raff, the time-warping alien from the planet Transsexual. It looks over a small park on the site of the former Embassy Theatre where O’Brien worked as a hairdresser. The Embassy’s ‘late-night double-feature picture shows’ found a place in the ultimate cult classic – although it’s hard to imagine 1960s Hamilton inspired the tale of bisexual alien decadence.
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Te Aroha Mineral Spa Bath House
The Te Aroha Mineral Spa Bath House offers relaxing private tubs, massage, beauty therapies and aromatherapy. Near the entrance a drinking fountain allows you to try the warm soda water – an acquired taste but reputedly good for constipation. Also here is the temperamental Mokena Geyser – the world’s only known soda geyser – blows its top every 40 minutes or so, shooting water 3m into the air (the most ardent eruptions are between noon and 2pm).
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Mt Pirongia
The main attraction of the 17,000-hectare Pirongina Forest Park is Mt Pirongia, its 959m summit clearly visible from much of the Waikato. The mountain is usually climbed from Corcoran Rd (three to five hours, one-way). Interestingly, NZ’s tallest known kahikatea tree (66.5m) grows on the mountainside. There’s a six-bunk DOC hut near the summit if you need to spend the night. Maps and information are available from DOC in Hamilton.
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Huhu
Easily the best choice, you won’t be disappointed if you come here twice a day. Slick and modern with charming service, it has great views from the afternoon-tipple-friendly terrace and sublime contemporary NZ food. Graze from a seasonal tapas-style menu (large or small plates) of Kiwi specialities such as rewana bread and beetroot-coloured urenika potatoes. Free wi-fi, too. Downstairs the Huhu Store sells designer NZ gifts.
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Firth Tower
Firth Tower was built by Auckland businessman Josiah Firth after acquiring 56,000 acres from his friend Wiremu Tamihana, chief of Ngati Haua. The 18m concrete tower (1882) was a fashionable status symbol rather than for defensive purposes. It’s filled with Maori and pioneer artefacts and around it are 10 other historic buildings (closed Tuesday and Wednesday), including a schoolroom, church and jail. It’s 3km east of town.
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Red Cherry
With happy staff and a cherry-red espresso machine working overtime, barn-like Red Cherry offers coffee roasted on-site, delicious counter food and impressive cooked breakfasts (perhaps oat hotcakes or a breakfast risotto). It’s Cambridge’s best cafe by a country mile (it’s actually a country 4km out of Cambridge on the way to Hamilton). There are a couple of tables outside, too, if you feel like sniffing the bucolic splendour.
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Te Awamutu Museum
Te Awamutu Museum, ‘where history never repeats’, has a True Colours– painted shrine to local heroes Tim and Neil Finn. There are gold records, original lyrics and Finn memorabilia and oddities such as Neil’s form-two exercise book. There’s also a fine collection of Maori taonga (treasures), including the revered ‘Uenuku’, and an excellent display on the Waikato War. A great little museum.
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Waikato Museum
The excellent Waikato Museum has five main areas: an art gallery; interactive science galleries; Tainui galleries housing Maori treasures, including the magnificently carved waka taua (war canoe) Te Winika; a Hamilton history exhibition entitled ‘Never a Dull Moment’; and a Waikato River exhibition. The museum also runs a rigorous program of public events.
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Hamilton Zoo
Hamilton Zoo houses 500-plus species and takes part in conservation breeding projects. The rotating ‘Meet the Keeper’ program provides interesting information from the critters’ caregivers…and it has NZ’s only tapir! The zoo is 8km from the city centre: take Norton Rd off Tristram St, then SH23 west towards Raglan, turn right at Newcastle Rd and then left onto Brymer Rd.
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Spellbound
Spellbound is a good option if you don’t want to get wet and want to avoid the big groups in the main caves. This three-hour tour and raft-ride departs from the pyramid-like booking office in the middle of town (usually 10am, 11am, 2pm and 3pm, varying seasonally) and goes through parts of the glowworm-filled Mangawhitiakau cave system, 12km south of Waitomo.
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Boatshed Cafe
The Boatshed Cafe on the lakeside (take Gorton Rd from SH1) sells mainly homemade food, some of which is gluten- and dairy-free. The rowing boat of Olympian Rob Waddell is part of the decor – he used to practise here. Basic kayaks can be hired for $20/40 per half-/full day or better ones for $25/50. You can paddle to a couple of waterfalls in around an hour.
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Bryce’s Rockclimbing
Bryce’s Rockclimbing is suited to the serious climber. On site is NZ’s largest retail climbing store that sells and hires out a full range of gear and has an indoor bouldering cave (free to those staying out back in the ship-shape accommodation) and a licensed cafe (light meals $4 to $10; open for lunch). A day’s instruction for one or two people costs $365.
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Otorohanga Kiwi House Native Bird Park
The Otorohanga Kiwi House Native Bird Park has a nocturnal enclosure where you can see active kiwi energetically digging with their long beaks, searching for food. This is the only place in NZ where you can see a Great Spotted Kiwi, the biggest of the three kiwi species. Other native birds, such as kaka, kea, falcon, morepork and weka, are also on show.
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