New Zealand · The Heartland
Waikato
Glow-worms underground, a forest brought back to life above.
The Region
The Waikato is New Zealand’s original dairy country — and far more besides. Beneath its green hills run the glow-worm caves of Waitomo; on top of them sits Hobbiton, the most visited film set on earth; and at Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, forty-seven kilometres of predator-proof fence have brought a whole forest back to life, kiwi included.
It is coach country, which is exactly why it rewards designing properly: private cave expeditions after the day-trippers leave, the Movie Set at its quietest hour, and a night under canvas that turns a drive-through region into a destination.
Quietly, some excellent new lodges in the North Island are appearing here. Watch this space — we are.
01
A Moment We Design
Kiwi behind the fence
Sanctuary Mountain is what New Zealand sounded like five hundred years ago: a mountain of old forest sealed off from every predator, where kiwi are hatched and kōkako sing. A guided evening here, listening for kiwi in the dark, is conservation you can stand inside.
02
A Moment We Design
A night under canvas
Wild Canvas puts a proper bed, a hot shower and a firepit under the Waikato stars — the very comfortable kind of camping. It turns the heartland from a place you cross into a place you remember.
03
A Moment We Design
Waitomo without the queues
A private glow-worm cave, run by locals
When To Come
The season is part of the design
The caves hold the same temperature all year, which makes Waitomo one of the great wet-weather cards in any North Island journey.
Above ground, spring turns the dairy country an implausible green, and summer evenings at the sanctuary are when the forest is loudest.
A Journey That Lingers Here
Family Adventure
Two weeks for a family of four: black-water rafting through the glow-worm-lit Black Labyrinth, a night at Wild Canvas, and teenagers who forgot their phones existed.
Explore Family AdventureDesign your journey
Tell us what pulled at you here. We'll design the journey around it, with the right people waiting when the helicopter lands.
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