A rainy day in Hobbiton

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Today we left Kerikeri and made the long drive south to Waitomo. It was a pretty long 6-7hr drive, and we decided to take a detour to Hobbiton to see the ‘shire’ from ‘the lord of the rings’ and now from ‘the hobbit’. Filming for the hobbit finished there a month ago, and we had to sign confidentiality agreements to state that we wouldn’t post any pictures on the net – which was a bit weird as they went to pains telling us of how it was rebuilt as an exact replica of what was seen in the lord of the rings. Anyway – apparently there used to be around 22 hobbit hole facades there before, and now since the hobbit, there are over 60 plus lots of set props. It is still not confirmed whether they will get to keep this up or whether it will all have to be dismantled. So that was all good. Unfortunately the weather was not!! The car drive during the day saw a few scattered showers, but when we arrived at the Hobbiton Café the clouds started to amass. There was a slightly strange demonstration of sheep shearing before we were bussed off to the Hobbiton set and as we got there the torrential rain began. The worst rain we’ve seen yet in New Zealand. We were given umbrellas, but the rain was so hard that they started leaking. Using cameras was also a little tricky – good job we had the water proof one with us! So Hobbiton looked great, and was a fun tour, but it was a shame the weather was so bad, as it looks like it would be picturesque on a sunny day!! After the tour (and after drying off) we drove a further 1.5hrs to get to Waitomo to stay in New Zealands most haunted building, before going caving tomorrow in the Waitomo Caves. P

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