Ahhhh the Shire (aka the North Island!!)...

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October 30th 2008

Published: October 30th 2008

We arrived safe and sound in New Zealand after losing an entire day of our lives on the way.. how strange! More importantly for us it meant we were both one day nearer to our 30th birthday's because of this! We were not however greeted with the sunshine we had hoped for on our arrival.. more like the weather we had been used to all our lives in the UK.. grey skies and rain, great! We'd only just... Read Full Entry

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Sophie & Dale

Sophie and Dale

Back in 2008 we took 21 months off work, rented out the house, found a foster home for Stuart (cat!) and ventured out to the big wide world. We saw as many places as we could fit in in the time we were on the road and returned home in February 2010 after a truly life changing and eye opening journey. Our adventure lasted... 615 days! After our return we fell into the routine of life back in the UK but have always planned to get back out there as soon as we could. It took a bit longer than we'd hoped but we did squeeze in getting married and a few holidays ... full info

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Ruakuri Caves

Outside Waitomo Glowworm Caves

No photos in this cave but there were millions of glowworms that looked like a starry sky

Outside Waitomo Glowworm Caves

Oyster Catch

We saw loads of these on the beaches and they are quite tame and cute too!

Green Parrot in the Kiwi House

Lizard in the Kiwi House

Apparently these live to 200 years old and take one hour to take one breath

Dale outside the Kiwi House

No photos of the Kiwi's we saw we're afraid as there were no photos allowed.. they were so funny though!

Hobbiton

No need to explain what this is!

Us at Hobbiton Movie set

Rolling Hills in Hobbiton

Dale excited to be in Hobbiton!

Our hostel for the night!

It was quite cramped!

Outer city of Hobbiton!

The Party Tree

This was the tree where Bilbo Baggins made his speech.. then disappeared.

Hobbiton Lake

This originally had the pub at the end of it and a bridge going across.

Dale at the Lake

Notice the photos of what it did look like at the time.

Bilbo Bagggins's House

Sophie and her own Hobbit!

Party Tree

Oak Tree

This tree was used in the film because an existing tree was not good enough. They brought this from a nearby town in 200 pieces, put it all back together again and added 250,000 leaves to it.. voila.. an authentic Oak Tree

30th October 2008

Cherise
non-member comment

I can tell you which bit those falls featured, at the beginning when Arwen is galloping off with Bilbo and then she crosses over some water and turns back and makes the water rise and wash away the black riders....and breathe! I hope u almost old buggers ;) are really well and lookin forward 2 the next installment of the Sophie and Dale adventure xxx

9th July 2011

Angee Preece
non-member comment

how do you book bilbo's house?
I want to rent bilbo's house for a week or two for my honeymoon. HOW DO I DO IT?

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