Part 4: The Shire

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Hobbiton TODAY!!!!!!!!!



We caught an early bus after a sucky walk with our back packs. We plan on ctching a bus to a small town called Matamata (which is near the sheep farm where they filmed LOTR and The Hobbit), then continuing on to a place called Rotorua, which has natural hot springs and geysers and such. But the most important thing about today is the freaking Shire, which I get to go to.

Today was the first sunny, beautiful day we've had. We even had the whole back of the bus to ourselves, which takes me back to Grade 5 field trips when if you could claim the back seats on the bus, you were the coolest kid on the playground (as you can plainly tell, I rarely got to do that).



The bus ride was strange...the countryside is very hilly and awesome-looking. It actually felt like we were riding through the Shire the entire way. Matamata was a nice little town with not a whole lot in it...everything about the town tries to squeeze hobbit or bilbo into the title, so I think it's their only claim to fame.



When we finally got to board the bus to Hobbiton I was so excited I may have peed a little. No exaggeration. The set itself is actually a legit sheep farm...Peter Jackson and his film crew cruised over the land in a small plane to scout the location...the thing that sold them on the sheep farm was this massive, gnarly tree in the middle of the field next to a lake...AKA the Party Tree from Bilbo's party in the Fellowship. If you're having trouble understanding any of this entry, congrats you're not a geek.



Gail and our other tour guide Benji had some really cool facts they shared with us. One of note was that Peter Jackson basically took over this nearby family's house for 3 months while they were filming the Shire scenes...they needed a little theater space to go through dailies...so they sent this family on an all expenses paid vacation for three months. These people decided to be humble and just rent a campervan and tour new Zealand...Al and I would have taken New Line for every dime they had.



When we got the Hobbiton set, we learned that if we just came three weeks later we would have been able to actually go in the Green Dragon pub and have some Hobbit beer...they are opening it as acelebration for when the Hobbit comes out in theaters. I was crushed.



My sadness soon melted away as we began the walking tour. It was mayhaps the most glorious thing my nerdy eyes had ever beheld. The gardens were perfect, the hobbit holes were exactly as you imagine they would look...everything was built perfectly and exactly as you see in the movie...no computer tricks. The only crappy thing was that you could not go in any of the hobbit holes...the interior sets are in a soundstage in Wellington. Damn. The Party Tree is also apparently dying. Bummer. Perhaps it...partied to hard...http://oyster.ignimgs.com/wordpress/write.ign.com/74314/2012/03/tumblr_lqny9rAjKq1qlv7x6.gif



Benji asked some trivia questions of us...I got two right...one about the actor who plays gimli the dwarf actually being the tallest of the nine characters in the fellowship (John Rhys-Davies) and who they actually wanted as Gandalf originally (Sean Connery). Some nerdy chick got three questions right. She was a jerk. I took out my camera for this stage of the journey because I didn't trust Alison to get all the Hobbit-y glory all on one camera. I also used my phone. Needless to say I was pumped.



We checked out the gift shop at the end...I debated about buying some Hobbit beer (1.5% alcohol content...enough to get a hobbit wasted)...but we decided our money would be better spent on actual booze. We also got to feed some sheep...they are weird little creatures. We drove back to Matamata and had some time to kill so we went to the Redoubt (a pub) and had some (you guessed it)...Bilbo Baggins Pizza (hawaiin only with bacon instead of ham). It was delicious. We chilled next to a skate park, where all the kids ride Razor scooters. No. Seriously. It's like Matamata is this magical place where everyone still lives in 2001.



We hopped on the bus and headed off to Rotorua...let me tell you. Stinkiest place I have ever been. Stinkier than the town of Brooks. It smells like sulphur met some rotten eggs and they decided to get freaky with one of Jenna's legendary farts. Just brutal. Otherwise it's a pretty nice place.



We checked into our hostel..the YHA. So. Nice. The beds were clean, no creepy gingers in sight (sorry Malc, Stoney and Jane, that was the last one). We walked down to some natural mud bubbling thermal pools. They were pretty neat but stunk. The town itself reminded us both of Banff, if Banff had the constant, lingering odor of egg salad sandwiches wrapped in toilet paper.



We later went to the Polynesian Spa, where you can relax in the mineral hot springs (which stink, but are pretty relaxing). They have seven pools that overlook Lake Rotorua...very beautiful (and smelly). We met a worker at the spa (Bryan), an Asian guy who told us all the trivia he knows about Canada, which as it would turn out, is more than both Alison and myself. We then used our free coupons for a drink at the Pig and Whistle (my first beer of the trip...I'm so ashamed).



Seacrest. Out.

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