Wellington and Matamata

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Finally something decently interesting to report: I took a quick trip with a friend up to the North Island, against my better judgment and money concerns. I had to return today because I have an exam tomorrow, but we spent a day in Wellington and a day in Matamata in order to visit the location of the Hobbiton/Shire film set from The Lord of the Rings. However, it took us four days to do all of this due to airplanes and especially due to buses.

In Wellington we ate lunch at Fidel's, which was apparently a favorite place of the LotR cast to eat at when they were based in the city. The food was good and the place had a funky vibe. It is located on Cuba Street, which is kind of a bohemian/artsy area of center city with a lot of shopping and cafes. After we ate we walked along the waterfront. It was significantly warmer in Wellington than in Dunedin (where it currently feels like a mild version of NJ winter) and we got lucky because it was bright and sunny throughout the trip.

We spent a lot of the afternoon at Te Papa, the National Museum of New Zealand, which was massive, spread over six floors. Some of the highlights included the biggest and most intact collosal squid ever recovered, some sculptures on the roof that were giant egg-shaped birds, and an art exhibit featuring thousands of canvases painted with New Zealand slang. I thought I was getting pretty good at understanding the local speak here, but there were a ton I had never even heard of!

We also stopped by the Embassy Theatre, which is a fancy movie theater converted from an actual theatre. It held the world premiere of Return of the King back in 2003. However, the only film they were currently showing was the new Terminator one and we had no interest in that. So we went to another theater and saw a British film with Collin Firth called Easy Virtue. It was decent but too predictable. All in all I absolutely loved Wellington and it is by far my favorite city I've seen in NZ. There's still a lot I'd like to do there if I ever get the chance to return.

The big attraction of going to Matamata after this was to do a tour of Hobbiton/the Shire. Besides offering that, Matamata is a sleepy town with not much to do. There are also no hostels in town so we were forced to pay a lot more for a motel- but the tradeoff was that it was luxury compared to what we're used to! Our own room, our own bathroom, free tea and hot chocolate, a TV- yep, the good life.

It's the off season as far as tourism is concerned, so our tour group only numbered about 10 people. We were driven on to the farm where the set was constructed- it is still a working sheep farm today. Then when we got close enough we walked. This is the only set that has not been fully taken down. It was partially dismantled- the bridge over the lake, the mill, the pub, and Sam's house have all been destroyed, but there are still 17 out of 30 or so hobbit holes remaining, including Bag End where Frodo and Bilbo live. The party field and the Party Tree are also there (I got to hug the Party Tree.) We got to walk all over the area and even into Bag End itself (it is the only hobbit hold big enough to go inside of because the crew needed shots from inside it looking out.) Our guide gave us a lot of behind-the-scenes information. My description here isn't very detailed but I have a lot of pictures than can help to explain once I get home.

After the tour, we got to watch another guide give a sheep shearing demonstration and then he brought out some lambs (about 10 months old because it's not lambing season currently.) He handed out three bottles of milk, one of them to me, and I got to bottle-feed one of the lambs.

Now I have just over two weeks remaining in New Zealand and classes are over. I have two exams to go. The last week or so is going to be very hectic- I have to clean and dismantle my room, have it inspected, have the whole flat inspected, close my bank account, sell back my textbooks, sell my phone, pack my belongings, return my bedding package, donate my sleeping bag in order to make more room in my suitcase... it's a never ending list! It's very difficult to believe I'll be going home soon. It's similar to the weeks leading up to coming here back in February- it didn't feel real until the night before.

Sorry there are no pictures with this but I have to do some studying and other things!

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