Let me back track to yesterday when I was more interested in sleep than blogging....
We left for Hobbiton around 8:30am. Kris was so excited she ran to the shuttle bus. All that running was for naught as we still had a one hour ride to Matamata in order to see the shooting locations. Both Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit filmed all their shire scenes here. The shire was built and then taken apart after LotR. When Sir Peter Jackson decided he wanted to do the Hobbit films he contacted the family that owns the land to see if he could build the hobbit holes again and they agreed. This time, however, they asked that the holes be left there as a tourist site.
Honestly, I thought the LotR films and the Hobbit were all awesome. I still love Harry Potter more, but what really gets me is the attention to detail the films all have. HP, LotR, and the Hobbit all have directors and producers who obviously love the story they are telling given the extreme attention to detail because they know the fans want it. We saw this first hand in Hobbiton.
Upon arrival you walk down a narrow path into the entrance of the shire. There we took photos of our first hobbit holes but could also see off in the distance the hold of Bilbo Baggins atop Bagend. The detail and thought put into every little element of the set was so magical. I felt transported to another world and walking through this tiny community of tiny houses and tools and gardens makes you feel giddy like a kid on Christmas morning. It's exciting to see on film, it's more exciting to see it in person.
Some of the areas were on film for a mere second or two but still had the obvious signs of weeks of attention by set designers and artists. One example, a tree. In the novel Tolkein mentions a few hobbit children sitting beneath a plum tree eating plums. Well, a plum tree was too big to put on the set and the hobbit children wouldn't look right. So they planted an apple tree and took off every apple and leaf and HAND WIRED plum leaves onto the tree along with plums. Once they were done filming, for the three second shot, they took all that off and let it be an apple tree again.....AMAZING
It wasn't until I was atop Bagend by Bilbo's house that I was taken aback by the beauty of the scenery. Since this is my third time in New Zealand I knew all too well how breathtakingly beautiful the countryside is. I was completely awestruck seeing the view atop the hill by Bilbo's door. I stood there for about 5 minutes just staring at the view. I could stand there ten years and not feel like I had absorbed the beauty enough to leave. 5 minutes felt like a vicious tease that I had to walk away from it so quickly to stay with our tour group. I did manage to get a few photos that don't come close to showing off the beauty, but I at least got to experience it first hand for a few moments. Here's a photo I took of the shire. It was taken using a process called High Dynamic Range which is kind of like the three bears from goldilocks. One is too bright, one is too dark, and one is just right. You layer the three photos together and grab elements from each to make a really awesome photo. This photo was taken standing right in front of Bilbo Baggins' front gate.
We then went to the Green Dragon Inn for a pint and a chat :) It was also incredibly detailed and beautiful. After finishing our pint and heading back to the bus I was once again reminded that even though I have been here twice and a lot of the excursions we do are repetitious for me, I can still do new things and experience new outings in each city.
Now let's move on to today. It started out like a normal morning departure. Headed to the bus stop, got everyone there safely and in one piece. Checked in, loaded up suitcases, got everyone on board....then the bad news. NO HEAT! The thermostat was broken and was going to be fixed in Wellington. So we boarded at 8:35am and didn't get to Wellington until 4:45pm, no heat at all. By the time we reached platform 9 in Welly my toes were numb. AJ and I made the decision to hire a shuttle to take us to the hostel instead of walking the 1.2miles. With cold bodies and numb feet it seemed just cruel to make everyone walk.
On the upside, AJ and I also decided it was time for breakfast for dinner, which was very well received. We quickly went and got all our supplies at the New World across the street (very nice grocery store!) and then a few volunteers came to help cook. Brittany made the eggs, Kaylee on sausage links, Emily making pancakes, and Amy peeled oranges and got the table ready. AJ eventually jumped in and made pancakes, too since we have a pretty random selection of pots and pans at each hostel. If we didn't have two pans going, they would probably still be cooking pancakes now (4 hours later!).
Although it didn't taste the same as home, it was nice to have some "American" food. It's so weird seeing some favorite foods from home in the International section of the grocery store. Now it's time for bed, a pleasant part of my day :D Tomorrow morning a few of the girls are going to church and then we're heading to Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand. Then it's free time for the afternoon and the whole next day. A few are going to the Adrenalin forest or doing Lord of the Rings movie tours. I might finally see what all the fuss is about with the cable car and botanical gardens :D
So until the next entry....good night and keep your eye out for trixie hobbitses!
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