Kia Ora! Today was probably the best day ever. I think I was so overloaded with excitement I shut down a bit. I definitely needed a nap after because I was too excited....you know like when a little kid goes to Disney Land and they just crash after because it was so amazing?
So today I went to the Hobbiton movie set. It is in Mata Mata just outside of Rotorua. (We'll get to Rotorua later)
We woke up nice and early (6:45am I was up and attem) and got ready to board the bus at 8:15. The bus was green and had Hobbiton Tours written on the side and I had to keep myself from squealing when I saw it. The bus took us to Alexander Farms where The Shire was built and we drove through a road made by the New Zealand army just for the set. The farm is actually run by the family with one half a working sheep farm run by one brother, and the other half a movie set and tourism run by the other brother. We got there and honestly thinking about how cool it was makes my head spin a little. We walked through Gandlaf's pass (where he arrives in The Fellowship of the Ring) and saw where the children chase him for the fireworks. We toured all the hobbit holes and saw that they were built in different sizes for different characters. Some were built very small for Gandalf to been filmed in front of, and some were built much bigger for Frodo and the other hobbits to be filmed in front of. We learned a lot of cool facts about the movie that I can't think of right now, but if you ever watch Lord of the Rings with me from now on I promise you are in for a real treat! We toured all of Hobbiton including Bag End, the Party Tree, the tent where they have Bilbo's party, and The Green Dragon where we got a drink of choice! (We went for the Amber Ale, it was delightful).
After the Green Dragon we went to the gift shop, where I limited myself okay! I only got 3 postcards, 1 shirt (it's grey with a map of New Zealand and the film locations), and a guide book of all the filming locations in New Zealand. We are fully prepared to see MANY more filming locations! Muahahahahahahahaha.
It was maybe one of the most exciting things to ever happen to me. I want to get married there.
