DAY 97: Hobitton and Waihi Beach!

Shaina, Catherine and I got up early to rent a car to Matamata. It was about a 3 hour ride, which we used to belt out country music and enjoy New Zealand scenery.

We got to Hobbiton right at lunch time and waited about 5 minutes for our tour. We hopped on the bus with one other guy and waited to leave. It turned out that it was to be just the 4 of us and our guide! Our tour guide told us his last group had been with 40 people, so we felt pretty damn special.

The bus ride is a short 15 minutes through a huge sheep farm to this small little valley where the Shire exists! The tour took about 3 hours, where they took us step by step through the Shire explaining where each scene was shot and how they made the hobbits appear smaller.

Such as the opening scene with Gandalf and Frodo as they ride into town on his cart. Frodo actually is filmed sitting in the back of the cart and they photoshopped him into the seat next to Gandalf.

FUN FACT #48: The hobbit holes are actually just 3 feet deep with nothing inside. The outer look of it is the only thing that is in the movie. The inside scenes were filmed in Wellington, NZ.

Us inside Baggend!

FUN FACT #49: When Sir Peter Jackson came back for the filming of The Hobbit, the farmer who owns the land made a deal with him to leave all of the hobbit holes in tact and they rebuilt the Green Dragon (inside too!) for tourists. Both Jackson and the Alexander family have the rights to the Hobbiton Tours.

We saw Samwise Gamgee's house as well as Baggend, the traditional home of the Baggins'. Our tour guide actually let us go inside, (even though he wasn't supposed to) because there were so few of us and no one was around. When the tour ended, we were given complimentary beer's at the Green Dragon. We sat by the fire, drank some beer, and Catherine pet the Hobbiton cat named Ms. Pickles. (Apparently, she was picked up on the side of the road near Hobitton and the gardeners/caretakers of the hobbit homes took care of her. During filming of The Hobbit, they had to shoo her out of scenes.)

FUN FACT #50: The scene where Sam says, "If I take one more step, it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been..." he is originates in Hobbiton. When he takes that step, the filming begins in Wellington.

After we goofed around the Hobbiton store, we continued our journey to Waihi beach. We hiked about 40 minutes to watch the sunset on the same beach that Lizzy and I found the night before the Nudist Colony. It was a beautiful beach, and I found a Paua Shell! Very cool.

Once we hiked out, we found a fish and chips place to mow down. Then we jammed in the car the whole way home to Auckland. Great day with my gals :)

 FUN FACT #51: The tree that rests on top of Baggend is fact. It was hand crafted because there was no oak tree there and Peter Jackson wanted to stay as true to the book as possible. Sometimes, you can find the plastic leaves on the ground in Hobbiton.