December 15, 2010

Hobbiton

By: Alex Perry

Hobbiton was beyond my wildest dreams. We started the day off by packing up at our little cottage and driving to the nearby small but busy town named Matamata. We found our ride on the Hobbiton bus to the movie set. The next movie, "The Hobbit" is beginning filming soon so we were ready for an updated version of what the usual tours would get since the set crew was working on returning the Shire to its original glory.

Our bus driver gave us some cool facts about the area and like all of New Zealand, the scenery was spectacular. There were rolling hills, trees and mountains in the background. The first thing we saw was the Green Dragon Pub and the bridge. For the next few moments we saw nothing and then the Shire opened up for us.

It was like your wildest dreams put into a valley. The spectacular little Hobbit holes were perfect. Our guide led us through the entire beginning of the movie. The detail Peter Jackson put into the movie was almost over kill. For example 250,000 leaves were glued onto an imported tree that hangs over Bag End because CGI didn't cut it. The little Hobbit holes were all different colors, shapes and sizes. These holes are the exact same as in the movie which we had watched the night before.

After our tour of Hobbiton we were led to a sheep shearing shed. There were a load of cute lambs outside that we got to pet. Inside a man sheared a sheep in less than thirty seconds and mom said that she has seen it done even faster before. Our shearing hero brought out bottles of milk for us to fee the lambs. After this we were on our way to Whangarei.

If you were wanting to come to Hobbiton soon I wouldn't suggest it. They are about to close the tours due to the filming; June would probably be a better time to come. Hobbiton has made it onto my top ten places we've been and I hope that you can enjoy it to.

(Unfortunately we had to sign a confidentiality agreement and we are not allowed to post any photos of our visit until the movies are released......sorry.....)

4 comments:

  1. love the blog Alex, so glad that you are back on the net.

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  2. Alex, you are becoming quite the author... if that neurosurgeon thing doesn't work out, you know what to fall back on!
    rebecca

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  3. Too cool! Wish I could visit Hobbiton!!

    -Laura

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