HOBBITON TOUR

One of the best things ever!

       Friday was such an incredible day! I had a once in a life time opportunity! Literally there is no other time I could have seen the things I did on Friday! Anyway, Hannah and I have been trying to get down to Hobbiton for the past few weeks. We didn't know if we were going to be able to go, because they are filming The Hobbit right now. For this reason, the scheduling has been really hard, also trying to find away to Matamata has been rather hard. Anyhow, Jim gave us the name of this guy and told me to call him. So I did. Then we figured it all out.
       We set it up, so we were going to Hobbiton Friday the 25 of February, 2011! John (the name of the guy driving us) picked us up at our house at seven thirty in the morning. Yup, it was another early starting day for me. I have decided that my life starts earlier over here. It's a rather strange thing. Anyway, we get in the car and we start heading South to Matamata! It was a really pretty drive. We got to drive down through the Waitakere Ranges, as well as the other main Mountains in New Zealand. Once we got there, we went to the station on main street. This is where we got our tour tickets (and where picture below was taken). We go in and we are getting our tickets, and then we have to sign our life away! I signed more paper work for Hobbiton, then I did for Sky Diving or Bungy! I had to sign saying that anything I saw or took pictures of on the tour I would not talk about or post. This was very intense! I had to read several legal documents, and before I could go on the tour I had to sign in agreement.

         Anyway, after I had signed my life away, we went up to the base at the camp. We were waiting for the next tour there! Here is a little cafe, and a sheep sheering place. It's called the Shire's rest! The walls were all painted like little Hobbit holes, and all of the writing around was in the Lord of the Rings writings! It  was so cool!

 

   Then from there, we got picked up on a bus, and we got the tour of Hobbiton. Unfortunately, I can't say anything else that I saw from that point on. I must say that it was absolutely incredible, and I have some of the most amazing pictures ever, it was a once in a life time experience, and probably one of the top three things I have done in New Zealand! 

     Anyway, after we had finished our tour of Hobbiton, John took us on the rest of the day on a private tour of the places around Auckland, and Matamata we should see! First we went to several different beaches! We got to spend a little bit of time on all of the beaches! We saw the pretty white sand beaches on the east coast! The sand was as fine as the black sand of Piha and Bethel's only it was white sand! Here we even got to see a couple of surf tournaments! It was really cool! Plus it was gorgeous! The waves we saw here, were the waves you see in Gidget, and other surfing movies! It was so cool! 

     As we were visiting one the beach's (Tay Street Beach and Hibiscas Beach) John decided he was hungry and said do you girls have lunches. We both had lunches, but he said,  "You are having a tour by me, I'm treating you girls to lunch" So we went out to this cute little cafe on the harbor! It was very good! I had some fish and chips!

 

    After lunch we went up to a mining community. This town was built for mining gold, and is one of the largest places that still mines gold today. We got to go up and see where they mine it, and how it works. This was really interesting. Then not only that, but this town has an old Maori village. He took us up to the top of where this Maori village was. It had such a pretty view. It was right on the coast up on a hill with a steep trail down to the water! He told us how the Maori people built their houses up top, and then would have a protection, because if anybody tried to attack by the water, they could see and could be prepared. He showed us where the gardens were, and everything about it! This was really neat! 

   

   Once we had had are feel of the view and everything (we spent a lot of time up there). He took us to a few other beaches, we saw the second biggest port in New Zealand, and some other little historical communities! This really was neat and interesting to see. Then he took us to Paeroa. I don't know if any of you have heard about L&P, but L&P stands for Lemon and Paeroa. L&P is like the coke or sprite of New Zealand. The city's quote is "World famous L&P, In New Zealand!" haha! I got a good laugh out of that! Anyway, L&P is this really good soda that was invented right in this city! The legend has it (it really is the truth not just legend) that in Paeora, there was water that would come out already carbonated. Then they added lemon to it, and for years this is how this drink was made. Now days it is made in the factory and like any other soda, but this is the original place where L&P was made! It was really neat! Don't worry, we were the tourist who wanted to get out of the car and take a picture by the giant bottle. John gave us a hard time for this one! 

 

    Anyway, we continued our tour, and he took us up through the different mountain ranges and showed us all around! It was very fun! He gave us an entire day private tour of the things and places we needed to see! This guy was amazing! It was such a fun day!