Taupo and Hobbiton

Today wasn't an overly busy day, but somehow still felt that way!

We were up before sunrise and away to Taupo for a 9:30 boat cruise to Maori rock carvings. When we arrived and began to make a quick breakfast before the tour, we saw an email sent an hour before check in time that they cancelled the boat due to lack of passengers. We did find it odd when we parked where the boat should have been and it wasn't there. Luckily there were a couple other boat tours going out to the carvings at 10:30 and the tours still have us time to head up to Hobbiton for my tour. The 10:30 start time also meant I had time to organize some fraudulent charges on one of my accounts and we made a couple bookings for Waitomo Caves. So it wasn't all bad!

We had breakfast and boarded the Ernest Kemp, an old timey steamboat and headed out onto Lake Taupo. The rain cleared up a little, but it was still pretty overcast. The boat took us along the coastline on our left hand side before cutting into the coast on the right where the rock carvings are. It was much bigger than I expected. The face was framed by intricate Maori designs and lines. The carver abseiled down from the top of the small cliff in order to make the carving. The nearby rocks leading into the water also had smaller carvings on them of animals and people that we didn't even notice at first. We made a couple circles to get a good look at the carvings before making our way along the other coastline back to port. The sun made an effort to peak through the clouds very briefly before the clouds swallowed it up again.

Back at port we were about to head off towards Matamata to do some grocery shopping before my tour, but had an email about a parking fine from one of our first days in New Zealand! Upon investigation, we shouldn't have gotten it, but had to spend time sorting that out. We didn't have time to go shopping now, but I wasn't going to be late for The Shire, so it was still ok.

As expected when looking at the forecast yesterday, it was pouring rain the whole drive up to Hobbiton. When we got there, it was only a drizzle which I hoped would stay. Allan and I had a look around the gift shop while we waited for my bus to take me to the set. I got on the bus, and he headed back to the car to drive out to see a friend.

Hobbiton was incredible. The rain held off for the most part and only occasionally got heavier for brief spells during our tour. The walk took us to all 44 hobbit holes and the guides shared movie clips and facts along the way. It was just like the movies and at any moment it seemed like Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf, or even Samwise Gamgee could have come walking out of the holes. Of course, they really couldn't have as only a few aren't just the facades under the hills. Bag End was huge. Even without going in, it was massive and had a whopping 12 windows. It was easily the highest and biggest hole in the Shire. All scenes inside the hobbit holes were filmed on sets and none were filmed here, it was exterior filming only. They explained the percentage of size and height to make certain characters appear smaller or bigger by walking and filming past different sized doors and holes.

Something that's only been introduced in the last few years is the chance to go inside a hobbit hole. Like I said, no filming was done inside of them, so no interiors were made. Two holes were dug out a few years ago and I'm a combined effort with the movie tour people and the art directors, plans and designs were made and executed for the two interiors. I only saw the inside of one, but it was amazing. There were so many small details and it was so much bigger than I expected. They really thought of everything right down to the toys in the kid's room, tea cozies on teapots, and shelves of awards like "biggest brussel sprout award". Even the kitchen had a little well with a moveable bucket that went up and down and the stovetop was warm. There was also a real, roaring fire in the fireplace and it was so cozy I could have stayed there all day.

We left the inside of the hobbit hole and made our way down the path to the Green Dragon. We walked over a little stone bridge towards the cozy looking pub. There were colorful lanterns strung up all around outside and when we walked in there was a roaring fire in here too. There were a couple of cozy armchairs in front of the fire and several wooden benches and chairs around tables throughout the space. I grabbed a Southfarthing Stout and sat on a bench with pillows near a window. I chatted with fellow LOTR fans until it was time for dinner and then we went through to quite the sumptuous banquet. The tables were laden with food: sausages, lamb shanks, chicken, Poh-Tay-Toes, roast veggies, vegetable pie, and so much more. I had two plates and I was stuffed. We cleared the room for about 10-15 minutes while they cleared away dinner and went back in for some cute, and very British, desserts. There was a lot of fruit, bakewell tart, sticky date pudding, apple crumble, and pavlova.

Dessert was a bit of a rush before we were whisked back outside, this time with cute little lanterns. We walked back along the water and saw all the hobbit holes with their windows lit up and lanterns outside the doors. It was super cute to spot them all dotted along the hill. I got a picture at one of the yellow hobbit doors before getting back on the bus to leave Hobbiton behind.

Back at the parking lot I waited for Allan, who was running a tad late. With the weather it was understandable. But then things got complicated when the road to get back to me was blocked by a landslide with all of the rain today. He had to go back the way he came, drive south, and then find a highway that connected back north. He did eventually get here (several hours after my tour had finished around 11pm), and we had to drive a further 20 minutes to a campsite for the night.

I suppose it's all a part of the adventure!Baca selengkapnya