Hobbiton

I'm legally not allowed to post photos of Hobbiton but I do promise to upload my photos of the rest of New Zealand as soon as I have a computer, internet, and some actual time to do so. I'm constantly shouting "I feel like I'm trapped in the most beautiful painting of all time!" every direction I look in. I can't wait to share.

Hobbiton was a top priority coming over to New Zealand: for those who don't know, it's the only remaining film set from the filming of The Lord Of The Rings left in New Zealand and according to our guide, it's the only live film set in the world where you can go on tours as we did. They are currently preparing to film The Hobbit on the set and have been building new hobbit holes for it. As I said, I'm legally not allowed to post photos so I'm going to keep this brief and undetailed as I don't want to get in any sort of trouble. I will say that it was my film geek dream come true: I had literally watched the films the week before I came to New Zealand and here I was standing in front of Bag's End reading Lord Of The Rings out loud. Yes we really were that geeky. I took 150 photos and my only regret was deciding to go on a noon tour when it was so hot out.

The set building was tremendous to see: all of the tiny doors, fences, mailboxes, stacks of fire wood, trees, gardens, and clothesline - and the rebuilding of The Green Dragon which they had initially torn down before rebuilding it for The Hobbit. It was completely worth the money and the tour - damn the kiwis that gave us funny tourist looks! We had an absolute blast: Mike and Tim danced a jig on the party lawn and we cemented our reputation as the Loud Americans by having such a good time. The boys drank Hobbit Beer and we watch a sheep shearing before returning to MataMata. All in all, a great great experience.