My Visit to the Shire
This past weekend (May 17 & 18, respectively) I rented a car and headed up north for a two day adventure with six others. We woke up early on Saturday morning (4:30am) and headed off. I took second shift and drove for a few hours. This was my first time driving in three and a half months and also the first time I have ever driven on the left side of the road and opposite side of the vehicle, which was definitely an interesting experience. It was something to get used to, but I did just fine and was pretty comfortable, aside from being super tired.
We arrived in Hamilton at 12:01pm for my 12 o'clock tattoo appointment at Urban Ink Tā Moko Studio. I had a two hour session with Russ and he gave me a beautiful piece on the top of my left foot. We discussed meaning before and he asked me what aspects of myself I would like to represent. We decided on travel and strength on a great journey, which I found very fitting for my New Zealand tribute tattoo.
We napped in our hostel afterward, where we each scored our own room for $3 more than a dorm style room because of a Warriors game that filled the whole hostel. We headed out a bit later to a neat brewery and ended the night at a night market held in an underground car park.
Sunday morning we headed to Matamata, which was only about 45 minutes east. We got to Hobbiton, got on our tour bus and were taken to the movie set. There were 42 Hobbit holes built into the landscape, several gardens with actual produce, some fun stories from production regarding plants that were either fake or modified to meet Tolkien’s descriptions. There was also a barn in the landscape that needed to be gone, so they painted it green and covered it in leaves and there is now a square tree somewhere in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The attention to detail on EVERYTHING was amazing. The windows of each Hobbit hole was cluttered with nicknacks and there were loads of things outside to make it look as at home as possible. The Hobbit holes were also built in all different sizes for the sake of perspective. There were tiny holes built for when Gandalf would be in front of them and human sized holes for when the Hobbit actors were in front of them. It’s something that I never really thought about that was really neat.
We were taken to the Green Dragon at the end of the tour. The Green Dragon’s interior was originally done on a set, but the inside of the structure was turned into an exact replica from the movie which brewed four beers sold ONLY at the Green Dragon. I picked up my free pint, which I chose the cider and had a Ploughman’s sandwich for lunch. We had a quick session of Hobbit dress up and headed back on the bus to the gift shop where I picked up some more beer, shot glasses, and post cards.
I’m back in Wellington and next week is the final week of class. Working to finish everything up and thinking a lot about having to say goodbye to all of the people I have become so close to in the last few months. My flatmate just informed me that a float (soda+ice cream) is called a spider here. Fun fact.
Next stops: Queenstown, Milford Sound, Slop Point