Hobbiton!!!!!!!!!

   Today marks a day of special remembrance as one of my childhood dreams came true - I went to the land of the hobbits! For those of you who don't know, Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are some of my favorite movies and books in the entire world, and as a kid you could often find me sitting in my dad's comic book store watching the films. This made today one of the most spectacular days of my life. I would put it before my visit to Harry Potter World!

  I awoke this morning at 4:30 as it was about 10 am back home (not an ideal way to start my day). After breakfast, we quickly loaded up the bus and made our way toward Matamata, the town that holds the treasure that is Hobbiton. After a two hour drive we arrived to the town and pulled up to this magical place. I was so excited for this trip that I even wore my One Ring necklace.

Welcome to Hobbiton!

Shortly after we arrived our tour guide (William) hopped on our bus and began to give us lots of interesting information about Hobbiton. Did you know it's actually also a working farm? They have tons of sheep there! A quick drive brought us to the beginning of the village where the hobbit holes reside. Unfortunately, the interiors of the hobbit holes are not done. Instead they built the interiors in a studio in the city of Wellington (also located in New Zealand), so all that's left is the exteriors. The hobbit holes are built in various size ranges to help make the big people look bigger and the little people look...well...littler. William also informed us that to help portray the actual size of the hobbits, children were hired as background actors and dressed in adult hobbit clothes to give the appearance of working adult hobbits in the background. 

Some of the first hobbit holes that we saw

Not only does this place have hobbit holes, but it also has the crown jewel - Bag End! If you don't know, Bag End is the residence of Bilbo Baggins and later his nephew Frodo. Bilbo meets with dwarves here in The Hobbit, and Gandalf comes to visit them both here in The Fellowship of the Ring. 

Bag End

A motto to live by

We also got to see the party tree where Bilbo gave his birthday speech in the first movie. 

The Party Tree

Looks ready for a party!

 We ended the tour with a stop at the Green Dragon Inn for a complementary drink (nothing like free alcohol).

Nothing like spending your second day in New Zealand in such a magical place!

P.S. There will be more pictures on Facebook of my trip to Hobbiton!