LoRD oF THe RiNGs!

So you can't go to New Zealand without doing something Lord of The Rings related.  Ben and I ventured to Matamata for the LOTR tour through Hobbiton on a sunny Saturday afternoon.  It is only about an hour away so it wasn't too far, but just far enough that we would need soda and snacks!  They load you in a van and take you down to the set, having to drive through many fences due to the fact that the movie was filmed on a sheep farm!  For my $58 I was quite disappointed to find that they were required by copyright to remove most everthing and the things they were allowed to keep displayed could not be of the same likeness.  A few hobbit holes were kept up and painted white but they could not put windows or doors on them.  They had a few large photo boards up that showed what the landscape looked like before they had to tear everything down.  The tour guide would narrate us through a part of the movie that took place in specific locations, most of them where in the first movie.  Of course Ben made me watch the first movie before we went so I wouldn't get too bored!  Mainly we enjoyed making fun of the people other people on the tour that seemed to know far more about the movie then we did.

Go figure that we got to Matamata and Ben forgot his camera and mine had a dead battery so we had to buy  a disposible camera...didn't even know they still made those!  The best part was the anticipation to see the photos since by the time we got in the car we couldn't even remember what we had taken photos of!  It was next to impossible to find someone who actually developed film in New Zealand and it only cost us $23 for 27 photos and $20 for the camera!

We ended the tour with sheep shaving (shearing) and feeding baby lambs, which I thought was the best part!