New Zealand Road Trip: Hobbiton

This might be my most important post of the trip, since we based our whole itinerary around our reservation at Hobbiton. We did the second breakfast tour, and it was well worth it. We lucked out to extreme measures with the weather. It can be really windy, rainy, and overcast in Spring in New Zealand, but we had the perfect sunny day. It even started raining immediately after our tour was done. Talk about good fortune!

First of all, we woke up early here in our van:

We were only a short drive from Matamata, where Hobbiton is located. We drove up through the green rolling pastures (the sheep weren’t featured in any of the movies.) Here we go!

I got a coffee from the cafe, and got scolded (by Bryan) for almost making us late! Then we took a short bus ride to the movie set.

I won’t spoil the experience with all of my photos, but the scenery and hobbit holes looked amazing. There was so much impressive attention to detail. We loved every second of it.

Our guide started out on a working holiday visa. Imagine that being your work away job in New Zealand! And there was a guy on our tour who had learned some songs from the movie on the tin whistle and played them for us.

The general scenery was also gorgeous:

We got to go inside of one hobbit hole. There was so much to see, I think I could’ve stayed all day, or moved in forever! The attention to detail continued, with the fireplace lit and a pipe still smoking on the end table.

Hobbit life alwaysseems pretty sweet to me! Next we headed to the Green Dragon Inn for a pint. I enjoyed a lovely cider by the fireside.

Then we had made it to second breakfast. It’s a good thing we were hungry. All the food was delicious!

I have about a hundred more photos, but it’s best to go see for yourself. And rewatch all the movies while you’re at it! It was a truly magical experience.