Day 11 – 27/28 February 2017

(Look! The elusive consecutive day update thing! Yay!)

So, guess where we went today? No. Nope. Wrong again. We visited Hobbiton! AND IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!

It was a bit of a drive and we had a stop or two along the way. It mostly involved a certain someone getting stuck in a certain modern toilet. Luckily, as we neared our destination, one of the busses from the nearby (unpronounceable) town turned into the road in-front of us, so we could just follow it.  We arrived slightly in the nick of time, but that was fine in the end. We got our tickets and off we went on in a bus. It was just Migaél and I going on the tour, as the entrance fee is pretty steep. We stopped at the entrance of The Shire – which really is just a little fence with a gate in it – and off we went for a guided tour.

We saw the many Hobbit Holes™ (it’s trademarked apparently) and had a good drink at The Green Dragon Inn. We walked around Frog Pond and stopped to admire the massive pumpkins the maintenance crew are currently growing. Interestingly, all the vegetation on the film set is real, except the tree above Bag End, which is made of steel, silicone and about two hundred thousand plastic leaves. But the veggie farm is real and the produce gets distributed to the staff and crew.

All in all, it was a good experience. The gift shop was nice, but overpriced (although the Mumzi thought it is the most boring shop ever), the service was excellent and the bus driver was a comedian. Unfortunately, I cannot remember what his name was. The only thing I was a little disappointed in, was the fact that there was no random Hobbit walking around or a random Gandalf appearing on a cart to take us on an adventure. But oh well, maybe that will come.

P.S. If you are reading this and you work at or are the manager of said Hobbiton, give the bus driver of the 13:00 tour (28 Feb 2017) a raise. And sommer the guide too. Becca is her name, I believe. Just tell her not to leave the free zucchini in her car for two weeks…

P.P.S.S.OR.WHATEVER. New Zealand is a very pretty country. Whilst we drove to Hobbiton, we saw beautiful landscapes that ranged from the Cape area to near the Sabie area, all in a matter of minutes. It is really a beautiful country. Almost gives SA a run for it’s money…