After picking up the camper from Britz, we headed straight for Hobbiton at Mata Mata.  Since it was our first time for everything (camper, left side of the road, GPS, New Zealand), it took a couple of wrong exits and pretty steady (aka slow) driving before we arrived at our destination.  But no complaints, though, because the scenery was beautiful. 

We arrived just when a tour bus was about to leave so we had no choice but to wait for the next tour in an hour.  So we contented ourselves with buying some small trinkets and having a nice cup of coffee at the Shire’s Rest while enjoying the quaint sight of a herd of sheep crossing the road.

It was really fortunate that we missed the last tour and had to wait for the next one for the following reasons:

It was a really small group and the late afternoon light was perfect for photos!

No crowds, no jostling, no straining to hear what the tour guide is talking about.  Our very gracious guide also brought us up to some spots which is normally impossible with large crowds, hence this photo:

It’s a helluva feeling to be standing on the spot that you used to only read about and watch on screen. And that just doesn’t apply to Hobbit fans only. The view on that hill is simply breathtaking.

Here’s a shot of the bridge and Green Dragon. It’s off limits so you can only take a picture from the opposite side of the lake. And if you are wondering, yes, this photo came out of my compact little camera and not some badass DSLR. I watermarked it just in case you don’t believe. ;)

Here are some hobbit abodes:

And some hobbit accoutrements:

And Hobbiton’s very own celebrity — Pickles the Cat! (We hear he is coming up with a children’s book soon).

The biggest full moon of the year and we were here!

At the end of the tour you can feed the lambs from a milk bottle or feed the bigger sheep with some feed. Pretty cool since there are no sheep farms that I know of on MY part of the world.

The best time to visit Hobbiton would definitely be now.  With the movie coming out this year, the set is in beautiful condition. You can almost imagine Bilbo walking out of one of those rounded doors.

Hobbiton Movie Set & Farm tours can be found here. You can book online or just go straight there and hop on the next tour.

So I guess I’ll be seeing THE Cesar Millan next week after all!

I was checking ticket prices for his actual talk at Marina Bay Sands and the cheapest tickets left were $120 a pop. Although I love Cesar and the Pack, $120 is a little too steep for me.

This morning I got a text from PLC announcing special Meet & Greet for their members. You just need to buy their $80 voucher pack which includes a ticket and a bunch of vouchers worth $100. This was too good to be true so I rushed to the nearest PLC and luckily they still had some left.

So.. see you next week Cesar! I really wish you could bring the pack especially Junior and Mr. President..

Mood right now:

It’s been more than a week since we’ve been back from NZ and we still haven’t gotten over how beautiful the place is! 

We rented a campervan and drove all around North Island.  We started from Auckland, headed down to Mata Mata, then to Rotorua and Taupo.  We would have proceeded to Tongariro if not for the rainy weather.  Instead we drove up to Waitomo for the glowworms then to surfing town Raglan, and finally back to Auckland.

I’m gonna write a blog post per activity as it’s easier for me that way.  But let me just say one thing before I retire for the night: Kiwis are the friendliest, nicest, most pleasant people I have ever met.. Hooray for NZ!