Kia Ora Aotearoa

22 August 2016

Touchdown New Zealand!

One of the Hobbit-holes at the Hobbiton Movie Set

Okay, so my first day in Auckland was more like a stopover. We arrived mid-afternoon and used the airport’s 30-minute free wifi to book the Sky Bus to the city (it was $2 cheaper to book online). We got off the last stop at Queens Street and walked to our hostel, Haka Lodge. We came from a 20-hour flight from the Philippines so we didn’t have any plans that night except apart from eating and sleeping. We were quite happy with our hostel. It was clean, they had a big (and well cleaned) kitchen and the staff were friendly. We each had our own pod that was equipped with a lamp and socket.

Matamata i-Site

 We noticed a number of Asian (middle eastern and south east Asian) shops near our hostel. Since they were cheap, we did our groceries in one of the Asian stores and had a takeaway dinner before we snoozed and snored.

23 August 2016

Today, we went to one of our trip highlights—to the Hobbiton Movie Set.

Green Dragon Inn

We woke up at 5:15 AM and took the 6:15 AM bus 02 to Britomart where the Mana bus pick-up point was just about 50m away. By 7:00 AM, we left the City of Sails for Matamata

Mana bus was convenient—it had wifi and an electrical socket. And the Matamata stop was just in front of the i-Site, where they sell the tour tickets and where the bus picks up the passengers. We booked the next tour at 11:00, left our backpacks at the i-Site’s storage room (NZ$5.00 for both our backpacks) and waited for the bus to arrive.

The tour began with a drive from Matamata i-Site to The Shire’s Rest, a café in front of the entrance of the farm. Along the way, the bus driver gave commentaries about the farm—some tidbits about Matamata and the impact of the Lord of the Rings movie to the little town. He showed us where Peter Jackson stayed, told us how the location was scouted (it was the party tree that attracted them to the farm) and how the Alexander family preserved the set and made a business that helped tourism in Matamata.

The Hobbiton is adorable. I’ve seen some of the Lord of the Rings movie but I’ve never read any of the books and I haven’t watched the entire movie franchise. The place is picturesque even for a non-fan. Although at 79 NZD, I supposed someone who is familiar with the movie would appreciate it more. The details on the set is amazing—they put in so much details from the book for a few seconds on-screen. 

We went to the hobbit holes, which were 60,80, 100% scaled to the size of a hobbit (5’4”). The holes were just a façade as the interior was shot in a bigger location. The tour ended at the Green Dragon Inn, which was like a pub. They served us one free beer (non-alcoholic drinks were also available) and you have an option to buy more along with some snacks.

The ride back to Matamata was quicker. Before 14:30, we were back at the Matamata i-Site. We went around Matamata and ended up eating a Charlie Pie at McDonald’s. Finally, at 4PM, our bus arrived and we were off to Rotorua.