The second day in Rotorua tu aku bangun awal ... sebab my bus will pick me up at designated point at 8.15am but was told to wait there at least 15mins before ..so tak sempat breakfast pun, pas mandi siap semua, kuar hostel by 7.55 terus menapak 5 mins to i-site office at Fenton Street. Sebab tu aku pilih that hostel, knowing that it is just minutes away from i-site, which is often the pik up and drop off point sepanjang percutian aku kat sini
The destination of that day is Hobbiton Movie set in Matamata ...kira nak balik Shire le tu..nak lawat hobbits ...aku ingatkan shuttle kecik ajer yang kami guna ...sekali sampai memang bus gedabak tu ..and it was nearly full off people!
hari tu aku lupa snap gambar bus hehehe but while waiting for my bus back to Welly on my last day, kebetulan bus Hobbiton nie lalu ..so aku snap jer lah
I booked a tour tu before sampai kat Rotorua. Takut takde ticket kalau beli the day before. I booked with a tour company - costs $107 for a half day tour with return transport from Rotorua, entrance fee ke movie set plus guide.That day that bus hampir full..but the tour company banyak kat sini and all buat two trip a day ..trip pagi start at 8.15am and yang petang start at 1.15pm. Nasib I choose to go on that day coz the day after that weather was on off ujan ...
Hobbiton ni terletak kat Matamata ..on a sheep farm ..owner dia masih lagi keep the sheep around the farm kat sini. Matamata ni kat Waikato region, so the bus took us from Bay of Plenty region menuju ke Waikato region...perjalanan dalam sejam lebih gitu lah ...i kan travel alone, so all the way I was listening to my audiobook...it is very thereaputics hahaha sebab all these while, aku sempat dengat 2-3 chapters ajer ..but that day I have ample of time to listen to my book (Mao's last dancer - a really good book!)
then, when we reached Hobbiton, the bus driver stopped so that we can have toilet break and also spent time kat souveniour shop ..coz we all sampai awal and at that time tak ramai orang ..so spent a few minutes kat situ and then i lepak luar admiring the view ..padahal tak masuk pun lagi kawasan tu hahahaha ...souveniours as usual mahal le ...aku beli poskad and stamps jer ..and stamps here semua gambar hobbitons ..so worth it lah beli here :-)
The tour started here ..kitorang dengar safety briefing dulu lol and one of them is to apply sun block ..i lupa nak put on my face - as a result i got sun burnt! NZ sun is very strong - jgn lupa pakai sun block ..sebab walaupun cloudy, it is quite strong
our tour guide - Sam
and our tour started at the Garden ...a plae where Bilbo lalu masa dia berlari2 nak join Thorin and the dwarfs the day after the party at his place ...
up there is Bilbo's hobbit hole (pintu hijau at top of this pic)..and he ran down here across the garden ..pagar yang dia lompat tu tersembunyi kat sini ...i didnt get the close up of the gate
and from here it is just one wonderful feature after another ..the guide tu sangat suka bercakap hahaha so memang informative ..and he also gave us longer time to take pics ..the tip is that we should be as close to him as possible ..and he will try akan stay lelama sket at each place so that we have longer time hahahaha ...
as a huge fan of LOTR and Hobbit (ok, I watched LOTR and Hobbits for numerous time, read the book and listen to audio books multiple times - yup - a huge fab indeed!!!), this is a dream come true ..cant believe I am here ..at the movie set where the sceneries seemed so familiar ...OMG, it was surreal ...
According to the guide, masa LOTR dulu, the hobbit holes were temporary and mostly made from non-permanent structure..ada yang buat pakai polisterin and then diwarnakan etc masa tu dorang buat 39 hobbit holes ...and bila abis penggambaran LOTR, the structures semua di buka - sebab itu yang agreed by Peter Jackson dan owner of the land. But kata nya, sebelum abis semua structure dibuka, filem dah kuar kat wayang ..and neighbours realised lokasi itu actually farms dekat diorang (the ridge and everything else was so identifiable oleh tuanpunya tanah sekitar kawasan ni), and neighbours started to visit the farm to see the structure ...masa dorang shooting yng first filem, tiada siapa boleh bagitau jiran apa yang actually dorang buat kat situ ...so bila jiran dah tau, org pun kecoh le nak tengok ...
rumah cousin Bilbo yang nak lelong rumah Bilbo at the end of Hobbit 3 ... sackville-baggins kalau tak silap
Then bila Peter Jackson kata nak guna lagi kawasan ini utk Hobbit, the landowner kata boleh ..tapi dengan syarat, buat structure permanent and tak yah buka after abis shooting ...hevat le request tu coz now org buat tour ke situ ...
but the highlight of the tour is at Bag End - the name of Bilbo's hobbit hole ...the one yang warna hijau ...and queue to take pic was so long lol ..but we waited patiently and by then dah ada geng dah ...all fans of LOTR and Hobbit kan ....so memang helped each other ambik gambar ..tak perlu tanya dah ..aku toleh jer kat belakang and the two guys will take my camera and took my pics ..so sweet hahahaha ..
the seat where Bilbo first met Gandalf!
that tree above Bilbo's house is probably the most expensive tree in the worls hahaha it is an artificial tree made from steel and silicon :-) katanya artificial leaves dari Taiwan and individually wired into the tree! kan hobbit dibuat selepas LOTR padahal in terms sequence, Hobbit tu dulu then LOTR ..so, the tree has to be smaller ...
saw this and teringat kan labah labah yang dok serang the dwarfs in Hobbit and the huge one yang tangkap Frodo in LOTR! so uncanny hahahaha
see how long the queue is! at least it is teratur ...and not bersesak sesak ..so dapat jugak gambar sorang tanpa gangguan ..but seriously, the place is crowded and we were told it is still quiet sebab kami antara group terawal for that day!
our guide
and another familiar feature is the party field ..with the party tree as the centre of attention! Ingat tak the opening epiosds in LOTR masa Bilbo nak celebrate his 100th birthday ..well, that is where they had the party!
From here, we ended the tour by going to Green Dragon - the pub where Frodo jumpa mamat ansem tu ..the hero a.k.a Aragorn. we also had free drinks there ..nak kata free tak free lah as it is part of the entrance fee hahaha ...
after walking for over 2 hours! muka dah peluh dah masa nie ...
after a short rest at the pub ..it is time to say goodbye to the Shire ..tapi sangat puas hati, and that feeling of awesomeness hahaha cannot believe I have been here!!!!!!!
