We had 4 full days in Queenstown, although we didn’t spend a lot of time in the city itself. The first two days we spent driving to film locations out of town. On the third day we went on a four-wheel drive tour and we spent the last day relaxing, packing and doing a few extra “tourist-y” things.

Rohan

On our first day in Queenstown we drove out to Poolburn where a lot of the Rohan scenes were filmed.

We drove down a very long, windy dirt road until we finally made it to a lake. The lake and surrounding area were used to film the town being attacked by wild men of Dunland in The Two Towers. We think the actual location was on the opposite bank, but the rocks and scenery were still pretty familiar.

We then started the drive back and on the way stopped to walk up a hill and film a few scenes. We got an amazing view of the surrounding land – which looked just like the arial shots of Rohan in the films.

On our way there we had finished listening to The Two Towers, so, before starting Return of the King we took the opportunity to blast the Rohan theme from the film soundtracks as we left. It was pretty cool.

Puzzling World

On the way to our locations on day two, we stopped off at a puzzle centre called Puzzling World. They had an illusion gallery with a whole lot of incredible illusions including holograms, sculptures and a freaky room where faces follow you as you move around!

They also had a really big maze which we did some of, but Tat had woken up with a cold and wasn’t feeling very well, so we didn’t do all of it.

We then drove up towards the Treble Cone Ski Field. Part way up this road was a view of a hill that the Fellowship passes after leaving Rivendell. Some ruins were digitally placed on this hill in the film. We then took a scenic route back to the accomodation passed a wooded area where they filmed Arwen’s flight from the Ringwraiths.

Lord of the Rings Four-Wheel Driving

Our last tour of the trip – and really our last adventure – was an all day four-wheel drive tour. In the morning we were driven to Glenorchy where we saw Ithilien, Amon Hen, Bjorn’s House & the mountains behind Isengard.

The scenery where Ithilien was filmed was still quite recognisable. The tour companies have even built a small campfire on the same spot that Sam, Frodo & Gollum sat cooking rabbit and talking about potatoes.

We both really liked the forrest where Amon Hen was filmed – this is the scene at the end of Fellowship of the Ring where the orcs attack the hobbits and Boromir. It is a really pretty forrest.

In the afternoon we went to Arrowtown which is an old gold mining town – much like Sovreign Hill in Victoria. There we drove up a river to see the Ford of Bruinen where the Ringwraiths are drowned. This was really fun but Tim’s shoes got a bit wet! We also stopped along the river to do some gold panning. Tim found a tiny speck!

We then saw the river canyon where the Pillars of the Kings were digitally added, before heading back into the city where we went out for a very yummy dinner!

Arrowtown & Preparing for Home

On our last day, after sorting out all our luggage, we drove back to Arrowtown for a better look. It’s a pretty cute town with 19th century shop fronts and little laneways everywhere. We had lunch at a French cafe – which was a bit strange in the middle of a New Zealand mining town! But the food was nice.

We were pretty exhausted so when we got back to our accomodation we fell asleep for a few hours! Then we headed back into the city for one last dinner out.

We have had such an amazing time during our whole trip – even though there were a few hiccups along the way! It has been everything we could have hoped for and more!

“Ride now, ride for ruin and the world ending!!”

Our adventures in the high country of the South Island have certainly inspired us to ride forth to victory! During our trip through the region of Canterbury we stayed in two places and saw some very significant locations from the films.

Arriving in Christchurch

After a long drive (6 hours!) we arrived in the city of Christchurch, a very interesting city. As you may remember Christchurch suffered from a series of very major earthquakes in 2010 & 2011, the second of which killed 185 people and severely damaged most of the buildings in the city centre. We found out from one of tour guides that the CBD was completely closed off for 2 and 1/2 years and many of the buildings were condemned. The result is a city that is very much still in the midst of rebuilding.

In places it looks very sad, full of empty lots and abandoned buildings, but then you turn around and there is a brand new, fully functioning, modern building.

After checking into our hotel we went for a walk and quite by accident found ourselves in a square where there was a local market happening. We were drawn to one stall with handcrafted wooden items and were amazed when the stall owner explained that they were all made from salvaged wood from the condemned buildings. It’s amazing what hope and creativity can come out of a such a terrible disaster. In fact, the previously mentioned tour guide told us that the city council has been involving all the people in redesigning a city that they want to live in: a city that is eco-friendly, sustainable and more friendly to pedestrians and bikes. It’s quite inspiring.

We spent the night in a shoebox, ahem, I mean hotel room. It was the cheapest accommodation we had stayed in and we definitely got what we paid for! But it was comfortable and a bit of fun!

Edoras

The next morning we got up early and headed down to be picked up by our tour: an all-day trip out to Mt. Sunday on Mt. Potts station, better known as the City of Edoras!

After a 2 hour drive of interesting anecdotes and Tim proving how much of a nerd he was by answering the tour guide’s obscure questions the van topped a hill and there it was.

Tim was so excited by the single hill in the middle of a reasonably flat plain and reckoned it looked just like the movie. Tat thought it was a hill.

The Tour took us right up onto the hill after which we had to walk a short way to the top. Thankfully Tat’s hip survived the climb with only one minor fall on the way down.

The film crew left no evidence at all that they were ever there. They were so scrupulous that every time they had to remove a plant to make way for the production tents, they would GPS tag it, take it away to a nearby farm and pay someone to keep them alive. They then brought every one back, planted them and paid someone to check that they stayed alive!

The scenery was stunning, there were picturesque mountains in a 360 view all around.

Tim could easily imagine the houses dotted all over the hill, crowned with a golden hall.

After a while of picture taking and scene acting with replica prop swords provided by the tour guide, we headed back.

That night we went to a little bar at the suggestion of the tour guide. It was called Astro Lounge and it was basically a beer garden behind another bistro that had been done up in a Sci-fi theme, with props and posters all around and even menu items named after sci-fi movies. Tim had the Millennium falcon burger. Needless to say, we loved it.

Twizel

The next day we had some time to kill before driving to our next location so we used good old Google and found an escape room venue nearby that was built in shipping crates. So we decided to give it a go. The one we did was time travel theme and we had an hour to find the four time keys and save the world. We did it with 11 seconds to spare!

After that we traveled four hours to the quaint little town of Twizel.

Our accomodation here was probably one of our favourites. It was only a little trailer but it had been built in the shape of Apollo 11. It also had a big window in the roof which allowed us to lie in bed and look up at the stars.

It was situated on Pukaki airport, a small country airfield, and just sat next to the owners live in hanger where he lived with his plane.

Lake Town and Pelennor Fields

Our only engagement in Twizel was a double barrelled tour to see a Hobbit location and a Lord of the Rings location.

Upon arrive at our pickup point we discovered that we were the only ones going on the tour and proceeded to have a lovely day with our very friendly and accomodating local tour guide.

She first took us to the lake where they filmed the scene from The Battle of the Five armies where the refugees of Lake Town wash ashore after Smaug has destroyed the town. Our tour guide was actually involved as an extra in filming this scene so she had some amazing stories to share with us.

She also had some great props and we delighted in dressing up as Tauriel and Kili and staging some ‘romantic’ scenes.

After a nice cafe lunch we headed out to the main attraction: a big empty field just out of Twizel. The field was used for some of the biggest scenes in terms of extras and logistics in the whole of the Lord of the Rings and that of course was all the scenes of Pelennor Fields in Return of the King.

The battle itself used 1000 extras, including 250 horses and their riders. We also found out they have since filmed a number of other films here, including, most recently, Disney’s upcoming live-action Mulan remake. Some of the set for Mulan had been stored in the hanger down the road from where we stayed!

Using screenshots the tour guide provided, a lot of the background scenery was very recognisable. We also got to go up to the very hill where King Theoden delivers his rousing speech before the charge of the Rohirrim in one the most emotional and epic scenes in all the films. We even recreated the charge of the Rohirrim by driving 60km/h in the tour guide’s van down the film road.

This tour will definitely stand out as one of the highlights of our trip.

After the tour we set out immediately for Queenstown and the final stop of our Adventure!

We’re on the South Island!

Our first stop was a large coastal town called Nelson were we saw lots more filming locations, visited an old general store and went to the jeweller’s workshop where The One Ring was made.

But before we got to the South Island we had to go on a boat.

Tat does not like boats.

It’s not just that I dislike boats. It’s that the movement of the boat makes my vestibular system (the sense that is responsible for balance) trick my nervous system into thinking I’m about to fall over.

It’s the same sensations that you get on a rollercoaster or when your plane is in turbulence. Except boats move much more slowly so where a rollercoaster or plane turbulence is over quite quickly, on a boat these sensations are drawn out and longer. They are also not fast enough to give the accompanying adrenaline rush that you get on a rollercoaster which is what makes that activity fun (not that I’m a big fan of rollercoasters, either).

So basically you’re stuck, for however long it takes – in this case 3 hours – constantly feeling like you’re about to fall over, unable to “talk yourself” out of feeling anxious because you’re not scared, your nervous system is having an involuntary freakout because the information it is receiving doesn’t make sense!

Also, to top it off, I felt motion sick for the whole time (which, yes, is a different but somewhat related thing).

Tat

To get through the boat ride, Tat managed her sensory environment with sunglasses, music, working on this blog and a lollipop.

After 3 hours, longer if you count waiting to get on and off the ferry, we were finally on the South Island!

On our way to Nelson we stopped at Pelorus Bridge which is where the Dwarves get out of their barrels after being chased by Orks and Wood Elves. It is the end of the chase that begins at the dam we went to a few days earlier.

Our accomodation in Nelson was an Air BNB on top of a hill with an amazing view out to the water. They also had an adorable puppy that Tat immediately made friends with and a cat that we only saw once, but are pretty sure he’s Tat’a friend now too!

Day One

On our first day in Nelson we drove to Takaka Hill where Aragorn leads the Hobbits through the forrest out of Bree in The Lord of The Rings. A little further down the road from the forrest are some fields where they filmed Thorin’s Company leaving the Shire in The Hobbit.

We then drove to Sailsbury Falls which was used in The Hobbit for the scene where Tauriel & Legolas go after the Dwarves. On the way we stopped in at the Langford store which is an amazing old general store full of 20th Century treasures.

Day Two

On our second day in Nelson we had been hoping to go on a helicopter ride to a couple of “out of the way” filming locations. However the weather was not on our side and it was too cloudy in the area to fly. The other thing that was on the agenda for this day, however, was to visit the Jens Hansen Jewellery shop which is the jeweller who designed and made The One Ring, and several other rings, for the films.

Tim was very excited to purchase his very own One Ring! They also showed us one of the other One Rings they made for the film: a giant brass version that was used in close-ups.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at our accomodation as we were waiting to see if the weather would clear up for the helicopter. We played some more Key Forge – properly, as we realised we had been following one of the rules incorrectly. We played three games and Tat has won all of them!

The next day we got up early for our longest day of driving to Christchurch.

Wellington: The home of New Zealand’s film industry, where the bulk of the Middle Earth films and many other great movies were filmed. And also New Zealand’s capital city, but who really cares about that, right?

We had big plans in Wellington. Day one: seeing filming locations in and around the city and Day two: A tour of Weta Workshop, dinner out and a movie. 

Mount Victoria, Rivendell & Isengard

Our first stop on our first day was Mount Victoria – the forrest covered mountain in the middle of Wellington. It was amazing to be so surrounded by nature in the heart of a big city and it was clearly a very popular destination for locals and tourists. We had to dodge a few Lord of the Rings tour groups in order to get the photos and video we wanted.

We first found the embankment were the hobbits hide from the Black Rider on their way out of The Shire. It was built up a lot by fake roots for the actual film, so there’s not a lot to look at. But it was still pretty cool to see the little ridge is still there after all these years!

After this we went looking for the tree that Frodo and Sam eat breakfast under just before the Black Rider scene. Unlike the previous spot, this was not signposted so we ended up walking too far which very much upset Tat’s bad hip. We eventually found it – or at least a tree that looked very similar and was approximately where the guide book said it would be.

We then, slowly, made our way back up the path to where the car was. Tat’s very tight calves have observed that there is not a lot of flat ground in New Zealand and, while they seem to be surviving, they are thoroughly looking forward to walking in Melbourne again!

After lunch we drove out to Kaitoke Regional Park where parts of Rivendell were built and filmed in a gorgeous Beech Tree forest. This location was very well signposted and had little information stands with explanations of where the different sets were and reference pictures. Tim was very impressed that the production team were able to build the set in amongst and incorporating all the trees.

Finally we drove to Harcourt Park which is where the first scenes at Isengard were filmed – before Saruman chops everything down to create his army. This was Tat’s favourite location of the day as you could clearly see many of the same plants and trees that are in the film, they have just grown a little taller over the years.

Weta Workshop & Thunderbirds Tours

On our second day in Wellington – and final full day on the North Island – we went on a tour of Weta Workshop. Weta is the company – or group of companies – that made all of the props, costumes and special effects for the Middle Earth films. They are known for their detailed models and props as well as pioneering motion capture technologies. Check out their website if your want to know more!

We weren’t able to take a lot of photos during the tour because of complicated copyright reasons. But they did have sculptures of the trolls from the Hobbit out the front and a few others in the shop.

Tat was very excited when we got to the room with chainmaille in it. They had a really gorgeous sheet of micro-maille – similar to the sheet she finished recently but made with really tiny rings. They also had a small piece of scale-maille which Tat hasn’t attempted yet, but now, having had a close up look at it, is definitely going to!

Tim was pretty impressed with everything.

As well as the main workshop tour we went on their Thunderbirds Are Go! tour which showed off the sets from the Thunderbirds reboot of the same name that Weta also make. It was really cool to hear how they blend real sets with CGI characters and vehicles. The sets were very impressive too!

Tim thought it was really cool hearing how they use regular objects and “junk” to create the sets, and even use some of the same techniques he uses to make his model display boards! Tat was just happy to take lots of photos to make her dad jealous!

Dinner and a Movie

While we have spontaneously gone to some really nice places for dinner during our trip, we had been planning to have an evening out in Wellington since before we left. We were also very appreciative to have been given some New Zealand Dollars from Tim’s family for our birthdays, some of which has gone towards a few souvenirs, but that we were also saving for this night (so a big thank you to Tim’s family).

There is a new film out, based on a book, called Mortal Engines. It was produced by Peter Jackson and many others that he worked with on the Middle Earth films as well as the Weta companies. We decided to see it at the Embassy Theatre: the 700 seat Art Deco theatre where many of the Middle Earth films premiered.

The evening didn’t start out quite as well as we had hoped. We decided it would be easier to get the bus to the theatre so we did some research into routes and tickets. When we got on the bus, however, we were met with one of the rudest and most unhelpful bus drivers Tat has ever met – and she’s met quite a few bus drivers!

Luckily the theatre had been pointed out to us earlier in the day by the coach driver on the way to Weta so we more or less knew where we were going.

Once we arrived, we had to find somewhere for dinner. We were expecting there to be some nice restaurants near the theatre, but it was mostly fast food, pubs and bars.

After a while, we settled on a nice looking place that had a 2 for 1 special on Beef Wellingtons. It seemed like an appropriate meal to have in Wellington! They were quite nice too. Tim also tried a local craft beer and Tat had a coconut margarita which tasted like coconut & lemon pancakes.

We had arrived quite early, so after dinner we walked over to the Theatre and hung out at their bar, the Black Sparrow, and had more yummy drinks!

Motal Engines: A “Mini” Review

We both enjoyed the movie. But it wasn’t especially good.

The visuals were stunning – and definitely the best part. It was especially impressive having been to Weta earlier in the day and hearing about some of the processes they go through to create their effects and props. Many of these would have been used in creating the world of Mortal Engines.

The film is set in a futuristic dystopian world where steampunk inspired moving cities roam around devouring other cities. There is an ongoing conflict between the people who support the moving cities and the people who have built permanent settlements, although the history and philosophies behind each of these factions is barely delved into.

The story revolves around a young girl who has a vendetta against one of the chief engineers of London. She falls in with an historian (basically a librarian but for artefacts from before society was destroyed) and through a series of mishaps they uncover a larger conspiracy.

Overall it was a very fascinating world and some interesting characters. We both felt like we wanted to know a lot more than we were given. But it was almost like they took this complex universe and stuck a “generic sci-fi plot” cookie cutter in it. Every twist and turn could be seen from a mile away and the only thing that was surprising was just how unsurprising it was!

Out of curiosity we read the synopsis of the book on Wikipedia and there seem to be a lot of better choices in that. Because of this, we wonder if the film suffered by needing to be a self-contained story. They do leave it a bit open to potentially expand on, but overall it is all wrapped up neatly which indicates that the studio did not want to guarantee a sequel. However, from what we read, there are quite a few elements from the book that were changed or left out that, if focused on, could have made the film much more interesting and surprising.

It seems like they put all their energy into creating amazing visuals and let the ball drop a lot when it came to the plot, which unfortunately doesn’t make for the best of experiences. If you are someone who is interested in complex sets and effects or steampunk in general then it’s probably worth a watch. If not, maybe check out the book instead.

Leaving the North Island

The following day we got up early to drive out to the ferry. We have had an amazing time on the North Island and can’t wait for all the adventures to come on the South Island!

While we were driving we listened to the end of Fellowship of the Ring. It seemed very appropriate to be hearing about Frodo and Sam paddling away down the River Anduin, beginning the next part of their journey, just as we were driving up to the docks, beginning the next part of ours …

Our second last stop on the North Island was a ski town called Ohakune. As it is Summer the ski fields were not in use and the town was much quieter than it presumably is during Winter. This worked well for us, though, as this is a similar time of year to when Peter Jackson and crew were in the area to film both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit so the locations we saw looked just like they do in the films.

Driving to Ohakune

We left our Matamata accomodation with plenty of time to arrive at the Aratiatia Dam for the 12pm release of water.

This is where part of the “Barrel Chase” scene from the second Hobbit movie was filmed. The production crew waited for the rapids to build up, threw in barrels painted bright pink and then digitally edited in the dwarves.

It was amazing to watch how fast the water in the river rose and then started to crash down the rocks.

After we walked back to the car we drove to the nearest town, Taupo, which is next to Lake Taupo – the really big lake in the middle of the North Island. We were planning to have a picnic lunch in the park but as we were driving into town is started pouring with rain! So we ate our lunch in the car and just looked at the park.

Ohakune

Our accomodation in Ohakune was a lodge in the middle of town. We were in the furthest room along the balcony and had an amazing view of Mount Ruapehu – when it wasn’t cloudy or raining which it was for most of our stay.

We only had one full day to see both sides Mount Ruapehu and as the weather wasn’t looking great for the afternoon, we decided to get up early and try to see everything we came for before it rained.

We first drove to the Turoa Ski Fields to find the spot where Gollum (almost) catches a fish in Lord of the Rings and the secret door to Erebor from The Hobbit.

The first spot was quite easy to find. It is just down a small path from the road at the edge of a tall, but small waterfall. We were hoping we would be able to go in the water and splash around like Gollum, but our common sense and the fence with a sign that read “Don’t go beyond this point” suggested that it was probably not the greatest idea to be that close to the waterfall!

A little further up the mountain was where the secret door to Erebor was shot. This was much harder to find. It is a secret door, after all. Also we could only see it from the other side of a small valley in the mountain.

We think we found the right spot based on the shape of the small opening in the rock and it being the only spot along the cliff face that was remotely flat enough for a film crew to stand on.

Our next destination was the Whakapapa Ski Fields, back through Ohakune and on the other side of Mount Ruapehu. We were planning to have lunch in between, but it was still early and we didn’t know if the weather would turn against us in the meantime.

We stopped part way up to see the mountain used as Mount Doom off in the distance. It was uncanny how similar it looked – you can almost imagine the trails of white snow being trails of lava! This coupled with the plant life and black rocks really made it feel like we were heading into Mordor.

Unfortunately they are using the off season as an opportunity to upgrade equipment on the ski field so our access was limited. We normally would have been able to walk to the rock where Frodo and Sam catch Gollum, but the track to this was closed. We could still see it from a distance, though.

We spent a bit of time a little way down from the ski lodges taking some photos and video of Mordor and Emyn Muil.

(Have we mentioned we’re making a video? It’s gonna be great.)

Just as we got back in the car to leave it started to rain. For the rest of the day. We definitely made the right decision to get all our sight-seeing done early!

We went out for a really nice dinner and walked back to our accomodation as the sun was setting. This is when we got the best view of Mount Ruapehu  that we’d had so far.

Driving to Wellington

We took “the scenic route” to Wellington, stopping several times to see locations and one time quite unexpectedly.

We first drove to the Rangitikei River Gorge to see part of the River Anduin – the largest river in Middle Earth. The sheer rock wall was very recognisable and even more impressive in real life.

We then stopped at Waiterere Forrest where Osgiliath Wood was filmed. It is a logging forrest so the actual trees and filming location are long gone but it still looked more or less the same. Tim did get to crawl around like Gollum here and, aside from being completely eaten by bugs, we had a lot of fun!

Finally we stopped at the Otaki Gorge to see the view and then drove down a very windy road along the edge of the gorge looking for somewhere that seemed similar to the place where Gandalf leaves Frodo and Sam on the outskirts of the Shire. The actual filming location isn’t accessible to the public, but we found a spot in the campground that seemed near enough.

After this we were on our way to Wellington!

However, on the last leg of our journey misfortune befell us when we went needlessly into the net of another very windy road (instead of the highway). As we rounded a bend our noble steed had a misunderstanding with another noble steed and a tire punctured. No one was hurt, but we were somewhat delayed.

We did eventually make it to Wellington where we stayed in a very nice hotel that Tat’s parents kindly paid for as our Christmas present (Thanks Lee & Todd!). We had to get a good night’s sleep for the next day of driving to Rivendell and Isengard …

We’re in The Shire!

It is absolutely beautiful: The woods, the fields, the little rivers.

We have been listening to the audio book of The Fellowship of the Ring while we drive (because of course!). It is quite atmospheric to look out the window at the idyllic countryside while listening to the tale of Frodo and his friends journeying through a very similar countryside.

We have spent 3 days in Hobbit-country. On the first day we stopped by the first filming location: Weathertop, and did some general sightseeing around Matamata. On the second day we visited Hell’s Gate geothermal park. On the third day we went on a tour of some filming locations from the Hobbit and finally visited the Hobbiton Movie Set.

Weathertop and Matamata

For those who don’t remember (Tat), Weathertop is the ruins in The Fellowship of the Ring where Frodo is stabbed in the shoulder by The Witch King (which king?).

In the movie, the ruins are built on a strange shaped hill that kind of looks like a short piece of broccoli. The ruins were a set filmed elsewhere, but the hill can be seen quite clearly, if from a distance.

After checking into our accomodation (another amazing Air BNB find) and saying hello to one of the owner’s horses, we drove to Matamata – self proclaimed Hobbiton. 

Rotorua & Hell’s Gate

On our second day we drove into Rotorua for lunch but got side tracked by a cat cafe. They had 17 lovely, sleepy kitties that we got to pat. And Tat didn’t even sneeze once!

After lunch we headed to Hell’s Gate Geothermal Park. We went on their walk through the Geothermal lakes and a small rainforest. Apparently the area was given the name “Hell’s Gate” after English playwright George Bernard Shaw (who wrote “Pygmalion” which inspired the musical “My Fair Lady”) visited as he remarked that it was like the Gates of Hell that his religious friends always warned him he would see if he did not fix his atheist ways.

The bubbling lakes were pretty incredible to watch and the juxtaposition between the barren sulphur pools and the lush forrest was astounding. The trees in the forrest were covered in a bright orange moss that made them seem almost unnatural, or alien. There was also a small waterfall which was actually the largest hot waterfall in the Southern Hemisphere.

After we returned from the walk we got changed into our bathers for a mud bath and soak in in the sulphur spa. Tat took a while to get used to the mud – it was so slimy! But eventually decided that it was mostly fun. She much preferred the sulphur spa which was as warm as a very warm bath (but too warm for Tim who is weird).

The Hobbit Locations & Hobbiton

On our last day in Shire Country we went on two tours!

The first was a family run tour on their working farm where several scenes in An Unexpected Journey (the first Hobbit film) were shot.

The lady who ran it was fantastically enthusiastic and proud to show off her home and share the stories of having a 500 person film crew working on the property for two weeks. She told us that after they agreed to lend their land to the film it took ten months of planning and preparing the property for the two week shoot.

In total, the scenes shot at and inspired by their farm make up 22 minutes of the film (this includes some scenes that were shot in the studio in Wellington, but were designed to match and look like they were on location).

The key scenes that were shot were the abandoned farm house, the trolls and the troll’s cave.

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After a picnic lunch back at the main building (and buying quite a few souvenirs), we drove back to our accomodation for a quick rest and to get ready for our most anticipated tour: Hobbiton.

Our Hobbiton tour was the first thing we booked for our trip (after flights and the car rental) way back in July. We had driven past the entrance several times by this point so we were very excited to finally be going inside.

When we walked down the path and first saw the town Tim had a huge grin on his face that didn’t go away for the whole evening. The attention to detail on each of the Hobbit Holes is exquisite. As we were on the last tour of the day we had plenty of time to take photos and video as we meandered along the winding paths and up the hill to Bag End.

After the Hobbiton tour we arrived at the Green Dragon Inn where our lovely tour guides poured everyone a mug of Middle Earth Ale. Then we were lead into the dining hall where we enjoyed a magnificent two-course feast!

The final part of our evening was a lantern-lit walk back through Hobbiton. We didn’t take any photos of this as it was too dark and we wanted to just enjoy the scenery. Hobbiton is incredible in the day time, but it somehow looks even more beautiful and alive at night.

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There are lights in some of the windows so it looks like there are hobbits at home.

As we walked around the lake the lake-side hobbit holes were vividly reflected in the water. It felt magical.

This whole day was definitely a highlight on our trip! But there is still so much more to see and do …

This is the post we wanted to write!

We made it! We’re in New Zealand!

Tim has been wanting to go on this trip since the Lord of the Rings films were released over 15 years ago! So he is very excited to get going and see all of the hills, rocks and trees that they filmed near.

But for our first day we just had a relax in Auckland – we definitely needed it!

Our accomodation is a beautiful little bungalow with a bed almost as soft as Tat’s “marshmallow bed” and a fantastic shower. So we’ve done pretty well there.

After getting some supplies for our first big-ish drive tomorrow, we headed into the CBD and walked along a quay – couldn’t tell you what quay, but there was water and boats and it had a similar vibe to Southbank in Melbourne.

 We looked at quite a few restaurants that all seemed very nice, but the one that won out was a bar that also had three  nine-hole mini-golf courses!

We did all of them.

Tim won.

The bar was called Holey Moley. We were really impressed with the creativity and thought that had gone into designing and theming each hole. 

There were all sorts of crazy unique and wacky ideas, a lot them themed after movies and TV shows. 

One involved putting your ball in a pinball machine and wacking it out, over a mini pool table (where you used your golf club as a pool cue if the ball go stuck) and then putting it into the hole. 

At some of the holes your score was determined by where the ball ended up – one of these was a giant tilt maze where you had to use gravity to direct the ball around obstacles and higher point holes in order to reach the Hole in One. Tat managed to do it! But only after several tries while waiting for another section to free up.

Of course one of the holes was based on Middle Earth! It was hidden behind another set and we must have walked past it about five times before we finally noticed it. Tat almost got a hole in one but just missed!

The final one required us to hit the ball up into an Iron Throne (from Game of Thrones) made out of golf clubs! The two groups in front of us took many, many tries to do it (one group seemed quite intoxicated) but Tat did it in three tries and Tim did it in two.

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Who says we’re both uncoordinated? Shame on you!

In between each course we had some drinks and food. Tat had a cocktail called a “Lemon Slice” that had Gin, Malibu, lemon & pineapple juice. 

It was amazing. Tim had a Little Creatures Pale Ale (on tap) which is apparently from New Zealand and he thought it was nicer than in Australia.

Tim was also very impressed that the designers had thought to have a stand at each hole to put your drinks and score card on.

It was heaps of fun and we’d definitely recommend it if your find yourself in Auckland with a spare hour or two!

Afterwards, we came back to our accomodation and played a new card game we are learning called Keyforge.

Tim won.

Again.

Day 2 has been much less stressful than day 1 and we are starting to feel more relaxed and in “Holiday Mode”. We are very much looking forward to starting our big road trip tomorrow, heading into The Shire (Matamata) and seeing our first Middle Earth Filming location!

We will post soon,

Tim & Tat

What an apt title.

We have been planning this as the title for our second post since we made this blog. It’s an appropriate Middle Earth reference, why would the post be called anything else?

What we weren’t planning was for it to be a reference to something else …

When Tat was a kid, she would come back to school from visiting interstate family over the holidays and regail her teachers and classmates of the latest “adventure” – the tale of what major thing went wrong during transit. Because something ALWAYS went wrong.

Highlights included the car catching on fire, jumping across the tracks from one train onto another (they were stationary, it wasn’t a heist!), sleeping on the floor of Brisbane Airport, countless late or missed planes and a few instances of misplaced luggage.

And now we find ourselves adding to the list of Travel Adventures: stuck in Duty Free because Auckland Airport caught fire.

After six hours (yes, SIX) sitting around waiting for little hints of information from the magical voice in the ceiling we were finally let through boarder security, baggage claim & customs. This last part actually went quite quickly, considering the number of people. We finally made it out not long after midnight where we proceeded to head straight for the McDonald’s sign! Other than a bag of chips each we hadn’t eaten anything for 12 hours. The very friendly bus driver even let us scoff down our food on the way to pick up our rental car.

We have since learned that there was a fire in one of the air-conditioning vents and because of this, the sprinklers flooded the baggage claim area. This is essentially why we were held up so long. Maybe there was some mismanagement and/or failing of their emergency procedures as well. Who knows? They certainly could have been more communicative and tried to get us food and water.

That said, we were actually in the luckiest group of people as the people who landed before us were apparently evacuated onto buses and as, as far as we know, kept there for the whole time and everyone after us was still stuck on a plane. Compared to either of those situations, Duty Free is luxury!

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Anyway, we finally made it to our air bnb where the lovely owner had stayed up until 1am waiting for us (we had been in contact throughout, so they knew what was going on) and now, just after 2am, it’s time to sleep.

We’ve had our big disastrous event now, so surely nothing else will go wrong … 

Our Dear Friends … Family … Coworkers … and General Relations:

We are going on an adventure!

Less than one week from now we will be on our way to Middle-Earth … um, New Zealand … for a road trip we have been planning for a very long time.

We have set up this Bolg … er, blog … to document our travels and share them with all our loved ones (that’s you).

We will land in Aukland, at the top of the North Island. Then, over three weeks, we will make our way all the way down to Queenstown, at the bottom of the South Island, where we will head home.

Along our way we will undertake many unique experiences including a feast in Hobbiton, a helicopter ride and, much to Tat’s dismay, a ferry journey. Although parts of our trip may be harrowing (especially that ferry), we do hope to avoid Lacerations, Evisceration and Incineration.

We hope you enjoy hearing the tales of our grand adventure as we travel there and back again.

Tim & Tat