Hobbiton by guest blogger, Sophie

Hobbiton, The Shire, Middle Earth

Last week in New Zealand, the four of us went on an adventure down in Middle Earth. Yes, we went to HOBBITON!!! Well... the movie set at least. It was a blast. When we got there we were asked to board a bus that would take us to Hobbiton. Now, on the bus there were many people from ALL OVER the World. There were some from Germany, Czech Republic, America, Australia, New Zealand, and us, from Canada. The bus driver, Deandalf, not to be confused with Gandalf, was a very friendly fellow. He was talking the whole five minutes we were on the bus (but I guess that’s his job). Once we got off the bus, Sam, our tour guide (which is ironic that his name is Sam and we are at Hobbiton), lead us to a sign that said, ‘Welcome to Hobbiton’. First he took us to the Gandalf’s Cutting and the Garden.

Pickle, the cat, is paid extra to sit in front of the hobbit hole and look pretty, but doesn't like getting her picture taken.

There, we were allowed to take pictures of some of the hobbit holes. The hobbit holes weren't actual hobbit holes, they didn't even open. The only ones that did were the bakery, which only was just the doorway. And Bilbo Baggin's house which was only a little hallway so they could show enough when filming.

Bilbo Baggin's hole

 Anyways, we finished taking pictures and we went to the frog pond, which was a small pond surrounded by “hobbit holes”. Again, they weren't really hobbit holes. They were really just hobbit doors. Everyone went around taking pictures of EVERYTHING.

Yes, they took pictures of EVERYTHING!!

 After that, we went to Bag End. When we were there, we asked Sam if he had ever been asked any weird questions. He told us that someone once asked if the lake was full of real water and so he said, “No, it is full of de-hydrated water so when people fall in, they will stay completely dry.” Because if you ask a silly question you will get a silly answer.

 We went down the hill to the party tree. The party tree was one of the reasons why Peter Jackson chose that sight. The other reasons were because the lake was there and there were no power lines or other modern things visible. After we took pictures we all went to the Green Dragon for free drinks.

The Green Dragon bar

At the bottom of my glass of ginger beer, there was a small golden ring. I put it on and vanished. My parents were looking for me for hours. When I finally took off the ring, my parents were happy to see me, but the bus had already left so we had to run all the way back out of Middle Earth and into the real world.