TA 29: Zero In Hobbiton

Date: December 6, 2019
Starting kilometer: 758.5
Ending kilometer: 758.5
Kms tramped today: 0.0
Kms to Bluff: 2246.8
Elevation at camp: 75m 

We have breakfast on the patio in the warming sun--toast with butter and raspberry jam, cereal, and an instant vanilla latte. The birds are fluttering about and singing. We bring the clothes rack out to finish drying our laundry. I start on a cup of tea right after the latte. 

Tina comes up while I’m still in my undies. J walks up and talks to her as I sit down awkwardly on the bed. She offers to take us to and from the Shires Rest today and back into Matamata for $30 NZD which is totally fair and saves us from having to call another cab or having to walk. She also brings my package. My second pair of Injinji replacements arrived on time! 🙏🏽

It’s still a couple hours till we leave for the Shire so I do things like put the upcoming towns into my weather app and scrub my dirty Diva Cup. Don’t tell Tina, but I sanitized it by putting it in a mug and pouring boiling electric kettle water over it. I get ready way early. 

It’s a 10 minute drive to Hobbiton. Tina says that her daughter used to be second in charge there and gives us some insider info. We get out of the car and of course it’s a zoo. We’re a bit early so we wander around the gift shop. 

Our tour group isn’t big, maybe 30 people. They ferry us from Shire’s Rest by bus to Hobbiton proper. The touristy nature of this day makes me appreciate the trail even more. As we bus through green hilly sheep fields, everyone ooohhhs and aaahhhs and snaps pics through the windows. I’ve been tramping through fields just like this one for almost a month now and I’m nowhere close to being done. A video plays showing LOTR movie clips and behind-the-scenes footage. 

The tour is what you’d expect. The day is sunny and clear and lovely. An outgoing young kiwi guy leads our group past dozens of adorable Hobbit holes and tells us fun facts about the filming of the movies. At first, it makes me sad the way they describe it. Peter Jackson was out scouting NZ from a helicopter and found this place, a 1200 acre family farm. And now it’s overrun with tourists and they lost their quiet and idyllic home. But then they explain it’s still a working sheep/beef farm and that the movie set only comprises about 1% of it. And I’m sure the farmers are millionaires now so I guess they accept the tourists. I might give up 1% of my ranch to tourists for the right price. 

We pass through a hundred meters or so of native plants/bush and everyone stops and takes pics of the ferns that have become commonplace (yet no less cherished) to me, and the tall purple foxglove flowers. 

After the tour, they herd us into a giant dining room for the buffet. I get full, but not hate-myself full. I take conservative portions of everything and don’t let myself fill up on bread or taters. I go back for dessert and take little samplings of everything. My hiker hunger is coming in nicely and I can put away a decent amount these days. Next, we go to the Green Dragon for complimentary drinks. I get a cider and J gets stout. They come in on-theme pint mugs. 

Jesse wants to buy everything from the gift shop but I have to remind him that he will have to carry it with him or mail it home, and that all of this is on Amazon for cheaper. He buys postcards and a leather bookmark and I buy a bottle of apple cider for later. Then we go to the garden cafe and wait for Tina with a glass of plum cider. 

When Tina collects us, she is shook at how busy the place is. I’d probably be pretty annoyed if my quiet little hometown were overrun by tourists. Tina is rad and says we can stay late tomorrow bc she doesn’t have another guest and she will run us back into town when she goes in for errands midday. 

In the evening, we sit out on the shaded patio sippin’ Hobbiton cider. J is sad that it’s over. He keeps telling me he’s gonna leave after he sees Mt. Doom. 😭 Hobbiton is not something I would’ve done on my own. It was definitely a Jesse thing but I’m glad I got to see it. You can’t go to NZ for months and not see Hobbiton. The bottle of cider is the same size as a bottle of wine but it’s only 4.5% alcohol so we don’t get drunk in the least.