I thought that today would be quite boring this morning, as I had nowt planned, and had spent the most part of the start of the day lazing around, and generally doing nothing, until Mum came back in from doing the washing, and told me that she had asked at reception, and there was a "Hobbiton" Tour going at 1.40pm, and that if I wanted to go on it, I should go to reception and book it asap.

Seeing as though I had nothing else to do, and I felt sort of obliged to do something Lord of The Rings related at some point on the trip, I thought, "hey, why not?" and went and booked it.

The Van arrived punctually to pick me up, and strangely, I was the only person in it!(apart from the driver, Danny, obviously...) Which was kind of good, because I got to have a good chin wag with Danny on the way through the countryside to the farm where the set was. It was actually very interesting, as even though Danny was supposed to be giving me the Lord of The Rings spiele, he was very well informed on Maori History and Culture, which he spent most of the journey informing me on.(Which I didnt mind, because Im by no means a "Rings" buff, and I think that the stuff that he was telling me about was probably more interesting, being a budding Anthropologist, and all....)

When we arrived at the Farm which holds the set, about 45 minutes drive from Rotorua, Danny went and got some sheep feed, and let me feed the sheep that were penned up nearby, which was really cool! They were greedy b*****s, though, and one of them practically hurdled itself over and shoved its head in the feed box, which was kinda' funny, and scary, at the same time!!(Being launched at by a sheep isnt something you see everyday!!!) None of them bit me, though, thankfully, they just sort of sucked the food off of my hand, which was a bit of a strange sensation!! And I got to hold a Lamb, too, who was so cute!! But even that was a crazy Bar Steward and was on an escape mission out of my arms and down the road to freedom!! It must have thought "ha, young girl.....my chance for FREEDOM! FREEDOM I TELL YOU!!!" But, luckily, Danny managed to catch it by the tail and place it back safely in the pen, before it became Road kill Lamb Chops....(That just would not have been good!!)

So, soon after, a bigger bus that was already full came and picked me up, and took us all round the long and windy road into the middle of the farm (which is massive!!)and onto the set. It is easy to see why this location was chosen for the film: the Landscape is totally unspoilt by powerlines, roads and traintracks for acres and acres around, and apparently, during filming, there was even a ban on air traffic over the set to cut out noise, and to maintain the secrecy of the location and what it looked like!

It is really beautiful on the farm. The informative and entertaining guides did tell us how many sheep were kept on the farm, but I forget how many exactly. Its pretty safe to say that there is a DAMN LOT of sheep there, though...

The set (the Shire)itself was really good, and I felt as though I really was in Hobbiton!!(Although the sets are only the wooden faces of the buildings, as due to Copywrite stuff held by the studio, the Farm owners are not alowed to recreate the sets, sell official merchandise or dress up as Hobbits, etc...) In fact, the only reason that the set remains at all is due to natural intervention!

Apparently, all the original contracts stated that after completion of filming,the sets were to all be completely dismantled and the Land returned to its original state. This process did begin, but part way through the dismantling, torrential rain made it too dangerous for the crew to continue with the bulldozers, so they asked for 6 months grace until the weather improved, so they could return and do it safely...

This was granted by the owners, but in the meantime, so many "Lord of the Rings Pilgrims" came to the farm, asking to see the set before it was removed, the owners obviously thought "hey, we could have a nice little earner here" or whatever, and asked the studio for permission to run a tour there....

It took 2 years of legal mumbo jumbo, but eventually (obviously) they were granted permission, and luckily for them and me, and all the other tourists who have at least a vague interest in Lord of the Rings, it is in actual fact The only place with original set remaining. (I am reliably informed.)

The tour guides were really informative, and told us some really interesting little bits of info about the making of the movie, and the set, like how it was made and so on. (I bet I sound like a right geek now, but oh well...) And I saw places like "The Party Tree" (site of the 111th Birthday Party), and I even went into Bilbo Baggins house!! (So next time I see the movie I will probably be shouting "I've been in there!!! " at the top of my lungs!!hehehe.I think its rather cool...

Even though Im not particularly "up" on Lord of the Rings and all the trivia surrounding it, Im definately glad that I went and did the tour, and I would definately recommend it to anybody who is at least vaguely interested in the Movies (like me) or simply wants to see a bit of Movie History up close!!

After taking about a bizillion pictures of the set and surrounding areas, the Bus came and picked us all up again, and took us back to the farm enterance, and I was told to get off the Bus!! At first, I thought "how rude!!" until I realised that I was going in to a place called "The Shires Rest", a little pub/resteraunt thingy that had been built there for a freeby bite to eat, which I wasnt actually sure why I was getting, but wasnt about to complain about...(I could see al the others on the Bus thinking "Hey! Why does she get to go in there and have a freeby when we dont??" And to be honest, I didnt actually know why, either, but it was all good! Mini Quiches and Cookies...better than a kick up the arse....

Then, Danny drove me back to the Hostel, the scenic route, which was really lovely..all the farm land and fields, and all the Deer and Rabbit trotting around...

When I got back I was gushing out all this Lord of the Rings trivia and showing Mum and Paul the piccies, and they just took the piss out of me and were like "Vic, you are such a geek..." but, I dont care, because Ive been to The Shire, and they haven't ...hehehe.