To the Middle Earth

"And then her heart changed, or at least she understood it; and the winter passed, 

and the sun shone upon her"

- J.R.R. Tolkien

I read Lord of the Rings years before the movie franchise started and until today it remained one of the more memorable books that I have read - not least because of the thickness of the book (all 3 parts crammed into a 1,000+-paged tome). I am a bigger fan of the book than the movie, but still a trip to New Zealand without seeing the Hobbiton movie set would be scandalous. 

I put the eye-watering price of ticket aside and booked ourselves a Hobbiton tour for our first day in the North Island. After sorting out car rental, we drove towards Matamata at around 11am, past endless pastures of various shades of green and countless grazing cows. From Matamata, the "Hobbiton Movie Set Tourist Farm" was well signposted, although I couldn't help getting a different image of a farm of tourists for us to see.

Soon, after around 2 hours on the road, we found ourselves among the rolling hills that were part of the 1,200-acre Alexander family sheep farm. Our first stop was the Shire's Rest Cafe, housed in a converted woolshed. But we got ourselves a prime outdoor seat and had sandwiches and hot drinks with spectacular views of sheep grazing on undulating farmland.

Irf enjoying his first hot chocolate in New Zealand

At 1.50pm, 10 minutes before the scheduled start of the tour, we waited outside the gift shop for a coach to take us on the short ride right to the heart of The Shire. Joining one of the tours is compulsory since you can't simply walk into the Hobbiton set. Hence, that was why we found ourselves being escorted and given briefings by a tour guide. But Dan was not a stuffy tour guide. He was cheerful and enthusiastic - in fact, were it not for his "normal" physical appearance, he would fit in in Hobbiton.

The start of the walking tour

He took us on a leisurely trek through the Hobbiton set, stopping at various places to show and explain how they showed in the movies. I was always the last in the group - that way I could take pictures without having other people in the frame. Irf, on the other hand, insisted to be in front just behind Dan, saying that he was on an adventure. I had to call him back many times just so that I could take pictures of him.

I learned that most of the hobbit holes were just facades - you could only step into one hobbit hole, that the the giant oak tree on top of Bag End was fake with painted silk leaves and all and that you could possibly turn a pumpkin into a carriage, judging by the size of those that we saw.

Above: Bag End, home of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins
Below: Visiting time in Hobbiton

Samwise Gamgee lived here

Hobbiton was too pretty for words. It was also the small details that made everything so magical - the hobbit-sized clothing pegged to the clothes line, the mini jars of honey outside a hobbit hole, the cabbage patches, the well-tended vegetable gardens complete with real pumpkins and squash displayed on a rustic table. It was all so surreal. Big respect to the props team and those who work to maintain the site.

Laundry day hobbit-style

  "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit"

And then it was time to make our way to the Green Dragon Inn. We walked through a small wooded area, on to the double arched bridge across The Water, past Sandyman's Old Mill to the courtyard of the Inn strung with garlands of buntings and lanterns.

The Old Mill of Hobbiton

In the Inn, there were 2 choices of complimentary drinks that came with the ticket price - ale/cider or non-alcoholic ginger beer. We claimed the latter and had our break within the cosy, dimly-lit timber structure. There were hobbit clothes hung on a hook if you ever feel the need to dress like one.

The day Irf fell in love with ginger beer

The tour ended after approximately 2 hours. Did an obligatory browse at the gift shop and then it was the eastward 50-minutes drive towards Tauranga at Bay of Plenty where our lodging for the night await. Alas, it was not a hobbit hole.

Note:

Hobbiton address: 501 Buckland Rd, Hinuera, Matamata 3472

Entrance fees: NZD79, free for children below 9 years

Accommodation in New Zealand

Here's a list of accommodation that we stayed in whilst in the North Island. All of the accommodations were booked via booking.com except for the one in Auckland booked via Air B&B.

1) Auckland Airport - Silver Oaks Inn – Silverpoint  
(138 Mckenzie Road, Auckland, 1010) 

This apartment is rated only 2 1/2 star on Tripadvisor. I normally would not touch such low-rated places with a bargepole but desperate times called for desperate measures. We arrived at Auckland past midnight and would need a place to crash for only a few hours until we leave Auckland the next morning so would not want to spend more than necessary.

At NZD190 per night for a 4-bed studio, this was the cheapest I could get. With experience, all I could say is that the rating is well-deserved. The only saving grace was the free (and fairly prompt) airport shuttle for the 10-minutes drive to the motel, even when it was already past 1 am. The next morning, the same shuttle sent us back to the airport to get our rental car.

  
2) Tauranga @ Bay of Plenty - SURE Harbour View Motel
(7 Fifth Avenue East, Tauranga, 3110)

Located just off Tauranga Harbour, it has great views of the harbour from the living room's bay windows. Our 2-bed apartment was tastefully decorated with nautical colours and comes with a fully equipped kitchen, the latter made it easy for us to have home-cooked food for dinner that night.

Our harbour-view motel in Tauranga

Breakfast with a view

Mount Maunganui is only a 10 minutes drive away and there is a huge Pak N' Save Supermarket just minutes away. The motel is also within walking distance from Tauranga city centre which unfortunately we did not have time to explore.

3) Rotorua - Blue Lake TOP 10 Holiday Park
(723 Tarawera Road, 3076 Rotorua)

Lakeside holiday park 

Top 10 is one of the major holiday parks chain in New Zealand. The one that we stayed in, a Standard 2-bedroom cabin for NZD185, at Rotorua was perhaps just one of your bog-standard cabins but the location was a different story.

I can still remember the drive from Rotorua city centre. After the 10-minutes drive, we were going down a gentle slope towards a sharp bend and then suddenly there was the lake around the bend with the holiday park just across the road. The waning daylight made it impossible to the the blueness of the lake but there was still a magical quality to the place. With the verdant greens of the forest and native bush nearly completely surrounding the lake and the holiday park, it was like being in a giant bowl.

My bowl of tranquility

It only started with toe-dipping but Irf got attracted with the
crystal clear water and soon was drenched from the waist down

4) Lake Taupo - Boulevard Waters Motor Lodge
(215 Lake Terrace, 3330 Taupo)

If we only had to cross a small road to get to Blue Lake from our cabin in Rotorua, we could practically throw a stone into Lake Taupo from our balcony in this motel. The unit that we stayed in was nicely done-up, with a seperate room at the back for 2 more guests. Sitting on the bed, all I could see were water and, in the distance, mountains and hills with Mount Ruapehu and Mount Tongariro as centrepieces. We did not manage to go to Tongariro National Park but having views of Mordor and Mount Doom from our room was a great consolation.

Our room on the water's edge

Another piece de resistance was the "in-room spa", which transalated into a huge circular bathtub in the room itself, with buttons and all to turn it into a jacuzzi/whirlpool.

Irf's mini pool in the room

A toaster, kettle and coffee machine
- and life is complete

5) Auckland - Apartment on Halsey Street booked via AirB&B

Getting an accommodation in Auckland was the single most difficult thing that I had to do on this trip. I trawled the web for days on end, always ending up with exorbitantly-priced hotels and apartments, upwards of RM2,000 per night for the 4 of us. Hostels were out of the question since we had my mother with us.
.
I hold Adele fully responsible for this. I found out later in Auckland that Adele was having a concert the same weekend we were there. Apparently there's a short supply of hotel rooms in Auckland, a problem intensified whenever there is an international event/concert.

So I ended up booking a 2-bedroom apartment through Air B&B. Cheaper than hotel rooms at that time but still the most expensive accommodation I have booked in my entire life. 


One of the 2 bedrooms furnished 
with brilliant colours

A bright and airy apartment very close to
the Viaduct Harbour and Silo Park

A corner of the living room