When my younger but much taller sister met her 6foot plus husband, they used to call us the Hobbits and apart from not having hairy feet (I promise) it was not too inaccurate a description.
So today we set off for Matamata, the trip over the mountain was “interesting” not sure if it was low cloud, fog or both but we could barely see the car in front. Once in Matamata the cloud cleared and the weather was dry.
Hobbiton was a pleasant surprise for both of us. They have done such a good job of keeping everything pristine and as you would have seen it in the movies. There are 44 hobbit homes. They have doors of varying height to assist with making the hobbits look small and Gandalf look tall.
The walk around took about 11/2 hours and we ended at the Green Dragon inn for a free pint of Hobbit ale. There was a little construction going on off to the side of the Shire but we had been notified on the website and quite honestly it made zero impact to our day. December 1st this year, new visitors will be treated with the ability to actually enter a Hobbit house.
Anyway after our guide asked us if it had impacted us we all gave a resounding no, and then he told us the organization were giving us a free gift to compensate. We were expecting some plastic gizmo but no we were given amazing pottery mugs. Rob thought it was funny how much I loved mine. It may have been because I was stroking it and muttering “my precious” all the way back to the shuttle.
Off back into town for lunch and then we drove about 3 miles out of town to the Wairere waterfalls. After a strenuous hike for 45 mins most of the way up the mountain. Including some very steep stairs we were treated to an amazing view. The Waterfall is the highest in North Island and well worth the visit.
All in all yet another great day, we do have a lot of rain forecast for the next few days so that might slow us down a bit.