Being a Hobbit

Hey Everyone. Rangitoto was really amazing – we hiked up to the top of the mountain and it started out easy but the higher we got, the steeper and rougher the terrain became. It was intense and we were all sweaty and hot. On the way up, we stopped off at the lava caves and adventured around in there and it was really fun, but kind of scary because for a stretch of one of the caves we had to crawl and it was pitch dark. Down at the bottom of the mountain used to be “bach” houses, which were basically beach, vacation homes for locals. The bach community is hugely important to New Zealanders because they heavily believe in getting away from the hustle and bustle of everything just to relax. The summit was absolutely beautiful, the trek down was hard and by the time I got down, I was drenched in sweat. So I jumped into the ocean with the guys. :) That was a lot of fun.

Wednesday we had a brief morning session and then a couple of hours to relax before our Culture class, I took a nap haha. And after culture we figured out the majority of our travel break plans. Which I’m really excited for. Katherine and I also booked a Hobbiton trip for the weekend. Thursday and Friday everyone spent most of the day writing papers, finalizing plans and generally just doing homework. Everyone is dreading going home but we will have too, it’s all coming to an end rather quickly, I wish that I could stay for a lot longer.

Saturday, we slept in and then Ella, Maddy and I got to meet our relative Julie and her son Ryan. They picked us from the lodge around two thirty and took us to Takapuna, which is a lovely little beach town. We had pizza on the beach, and Julie received a phone call from her sister, Margaret and since my Mimi and Papa are currently staying with her, I got to talk to them, which was a real treat. It was really nice to hear their voices after so long. I miss my family. Julie treated us to ice cream and showed us the cute town of Devonport. It was really fun to meet them and I’m really glad we got the chance too. Hopefully we will get to meet up with them again during our travel break. (Thanks Ryan and Julie for a lovely afternoon!).

Sunday morning, Katherine and I got up early and Bruce drove us to the bus station so that we could catch a three-hour bus to Matamata. We played hangman on the way down and had some really big laughs. When we got to Matamata, we booked the 12:30 tour to Hobbiton (we got there around 11:30) so we got lunch and ran into some of the other kids from our group on their way to Hobbiton as well but they were driving. Ella, Hannah, Britha and Hannah’s brother and his friend also drove down to Hobbiton but we did not see them while we were there. Hobbiton was really cool; I can’t believe how much it looks like the movie. To be a Hobbit you have to be between 5’-5’2” so I’m just a bit too tall but it was really cool to get to stand inside one, though none of the holes are decked out like in the movies. Bilbo’s house is the only one that has room for a film crew in it; all the others just have little corridors behind their doors.

Our tour guide told us that Peter Jackson is a sort of control freak and everything has to be completely perfect and he strives for perfection and detail, just incase anyone’s “watching with a magnifying glass”. The Alexanders own the land and when Peter Jackson was first told about the rolling hills and the giant pine beside the lake, he knew that he’d found exactly what he was looking for.  The first agreement was that after the Lord of the Rings were made the sets would be destroyed. However, when destruction got postponed and during that time, people flocked to see the sets and the Alexanders were encouraged to start a tourism business and promptly after that, it was decided that The Hobbit would be made into a movie as well, so all of the sets were rebuilt with longer lasting materials so that they could last for years.

The Green Dragon Inn serviced us cider after which was very good and we got the bus home soon after that. Today we had class, one of the girls from last year’s trip is visiting, her name is Kat and she reminds me of Ella. (Not my twin, another Ella we know at home). Tonight is my movie presentation on Eagle vs. Shark so wish me luck!