Middle Earth

I know it is often said that FB friends are not real friends. Well I disagree. On the way up to Hobbiton we stopped off for a coffee and a chat with Scribble, who I know through a virtual pub on FB. It was wonderful to be able to put a face to the name, and we chatted as if we had known each other for years. She made us very welcome and baked some ace muffins. She is heading back to the UK soon, so hope we will get together once she does.

Then it was off to Matamata to get the bus to Middle Earth. We were very lucky only to have 14 on our tour, which go out regularly. You can either take a bus from Matamata or go directly to the site. It is a working sheep and dairy farm about 20 mins outside town.  It is truly amazing. You really can feel you are in the film. The original set for LOTR was mostly plywood and c.g.i. But when they came back to rebuild for The Hobbit, it was with tourists in mind. So the whole thing is built from permanent material and should last for 60 years. There are 6 full time gardeners employed there as well as a raft of tradespeople to maintain it. The detail is mind blowing. They grow veg which they use, the houses are perfect, down to lace curtains in the windows. The tour took over 2 hours and was well worth it. 

The drive up to Cooks Beach was longer than we anticipated which ment driving very bendy roads in the dark. But we made it safely and now have only one more day in the 

Land of the Long White Cloud.