Big Day

23-12-2013

Big Day:

    Wow, what a day! We had a bit of a late start this morning, due to staying up late last night. We stayed in a holiday park and ended up camping right next to some Irish folk, although two of the three now live in Brisbane, Australia. Since the two boys have been friends since primary school, they decided to meet up for their Christmas holiday in New Zealand, and the girlfriend of 5 years tagged along too. They were very friendly people, and we stayed up until 2am swapping histories and telling stories. We've gotten used to going to bed not long after dark- it's just the camping way- and getting up with the sun around 6, but this morning we slept in until about 9:00. 

   Once we did finally drag ourselves out of bed, we decided to make use of the free wireless offered at the campground to call family while it was still a reasonable hour in the states. We're eighteen hours ahead here, but it's easier to think of Michigan as six hours ahead, just a day behind. It felt great to catch up with hellos as Christmas closes in.

    After that we took hot showers again, just because we could. We had no idea when the next opportunity for a hot shower, rather than a cold one, might come along. 

   Mostly we just dawdled around this morning. We had rough plans to go explore the Piripiri Caves and stop by a blueberry farm on the way. It wasn't just any blueberry farm, either; it's a farm owned by some friends of Luke's grandparents, whom they met years ago when they were traveling through New Zealand. We planned on inquiring about possible job opportunities, since we've heard that there's a large need for fruit pickers and a lot of farms are used to hiring people on holiday. That means they're used to having people work for only a few weeks, at most. Of course there's always the option to work longer if you can, but you don't have to. 

   All our plans for today were mostly to fill time on our way to our destination for tomorrow. We planned on blackwater rafting through the Waitomo Caves. It's a massive, cavernous cave system that has some of the best displays of glow worms in New Zealand. We were just waiting for the confirmation email.

    So, finally we left the holiday park (aka campground), just after lunch. Luke was driving and I was navigating. I was looking at the map, figuring out the best way to get to the blueberry farm, when something caught my attention. It was a spot of color that wasn't anywhere else on the map, so I looked closer. It was a symbol of a rolling film camera. Underneath it was written "Hobbiton, The Shire". Holy cow, I just found the Shire from Lord of the Rings! We had to go! It was already on our list, we had just assumed it was on the South Island. Apparently not!

   I quickly showed Luke and we immediately detoured to see what was there. Would it just be a hill with a sign? Would there be a house that looked like the ones in the movie? Would it be all gated off so we'd have to pay an absurd charge just to see a hill? We would soon find out!

   We followed signs off the main road and topped a hill to see a barn-like building, half labeled "cafe," and half labeled, "store."  People were milling about everywhere, but nobody appeared to be actively doing anything. Well, hmmm. There was nothing recognizable so far, but we pulled in and parked anyway. We'd come this far, might as well really have a look. We followed the signs to the entrance (the parking lot was under construction and it wasn't as easy to figure out where we were supposed to go as you'd think) and noticed several large busses all painted and labeled "Hobbiton".  Either they were making a way bigger deal out of something than they should, or there was some sort of tour. Turns out there is, in fact, a tour. We got the last two tickets on the next available bus, and it was only a twenty minute wait. We idled around the shop while we waited, since it was right by where we were supposed to be for the busses. I was hoping to find a half-pint glass for sale, but no such luck. Just t-shirts and posters, mostly. Not even the trilogy on DVD, only the most recent Hobbit movie in Blueray or 3D.

   Soon the bus arrived and we hopped on, wondering what they'd show us. We drove down a wide, winding dirt road through a major sheep farm as the driver talked about what was where during the filming. Animals were all kept in their cages over here, dining tents and costume-and-design tents lined the side of the road over there. It took an hour and half to do the makeup for one hobbit.

   Apparently the government paid to have the road done, since there was a large amount of heavy traffic in and out every day from the film crew. They must have had the foresight to see that it would someday be a popular tourist destination, and realized they'd easily make the money back and then some. 

    We weren't on the bus long when it pulled up to a parking lot and dropped us off. Ahead there was a wooden gate in a messy hedge of bushes and small trees, and a sign that read "toilets."  Interesting. I hoped that wasn't all there was to it.

    Good thing it wasn't. To my surprise, the Shire was right through the gate, just as it was in the movies! The spacial arrangement of things was a little different than the sense of things in the movie, but that was to be expected. We walked down the same path the Froto ran to when he went to meet Gandolf when Gandolf was late, and he said, "A wizard is never late. Nor is he early. He always arrives precisely when he means to," but then he cracks into a smile and laughs. For some reason that's a scene that stands out in my memories of the movies. 

    All over the nearby hillsides and valley there were little hobbit homes. Some were smaller than others, but they were all little. There were little gardens, little benches, and little clothes lines with hobbit clothes hanging up to dry around a number of the homes. There were all sorts of props and garden details in front of every house. Chimneys poked up all through the hillsides, and eyelet windows peaked out of the sides of hills. Through the windows you could see curtains, small vases, books, kitchen things, and other small props. Every round door was painted a bright color, with the most common color being bright blue. Every hobbit house had a small patio area in front, most had a bench too.

    It was just like in the movies. I was surprised that there was so much detail, and that it was more than just a smoke and mirrors set. Not to say each hobbit house was a real house. If you opened up a door or looked closely through a window, you'd see nothing but a wooden wall about 6 feet back. The guide opened a door to demonstrate, and explained that for the first few years of tours there was nothing here but near bones props. It was built back up later, for the tourists' benefit, to look like it does in the movies. The town area was also added, which includes a quaint stone bridge next to a working water wheel, a pub, and a few more props from the movie, mostly from the scene of Bilboa's eleventy-first (111th) birthday party. 

    As part of the tour everyone got a free drink at the pub. You could chose between a stout, a pale ale, a hard cider, or gingerale for a non-alcoholic option. I chose the hard cider. Luke chose the stout. The hard cider was delicious, but after trying Luke's, I wished I'd gotten a stout too. It was rich and creamy, like a good cup of hot chocolate; dark but not bitter at all. I wish I could have bought a case to bring back to the states with me. 

   We had the option of buying food there too, and the prices were cheap! Especially compared to everywhere else in New Zealand. I got a muffin that was full of berries and chocolate chips. Luke got a cold meat pie. It was made with lamb, the filling looked like balogna, and there was a layer of clear, gelatinous meat juice between the filling and the crust. It looked like it would be gross, but it tasted great. Think of leftover pot roast wrapped in pie crust. It'd be basically the same thing, only it's a little more appetizing to think of it as leftover roast with a crust.

   After the pub we scrambled for a few more pictures as the tour wrapped up. We passed the toilets again and then found ourselves back in the parking lot, waiting for the bus, which took us back to the terminal by the shop. All in all the tour probably lasted two hours, but the time flew by. Suddenly we were in a rush to get to the blueberry farm office before they closed!

   Luckily, we didn't get too lost, and it only took us about a half hour to get to the blueberry farm. Even though we did go to the wrong farm first, they're both within a mile of each other. And with another bit of luck, we found who we were looking for right away. He happened to be with the manager who does the hiring, and after some conversation about what we were looking for and what we'd done in the past (or was it an interview?), they told us to camp around the farm tonight and we could talk more tomorrow. Then we were handed two big buckets and told we could drive to certain rows and pick blueberries for ourselves for free! I have no idea if they do that a lot, or if that was really special, but I think it was awesome. Blueberries just don't taste right if they're not fresh off the bush, and it had been a while for me. The blueberries in Washington don't have the same taste as Michigan blueberries. I was glad to find that New Zealand blueberries do. We now have two full buckets of blueberries. Actually, I should amend that to one and a quarter buckets of blueberries, since we had blueberry pancakes for dinner, with blueberries for dessert, and as an appetizer. And I still plan on putting blueberries on my cereal tomorrow morning. 

   On our way back towards the office, the owner came zipping over to us on his dirt bike and asked if we could start tomorrow and work through to the new year. We said yes. What do you know- all the sudden we're employed for a little while. 

   What about Waitomo caves? Well, the "confirmation" email turned out to be a declination email instead. Apparently they were full already, and I don't think they operate on Christmas or Christmas Eve. The timing couldn't be more perfect. We'll just do the caves when we're done working here. 

   Now we're all tucked in, freedom camping on a grassy hill above the farm, by our host's request. There's even a shower for us to use in the bathrooms here. A hot shower. I'll say, again, what a day.