NEW ZEALAND CAMPING 2013: DAY #12

Tuesday April 30, 2013

It was very pleasant to wake to a misty morning and to see the cattle and  goat wandering through the garden and on the abandoned tennis court. After our unsatisfactory breakfast we headed back to Nola to decide what to do with the day.

Zulu at rest

Once again Zulu greeted us like family – aren’t dogs marvellous in their enthusiasm? – and tried to teach me his special game. This involves him leaping in the air vertically and then taking off like a rocket round and round the property, coming close on some circuits, at which stage you are meant to try to touch him. Tired out after the game, and not allowed to enter the house, he collapsed in the shade of a creeper and lay happily in the sun.

When we had first discussed our visit with Nola, I had suggested we might visit Hobbiton, the movie set where The Lord Of The Rings was shot in part and also, several years later, The Hobbit. She seemed quite keen and although there was not a deal of enthusiasm from Rab, she knew that since I had read the books years ago I would like to see what had been done for the films. We haven’t seen those after an initial attempt to see LOTR Part 1 back in Kalk Bay when it was first released. Youngest brother, Pad, a keen Hobbit fan, suggested it would make a fine family outing, so we went to the movies en masse. After about an hour, I could sense that Rab was getting restless. She was sitting next to Steve’s wife, Judy, who was equally unimpressed with what was a great movie and before we knew it they had bailed out and gone shopping.

Nothing had been said yesterday about going to the site, so I assumed that any support for the proposal had waned, but I was wrong. Nola was keen and as a sop, or bait perhaps, for Rab she suggested we could combine the tour of the set with a  visit to a small town Tirau which we had passed through on the way up from Taupo and which was said to contain some very interesting shops, a fact that Rab had commented on as we drove through.

Hobbiton - first view

So off we went, finding our way to The Shire’s Rest Café which was one of the places where you could join the tours – and purchase some really nice but expensive merchandise. I resisted this – I have so many souvenir shirts and caps that I have a permanent resolve to buy no more.

The wait for the bus was short and by then there was quite a crowd. With trips running every half hour, a minimum adult charge of NZ$75 a head and a full bus of about 40 people, they are making a mint, I think. Not that I begrudge them their charge. It was a tremendous excursion and we all enjoyed it. 

 

The guide was a personable young man who kept us entertained with the relative information about the site and how it had been used.

Rab and Nola

He mentioned that many visitors were dressed as characters from the film including a German who, he said, must have been the tallest Hobbit in the world at a towering 2 meters. There were no such people in our group.

We weren’t sure about the weather and had taken our coats which were superfluous as it turned out because it was a very sunny day. 

The Greeen Dragon Inn across the water

There was a bit of walking up hill and down dale and it was good to get into the Green Dragon for a drink of delicious icy cold ginger beer. Of course there were dozens of photo opportunities and we were rather amused at one couple, who seemed to be in a fairly recent relationship.

View from the Green Dragon Inn

They took pictures of each other at every stopping place – and not one or two but half a dozen. They must have shot off a couple of hundred by the time the tour finished. Young love – well, not so young, but clearly love.

Hobbiton from the Green Dragon Inn

As we got into the car  at The Shire’s Rest Café on our return, ready to head on to Rab’s shopping expedition, Nola realised that she had left the case with her movie camera in it at the Green Dragon.

Gollum

 

She could not get on the next bus which was full, but our guide said he would call the pub and get the camera to their office in Matamata, which was not far from where we were. So we headed there and had a bite to eat and a cup of coffee. They didn’t get the camera back in time, but to Nola’s relief, at least they confirmed that it was safe and sound.

So finally we headed for Tirau which did indeed have a number of shops that Rab and her friends find particularly appealing. Usually smelling strongly of scented candles, they carry an incredible miscellany of items, many of which are curious, but none of which we would ever buy.

Tirau Information Offices

Poppy Cafe, Tirau

Another feature of the town is the presence of an arty couple who use corrugated iron sheeting to make unusual buildings and signs. The most striking of these was the Information Centre and associated town offices which were contained in two main buildings built in the shape of a sheep and a sheep dog. My favourite was the sign for the Poppy Café which I thought was striking.

We headed back to Cambridge and dropped Nola off before returning to Pedfield to our unmade beds. Extraordinary and unprecedented in all our travels that the proprietor of an establishment where we were paying would not tidy the room.

Nola and family picked us up in the evening and we headed in to Hamilton where we had a very pleasant meal at a Turkish restaurant. It was lovely spending time with them and we were so glad that we had decided to head  to North Island as well as having our caravan adventure on South Island.