There and Back Again: A Hobbit(on) Journey
Well that WAS an adventure...woke up yesterday morning ready for a fun filled relaxing day off...and for the most part the day lived up to expectations...once things got rolling anyway.
My bus was supposed to leave The Mount at 10:20am, at 10:45 one of the girls who was also waiting for the bus starting freaking out. So I went and got my manager to call the bus company to find out what was going on. Close to an hour later they established that our bus forgot to come out to The Mount and had been running on time and therefore it was already long gone. The Bus company's soloution? Put me on the 'next bus' which left at 4:35pm...my tour left Matamata at 4:15, so needless to say that did not work. So they put me in a taxi. Which they footed the bill for(and boy was I grateful they did considering the meter read almost $200 when we arrived at the iSite). I arrived in Matamata for a slightly later than planned lunch and enjoyed some sushi at...well, Hobbit Sushi. Follwed by wandering town for a little bit and enjoying an iced coffee(and the wifi the cafe provided) to kill time until my tour.
So four o'clock rolls around and I check in for my tour. Turns out we will have 9 people all tolled(which is kinda amazing if you ask me...) so we hop onto a big green bus with HOBBITON written across it and head out to the 'Tourist Farm' which of course made me giggle endlessly. Along the way we hear various facts about the farm(including the number of cattle and sheep they currently have) as well as about the area around the farm. It was quite neat. Arrive at the 'Shire's Rest' where James(our guide) jumps on and away we go onto the farm itself. Three gates, two heards of sheep and a bunch of cows later we pull into a carpark...woot! Than we stop for a toilet break, and are informed that if we are looking for the sets of Harry Potter or Game of Thrones we have come to the WRONG place...
And THAN...than we head into The Shire. But of course before entering the Shire we must first do our very best Bilbo impressions with the waving hands and the shouting in order to earn out beer. Most of us compleated this with minimal issue, though one of the Germans looked VERY confused as to what was happening. After this we were shown out first set of Hobbit holes! In three different scales of course. Then we were asked why the Hobbit holes were different sizes...and being the only native english speaker(aside from our guide) it fell on me to explain it...
After that was a whole lot of 'behind the scenes' stories and a request to not take '40 pictures of each Hobbit hole with each of your 5 devices, otherwise there will not be time for beer' So I had to restrict myself...because a drink at the Green Dragon is NOT someting I could risk missing out on. We were shown around the Dell, and up the Great North Road until we crossed the High Road and ended up at Bag End(Stopping for stories AND pictures along the way). After this we looked in on Bagshot Row and played some games under the Party Tree. Than it was a quick walk around the 'Merry Meander', across the bridge and on to the Green Dragon! For a whole half a pint!
Then it was back around the water and back onto the bus for a stop at the Shire's rest(aka the souvenir shop) before the bus took us back into town. Where I grabbed dinner, and an ice cream and waited for my bus home...and waited...and waitied...and than(close to 45 minutes late) it arrived.
All in all it WAS an amazing adventure!
Cami
My bus was supposed to leave The Mount at 10:20am, at 10:45 one of the girls who was also waiting for the bus starting freaking out. So I went and got my manager to call the bus company to find out what was going on. Close to an hour later they established that our bus forgot to come out to The Mount and had been running on time and therefore it was already long gone. The Bus company's soloution? Put me on the 'next bus' which left at 4:35pm...my tour left Matamata at 4:15, so needless to say that did not work. So they put me in a taxi. Which they footed the bill for(and boy was I grateful they did considering the meter read almost $200 when we arrived at the iSite). I arrived in Matamata for a slightly later than planned lunch and enjoyed some sushi at...well, Hobbit Sushi. Follwed by wandering town for a little bit and enjoying an iced coffee(and the wifi the cafe provided) to kill time until my tour.
So four o'clock rolls around and I check in for my tour. Turns out we will have 9 people all tolled(which is kinda amazing if you ask me...) so we hop onto a big green bus with HOBBITON written across it and head out to the 'Tourist Farm' which of course made me giggle endlessly. Along the way we hear various facts about the farm(including the number of cattle and sheep they currently have) as well as about the area around the farm. It was quite neat. Arrive at the 'Shire's Rest' where James(our guide) jumps on and away we go onto the farm itself. Three gates, two heards of sheep and a bunch of cows later we pull into a carpark...woot! Than we stop for a toilet break, and are informed that if we are looking for the sets of Harry Potter or Game of Thrones we have come to the WRONG place...
And THAN...than we head into The Shire. But of course before entering the Shire we must first do our very best Bilbo impressions with the waving hands and the shouting in order to earn out beer. Most of us compleated this with minimal issue, though one of the Germans looked VERY confused as to what was happening. After this we were shown out first set of Hobbit holes! In three different scales of course. Then we were asked why the Hobbit holes were different sizes...and being the only native english speaker(aside from our guide) it fell on me to explain it...
After that was a whole lot of 'behind the scenes' stories and a request to not take '40 pictures of each Hobbit hole with each of your 5 devices, otherwise there will not be time for beer' So I had to restrict myself...because a drink at the Green Dragon is NOT someting I could risk missing out on. We were shown around the Dell, and up the Great North Road until we crossed the High Road and ended up at Bag End(Stopping for stories AND pictures along the way). After this we looked in on Bagshot Row and played some games under the Party Tree. Than it was a quick walk around the 'Merry Meander', across the bridge and on to the Green Dragon! For a whole half a pint!
Then it was back around the water and back onto the bus for a stop at the Shire's rest(aka the souvenir shop) before the bus took us back into town. Where I grabbed dinner, and an ice cream and waited for my bus home...and waited...and waitied...and than(close to 45 minutes late) it arrived.
All in all it WAS an amazing adventure!
Cami