New Zealand. Beautiful New Zealand. It has been 9 months since I went on a trip to New Zealand with my sister. The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien. Hobbits. These were the life supports for my sister and I. We are humungous fans of the books and the movies ever since we can remember. We watched the 12-hour special documentaries and 12-hour extended editions of the movies for countless times. My sister and I then made a pact that we would one day visit New Zealand; the land of Middle-earth. We wanted to be a part of Middle-earth. And finally, we did. This is how it goes:
We flew to Auckland and got on a transit plane down south to Queenstown. Our very first agenda the next day was to walk around and feast our eyes upon the beautiful countryside and mountain views along Lake Wakatipu. Honestly, New Zealand was something else entirely. I have never seen anything like it. We got to witness the very mountain which Peter Jackson shot as the Misty Mountains; the home of the Dwarves of Erebor in The Hobbit trilogy. I was completely beside myself!
The next day, my sister and I went on The Lord of the Rings' filming location tour in Glenorchy where they would bring us to visit a number of locations the movies filmed at. Our first stop was along the highway at Lake Wakatipu where the backdrop was of a beautiful white mountain during The Fellowship of the Ring where the nine companions were seen crossing the snowy mountain upon their perilous quest to destroy The One Ring. I was so overwhelmed, I think I almost shed a tear. Our next stop filming location was on the iconic scene during the camping of the Rohirrim before The Battle of the Pelennor Fields took place in The Return of the King. We also visited the beautiful river which was shot as the River Anduin that streamed to The Gates of Argonath known as The Pillars of Kings in The Fellowship of the Ring. The most interesting filming location of all was in the forest where the shot the beautiful scene of Lothlórien and the Uruk-Hai's marching across Amon Hen. In this forest, we dressed ourselves as Hobbits by wearing their infamous Elven-cloaks that was given by Lady Galadriel and held our own swords each! Talk about the best experience of my life!
But the absolute highlight of New Zealand was definitely The Hobbiton Movie Set in Matamata. Now, that was the main reason why my sister and I went to the land of Kiwis. To finally be in the iconic landmark of Tolkien's creation was a blessing that I can never thank you enough. It was astoundingly beautiful! Each Hobbit hole was so well done and carved; I really felt like I was in the movie itself and just waiting for any moment until Gandalf would show up and drag me to his next adventure! (Yes, I'm still waiting). I was lost for words back then. I am even lost for words now still.
All those years of reading, watching and being an enormous fan of Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I can only say this to myself: I finally made it to The Hobbiton Movie Set in Matamata, New Zealand because dreams do come true after all.
