New Zealand was my favorite part of the trip so far and my favorite part of New Zealand was Hobbiton.

Hobbiton is the place where the hobbits live in the Lord Of The Rings, and it is not just a normal set. They have it located in the middle of a huge sheep farm, and all of the hobbit holes have been preserved. The 40-odd hobbit holes are all on one hill, with the topmost one being Bilbo’s house.

We took a tour of the village, and I really liked how each of the houses was decorated to represent a different job. Like one house might have a pottery wheel, with vases and pots scattered around, or another might have a fishing pole and a bucket.

As we looked around, we noticed that some hobbit holes are smaller than others. The tour guide explained that when they were filming, they needed the hobbits to look tiny, so they had some houses that where big, and the needed Gandalf to look tall, so they had some houses that were smaller than a person.

After we poked around Hobbiton for a while we went into the “town” to get to the inn where we were going to have a banquet dinner. It had a river flowing through it, along with a lake, and several houses. One even had a waterwheel! We went into the Green Dragon Pub for a feast.

After a bit of drinking ginger beer and talking, they opened up a set of curtains, and there where three tables, each with a massive feast laid out on them. The feast was great, with plates of delicious chicken, lamb and potatoes, and much more. There were vegetables and bread rolls laid out around the dishes. There was a fire in one corner, and sitting near it was a cat. The waiter explained that the cat’s name was pickle, and that when they where filming the Lord Of The Rings, they found Pickle on the set, eating the mice in the hobbit holes, and they decided to keep him. When we where done feasting, we walked back through the dark village, carrying lanterns. It was a night that I’ll never forget!