#WhenSatanReturnedHome

I originally had decided against Hobbiton because I thought it was much more expensive than it was, it also turns out that EVERYTHING is expensive in NZ! Only a small group of us were going while others had a chill day. We began our fun in the gift shop while we took pictures of me pole dancing on Gandalf’s staff.

It took an hour to reach the Shire and we met our tour guide Anna. Anna was dressed like Anne of Green Gables and Marc had a little crush on her because of her posh, incredibly irritating way of speaking. We entered the Shire to find a whole new little world. Each hobbit door was painted brightly, the holes were surrounded by plants and beautiful green grass. Tiny clothes hung on the washing lines and little benches and chairs were placed neatly in the front gardens.

Some hobbits were selling honey, some jam and some had easels and a painting table. Irritating Anna explained to us how each door is on a different scale to get the height right for the different magical creatures. The tiny doors are designed for tall wizards, the medium ones for dwarfs and the full sized ones are for the hobbits. We were rushed along each path all the while trying to get a picture in front of the different homes. My favourite was a tiny blue house with a picturesque fence around it. We saw a man made tree that had been created using individually threaded leaves! Effort! I can’t see how it can be cheaper than just buying a tree but they seemed proud of themselves!

We were finally led to the Green Dragon pub where we got a “free cider” (that really takes the sting out of the $114 dollars you have to pay to get in!) I also bought a cheese scone because cheese scones are life! We then met irritating Anna and after talking to her in her non tour guide voice found her to be alright really! Last stop was the gift shop for a magnet. Then it was back on the bus to meet the others.

We stopped off to get swimmers then headed to the geothermal pools. First, was a boiling mud pool. The mud bubbled and popped, exploding like tiny volcanos. Ollie then drove us to Enya’s birthplace “The Devil’s Stairs” this is where she had first slithered out of her cave to join the world!

We walked around to see the rainbow pools which were an incredible mix of reds, greens and yellows! You couldn’t go in them, well, you could, but you’d burn and die! We took cheesy photos for Instagram and then we were off to the next place. This time we could swim. It was a stream of hot water complete with a hot waterfall. The sulphur turned my bracelets and ring brown but luckily after a couple of days they went back to normal but it really buggered up my sulphur free Curly Girl method for my hair that I've been using...double sigh!

Grainne decided it would be fun to cover our entire face in sulphur so we looked like members of the Simpson family! The only downside was the smell! Ollie made “sorry guys!” jokes every time a wave of eggy sulphur mist hit us! Pretty sure Dennis “cracked” that joke too! (See what I did there?) someone will explain it to Naomi I’m sure!

While we waited for Grainne to de-sulphur, Ollie sang us some songs, I gave him my hat so he could collect a few dollars but we're a stingy bunch so it was a wasted effort! The bus smelt pretty grim as we

travelled back to the hostel. As we had a 5am start, I made it an early one and enjoyed having an excuse to go to bed at 9pm! I was not looking forward to that alarm wake up call!