Travels with Tasha: Slightly Smaller Than Hobbit Sized

Don't tell, but I still haven't actually seen the Lord of the Rings movies....I tried to watch the first one on the flight over here but I fell asleep about forty minutes into it. I did watch the first Hobbit movie tho, if that counts. But, being in New Zealand, it would have been very un-New Zealand of me to not go to Hobbiton. Since I'm not that invested in it and it was quite expensive, I didn't really want to go and was simply going because (as I just mentioned) I had to because I was in New Zealand, but I was pleasantly surprised.

On the way to Hobbiton, our bus driver gave great commentary on the areas we were passing. Sometimes he would pause, like to breathe, and in my head I would guess what was next and when I did that I was mostly right. It was nice because it made me feel smart about New Zealand and the Auckland area even tho I've spent like 0 time in Auckland (turns out I'm not really that big into cities - score 1 for daddy).
Hobbiton is located on the Alexander farm with 13,000 sheep and 400 cows. I really liked that it was on the Alexander farm because Uncle Danny's family is the Alexanders and I know they're probably most definitely not related but it's still cool.
So we had a tour guide that took us around Hobbiton and showed us all the Hobbit holes and gave us lots of Hobbiton trivia knowledge, so next Carnival Hobbiton trivia I totally got. Bring on the ships on the sticks.

Did you know they originally planned on filming on 12 different farms but the giant tree for the party scene (or wait maybe it was the lake) made them decide to only use the Alexander farm?
After the Lord of the Rings finished filming, the set was supposed to be destroyed so it could go back to being a farm again but a giant storm made them postpone destruction. While they were waiting it out a bunch (well 8 not really a bunch) of locals recognized the area from the movie and came to tour it and the Alexanders decided they could make money from tourists so they had them rebuild the set with stronger-longer lasting materials so they could give tours. Also the whole hobbit trilogy only took 12 days to film, but the set took over 2 years to put together.

The Hobbit holes were quite large. They had varying sizes but a lot of them I could easily fit in. Like the very first one we saw was very large. We couldn't go in it but I took a selfie to show my shortness with it.
The one I'm pictured in above I'm standing on a step in so I'm actually even smaller.
Also fun fact it wasn't raining but I hadn't worn my rain boots yet and I really wanted to wear them and it rained the day before so I wore them anyways.

Five hobbit holes were built just for the Hobbit trilogy. They're in the distance and small and were only used in case the camera shot too wide so it would look like the village continued instead of just farm.
There's also the oak tree above the famous hobbit hole and there are no oak trees in New Zealand so they had to build this tree. It's made of metal and the leaves are 5 shades brighter green than the natural stuff because the camera darkens it. But my eyes already have never seen such bright greens before so to me I couldn't tell the difference between the tree leaves and the grass but to like people who can see that brightness it's 5 shades lighter. Even tho it's totally fake it even fools the birds who often make nests in it.
So then after our tour we went to the Green Dragon for drinks. The sign says they ID unless you look over 25 and they didn't ID me and I don't think I look that old... If I do then when I'm really 25 I'll look over 30! Ew. So not down for being old, man.
Then after drinks we went to this party tent for our lunch and I was expecting like a sandwich on the bus but we got a full big buffet with like real meat and everything. My meat was dry and chewy but it was still meat so I tried my best to eat it. It was nice.