Hamilton and Mata Mata (Hobbiton!)

I arrived in Hamilton unsure what to expect as I was only heading there in order to be able to visit the Hobbiton set. I checked into my hostel and then went to the supermarket to buy some bits and pieces and some beers. There was a really nice social area in the hostel that made it feel like being in a home and I soon got chatting to the girl who worked there who was from Germany. Later in the evening a few more people checked in and we had a fun evening talking about our travels over our beers.
I had booked to go to Mata Mata, where the Hobbition tours are run from, on the Monday so my Sunday was free to look around Hamilton. I had looked on the map and seen there was a nice walk by the river and also a statue of Richard O'Brian's character from the rocky horror show in the town. I decided to walk down through the town to see the statue and then back along the river. The statue explained that Richard had worked in the old theatre house in Hamilton as a barber and that was where he got his inspiration for the rocky horror show. I didn't do the dance as suggested by the sign by the statue! I went down to the river afterwards but unfortunately the route back to the hostel was closed off so I walked back through the town. That evening was Lale's birthday so we got some more beers between us and were joined by a couple of Americans who were staying in the hostel for just one night. It was another great evening chilling out on the balcony of the hostel.
The next morning I got up ready to head for my tour to Hobbiton, I was so excited! I got the bus to Mata Mata which was half an hour away and booked my tour in the isite. There was one leaving in 15mins so I waited for the bus to arrive in anticipation. We got on the bus and on the way to the farm the driver told us lots of stories about his role in the filming of lord of the rings. He had been part of the crew and had driven the actors and equipment from the set up areas to the filming locations which were top secret! He also told us some of the history of the area and how the drought was having a really bad effect on dairy farming. He knew a lot about this as he had once been a dairy farmer himself. We got dropped off at the entrance to the farm and then had another short bus ride to the shire itself. When the tour guide took us rough it was amazing, it all looks so real! You can really easily imagine that there are hobbits running around everywhere. The guide was really knowledgeable about the films and told us all about the scenes that had been shot in certain places. She also told us that the hobbiton set is the only set in the world to be left behind after filming as a tourist attraction. There is no more filming to be done there now as they have already done it for all three of the Hobbit movies. I could really remember the parts of the film as we were walking around. The party tree and field were awesome and I loved seeing bag end. We also saw the house that Sam moves into after he marries Rosie. At is point the guide pointed out one of the places where the film doesn't match the books. At the end of the last film a child runs out to sam and Rosie comes out holding another. They are both girls whereas in the book it was a boy and a girl. The reason for this is that the girl that runs to sam is the actors own daughter and the girl that Rosie is holding is the actresses daughter. I thought that was a nice touch! We then went around to the green dragon where we got a free drink as part of our tour. I obviously went for the cider! It was an excellent tour and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone that is a fan of the movies.