Disclaimer: I do not own any of Tolkien's works; I only own my five OCs.
Chapter One
Jessica Stevens and her four friends walked down the passenger steps - their portable suitcases rolling behind them - which led to the concrete runway. She and her friends had won an online contest that had an all expenses paid trip to New Zealand to see the film-set of the Shire - or, more specifically Hobbiton - for a prize. They had just finished their one day and two hour flight from New York, and would've been very tired, except they were all mega-fans of Tolkien's works, and were very excited to be there.
The five adults were soon on the concrete, rolling their luggage to the airport where a jeep would take them to Matamata, where Hobbiton was located. It took them a while to actually get to the airport on foot; and it seemed even longer because the weather was especially cold and blustery - even for April weather. But, after minutes passed, the five finally made it to the nice big warm airport.
As they entered through the big glass double-doors that said ENTER above them, the oldest adult, whose name was Ruby Collins, peered around and said, "Wow! Look at this place! It's enormous!" Ruby was the oldest one in the group: she was twenty six years old, and had the best fashion sense of them all. But for her job, she worked as a babysitter in New York. She was also very pretty in appearance too. She had cropped light blonde hair, dull blue eyes, very pale skin, and was 5'10" in height. Normally, she wore a blue and green checked shirt, skinny jeans, and black sneakers - which is what she wore when she was at the airport.
The second oldest, Zoe Alexander, nodded and replied, "I know right? It's awesome! You could fit hundreds of dinosaurs in here!" She was the nerd of the group, who liked reading comic-books and studying up on dinosaurs and things like that in her spare time - when she wasn't selling her clay sculptures on the internet as her job. As she her appearance, she had short red hair that was usually very messy, ever so slightly tanned skin, brown eyes with a flex of green, about 5'6" in height, and was twenty four years old. On that day, she was wearing a black t-shirt with the Jurassic Park logo on it, wore her favorite pair of ripped denim jeans, and black boots.
Then there was Josh Parker, the third youngest, who was twenty three, who had fairly short brown hair that was always messed up, a bit of brown peach-fuzz on his chin, pale skin, dark brown eyes, and was 6'1" tall. He wore that day a black 'Skillet' shirt, blue jeans, and worn old grey-brown sneakers that he had had for years. Josh liked reading books and comic books; he also enjoyed and was gifted in playing the guitar, which he did a lot. (He was a currently a music writer - that was how he was making his money.) He also was dating Zoe, and had been for many years.
After they all had walked a bit further into the airport, the third oldest asked, whose name was Isaac, "So, where were we supposed to meet our jeep again?" Isaac Collins was the most quiet out of the group, but he was also very smart (and he was actually the younger brother to Ruby). He was also very strong and tall, and was twenty three years old, like Josh. Isaac had extremely short light blonde hair, very tan skin, a clean-shaven face, dull blue eyes, and was the same height as Josh. He, however, was unemployed for the time being.
The youngest of them all was Jessica Stevens. Jessica was very much an extrovert, the funniest of the five, and was always cracking jokes. She was twenty years old and was currently single, like Ruby and Isaac. Jessica, usually only by her friends, was called Jess. And she had long dirty blonde hair (more blonde than brown), grey-blue eyes, tan skin, and was 5'11" in height. And she wore a white shirt with the 'Wicked' logo on it, light blue denim shorts, and white clogs. Jess was a writer who worked from a New York, who was currently attempting to write a book - she hoped a series - but was failing terribly.
"I think it's at the front entrance," said Ruby, still awed by the bigness of the airport.
"I'm pretty sure that this is the largest airport in New Zealand," Josh pointed out.
"How about in all the world!" Exclaimed Jess jokingly.
"This is pretty neat," Isaac said with a grin.
"Yeah, I still can't believe we won that contest!" Zoe said in disbelief and joy. "Like, we never win anything!"
"Same here," agreed Jess with a delighted nod. She smiled and remembered when the five had huddled around Ruby's computer in her apartment when the site was going to announce the winners. She remembered how the had gotten the email saying they had all won the trip. It was like Christmas in June!
"When were we supposed to meet the jeep?" Asked Josh.
"The email said the jeep would be waiting at the front entrance at ten," replied Ruby. And that was the last thing they said said to one another inside the airport.
They walked and walked for what seemed like twenty minutes, until they found two big revolving doors that led outside into the parking lot. And just as the five had left the airport, a grey-brown jeep pulled up to the sidewalk.
"Just in time," Ruby said with a look of pleasure on her face. She and the rest of the group approached the jeep quickly, their luggage rolling fast behind them. When they reached the jeep, the friendly driver (who looked sort-of strange) told them to throw their bags in the back on the floor where they would be sitting. After they had all done so, they climbed into the jeep, one by one. When they were all seated in the back, it was a tight fit, and there weren't enough seat-belts, so they just didn't wear them at all. But once they were all situated, they told the driver and he drove away from the sidewalk.
They all watched as the airport slowly got smaller and smaller as they pulled out onto the highway and drove.
"How long of a drive will it be?" Said Jess to the driver.
"Hmm, not longer than an hour," the driver said cheerfully.
"I hope I don't get car sick," Zoe said, raising her brows for a split second.
"Me too," chuckled Jess.
The drive to Matamata was nice. There was a gorgeous view, and luckily they had all packed cameras with them - plus they had their phone and iPods, just in case. So every now and then they took pictures of the beautiful scenery.
The weather, half an hour into the drive, wasn't so bad. It started to get warmer and sunnier as the minutes drew on, and the wind started to die down too, and soon faded into a refreshing breeze.
Half an hour later, the jeep turned onto Buckland Road, and they could see many, many houses that looked like they belonged in California, not here. It wasn't long until they turned a right and drove for a few minutes, turned yet another right, and then pulled into a very large, empty, parking lot, with a huge green sign with gold at the edges, that read: WELCOME TO HOBBITON; and under that, there was the location: Matamata, New Zealand. The jeep parked in the large empty parking lot, free to choose where-ever he liked. The vehicle was soon parked, and as soon as it was, the five adults leaped out of the back. Excitement bubbled inside of the adults as they removed the cameras from their necks and took pictures of the sign and the scenery; it was all too beautiful to take it.
After they had taken many pictures, Jessica walked over to the driver and asked, "How come there's no-one here?"
"Well, ya see lass," for the first time that day, Jess noticed that he was Irish, "they basically shut this place down so no-one except you six could get in. Aye! Which reminds me! Here are yer passes; there's a guard at the beginning path - where there's a wooden sign that reads: HOBBITON - and ye give 'em these passes, and he'll know that yer the winners." He handed Jess five large red passes.
"Oh, thanks!" She gladly took the passes and then walked over to the other four who had grabbed a map and were looking over the whole area. "Hey, guys! Here are our passes. And the driver told me that it was so empty because they shut down this place just for us!"
"Sweet!" said Zoe, taking her pass.
"Why do we need these if we're the only ones here?" Isaac asked, taking his pass and sticking it in his pant's pocket.
"Uh, I don't know, maybe in case there are imposters or something," Jess shrugged and also stuffed hers in her pocket. "So where are we heading first?" She handed out the rest of the passes.
"I think Bag-End!" Ruby said.
"Hmm, I say we just start from the beginning and work our way there," commented Josh, who was holding onto Zoe's hand.
"I guess that works," said Ruby with a slight shrug of her shoulders.
"Shall we begin our journey?" Jess said with a smile. Everyone said yes, and so they started out towards the entry.
As they passed the jeep, the driver called out, "Wait! Ye fergot yer luggage!"
The five looked at one another and chuckled. They then went back to the jeep, got their luggage from the back, and then resumed their walking.
"And another thing! I'll be back, right here, next morning to get ye all; ten o'clock! And by the way, there's a hotel that ye can put yer things in. It has a watermill next to it - ye can't miss it!" the driver called.
"Thanks!" they all said, and rolled their luggage behind them to the entry way. The jeep pulled out and was soon out of sight.
They kept walking until Jess pointed out the wooden sign that read HOBBITON, like the driver had described. And, like the driver also said, there was someone there, standing next to the sign. Except, he looked, well...different! Once Jess had told the others about the guard taking the passes, everyone had expected to see a security guard dressed in blue or something like that; but instead there was a small fat man who looked like a hobbit.
"Wow, they think of everything here!" exclaimed Jess after they had shown the man their passes and were walking into the set.
"Yeah! They have workers dressed up as hobbits! How cool is that?" Zoe cried with exhilaration.
After they had walked a little more, they looked to their right and saw the most beautiful landscape in the world! There was a large pond and the watermill they were told about, and many, many hills with hobbit-holes built into the them; the sky was so blue and cloudless - the weather had changed severely since the airport. Now it was bright and warm, and it felt like you were actually in Hobbiton itself.
"Well, I guess we should check in our rooms now," said Isaac, who was pointing to the house with the watermill.
"Yeah, good idea," nodded Jess; "that way we aren't lugging our bags around all day long!"
So they walked down the dirt path until they reached a large stone bridge that crossed the pond and would quickly get them to their hotel.
They were over the bridge and into the hotel in a couple of minutes. Once they were inside they looked around, their mouths slightly open with awe. It looked like something right out of a movie! And, it actually kind-of was. The walls and floors were made out of wood, and so was the check-in desk, and so was most of the furniture.
Zoe advanced toward the desk. No-one was there, so she looked around for a silver bell to ring. But there wasn't any.
"Hey guys," she said as the others were looking around a bit, "there's no bell to ring, what should I do?"
"Uh, no idea," Josh said after a few seconds of thinking.
Just after he said that, a small female person walked into sight and stood behind the desk. The desk was very short, and it seemed to just fit the employee who worked there. She, too, looked rather odd - rather like a hobbit in a way.
"Hey, guys, look!" whispered Ruby to the others; she pointed to the employee behind the desk; "it's another worker dressed up. This place is awesome; it's even better than Disney World!"
Everyone agreed and watched as Zoe filled out little to no paper work. In a minute or so she had rejoined the group. "We're all checked in!"
"How many rooms do we get?" inquired Jess.
"Two each: one for the guys and one for us!" Zoe smiled as she held two old-fashioned brass keys that would each unlock a room. She handed the other one to her boyfriend as they walked through a room with a tall arch. That was the breakfast area - or so they guessed. When they were through that room, they saw that, in front of them, was a large set of wooden stairs. They looked very old and rustic.
"Wow, they do a lot of detail for off-camera stuff! I mean, look at these stairs!" declared Ruby.
They were up the stairs in a matter of seconds, their suitcases banging against the wood every time they went up a step.
"Where are our rooms?" said Isaac, looking at the large hallway in front of him, lined with doors.
"I think the lady said rooms 1 and 2," Zoe recalled.
"Sweet! First two rooms!" Jess smiled happily.
"So what's our plan going to be for today?" Ruby asked as Zoe and Josh stuck their keys in their separate keyholes.
"I'm gonna get unpacked and then go explore!" giggled Jess childishly.
"Me too," Zoe agreed, successfully unlocking her door.
"Okay, sounds like a plan!" Josh said, as he - too - unlocked his door. "See ya soon!"
As the three girls opened their hotel door, their eyes opened wide with amazement. Like downstairs, there walls, ceiling, and floor was made out of beautiful wood. It was a fairly large size for a hotel room, and it came with four small beds, a small bath (complete with all the necessities), and a large window with a drop dead gorgeous view! It overlooked the west part of Hobbiton. And from there, you could see Bag-End!
"Guys, look at the amazing view!" Zoe called as the others were checking out the rest of the room. The two jogged over to Zoe's side and gazed out the window.
"This is so amazing!" Ruby said with a smile. "But come on, we have to unpack now."
It was hard dragging Zoe away from the window; and she almost turned away, except something drew her attention back to the outside. She saw a grey cloaked figure approach the road which lead to Bag-End. Oh, cool! They must be doing a reenactment of the Hobbit for us! She thought to herself. At that moment, she a saw a small person open the door to Bag-End dressed up as Bilbo - or what she thought was Bilbo; she was far away and only could guess. "Ruby, Jess, look at this! I think there's a reenactment going on!"
Again, the two females went over to the window, by Zoe, and looked out at the wonderfully designed landscape.
"Woah! Is that supposed to be Bilbo?" Jess pointed to the small person who was, at the moment, getting his mail from a mailbox.
"Yeah, I'm guessing. He came out of Bag-End, so..." Zoe watched intently.
The next thing that happened was that Bilbo sat down on a bench, a long wooden pipe in his mouth, and examined the many letters he had received. Just then, the grey cloaked figure ("Gandalf!" Jess had squeaked with delight) came up to Bilbo - or the actor who played Bilbo.
"Look, they're doing the scene from the movie!" Ruby pointed out, though it was very obvious.
The three watched intently and were very disappointed when the scene ended, and "Bilbo" went into his hobbit-hole, and "Gandalf" walked out of sight.
"Oh my gosh, that was epic!" Zoe said with a heavy sigh.
"I know right?" Ruby nodded in agreement. "It's cool that they would hire actors to reenact the scene from the movie."
"I never knew they did that," admitted Zoe, who knew a lot about Matamata and what went on there.
"Well, now let's unpack!" Ruby suggested.