One Ring to Rule Them All!

We were so excited when we woke up today!  Instead of kayaking, we signed up for a Lord Of The Rings (LOTR) tour yesterday and it was so cheap!

I'm So Excited!

So much to see

It promised to take us to all the major attractions in the movie and we would even get to interact with some of the characters.

The tour left at 5:30am so we had to get up really early but it was worth it.  We got on the bus in downtown Queensland and they immediately gave us an elven cloak to wear to keep us warm.  To our surprise, there weren't a lot of people on the tour but this just meant they gave us more individual attention and answered all our questions.

The ride to the sets took about 3 hours but they played the first movie to get us psyched up.  They gave us some authentic LOTR snacks to eat too and they were delish!

We FINALLY got to the first area which was where Gollum lived.  It was cold and smelly just like it was depicted in the movie.  They even let us try and catch some fish with our hands but we weren't quick like him.

My Prrrrrrecious...

After drying off, we got on the bus to drive to the Hobbit Shire where we were promised that we could meet some of the characters and eat some lunch.

The ride only took another hour and a half but it went by quick because they showed part of the second movie.

The Shire is soooooo cool!  There were all these little people going about their daily lives just as we imagined it and everything was tiny.  We had to practically get on our hands and knees to get into the restaurant.

After eating our lunch (not sure what it was but it was good), we met the characters as promised.

Actual size!!

They were so nice but not very talkative.

We took some pictures but then another tour bus came so we decided to head to the Orcs' Lair.  They showed the rest of the 2nd movie along the way and we got there around 4pm.  The Orcs were as scary in real life as they were in the movies!  Definitely wouldn't want to meet one in a dark alley...

Orcs are actually pretty friendly

We got to swing a battle axe at a couple of Orcs for fun and they would pretend to get hit and squirt blood.  So realistic it was amazing.  We cleaned off the fake blood and guts and sadly the tour was over way too soon :-(

The good thing was they showed the last movie on the ride back.  What could be better?!  This day was probably the best day of our trip so far.  But the best was yet to come...  When we were pulling into the parking lot at 9pm, they said we were the most enthusiastic group they have had and decided to give us all souvenir “One Rings”!!!!

We got ours for free!

Normally you had to buy these so it was an awesome gift.  We are both wearing them instead of our wedding rings.

We can't wait to go again tomorrow...

We really hope no one took this too seriously nor were offended... LOL :P