The Hobbit Premiere pt 2

There's a very good reason for staking ones claim on a sacred bit of fence hours before the red carpet opens. We were aware that there would be little chance of a good view of the happenings by the time we headed back down there but we had no idea just how many would show up. Estimates said about 100,000 fans were glued to fence and pouring into side streets, spilling into the nearby Hobbit festival. We could hear the actors speaking to the press and see them on the big screens but that was about it.

I had little stamina for standing so we hailed a cab and went to check out the Hobbit Festival on its last night. Rather than a heavily Hobbit branded event it was a showcase of local artisans making anything from leather messenger bags to woven scarves. There were a few food stalls and then the huge field with a big screen where we caught the final stage of the red carpet hoopla as the PM and Peter Jackson as well as some of the actors took to the shire themed stage.

We continued our walk back through the city in search of a place for dinner. I was beyond exhausted so by 8:00pm we called it a night. Closed our tab at the pub we'd found and headed back to our friend's place to put our feet up.

The onlookers along the red carpet were at least 10 deep by this point all
 along the 500 metres