North Island 2: Land of the Hobbits

Following our drenching on the mountain, we all stripped down in the parking lot, hopped in the car, and headed north. It appears that I had MY day and it was time for everyone else to enjoy theirs. Several hours later, we bedded down in Matamata, a sleepy rural town with a small grocery store that closes at 8 and a McDonalds that stays open much later. The next morning, I awoke early to Skype my boss at home and inform him that my return might be delayed for a few more months. And then off we went.
For those of you who do not recognize this view, you are looking at midmorning in the Shire. A few miles down the road, we stumbled into a small hobbit village. (Well, actually, we didn’t stumble into it. We drove for hours the previous day and then paid a disturbing amount to visit this small hobbit village. I know not how much as it was kept secret from me for my personal well being).

Up on the hill is Bag End itself, home of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins (before the Sackville-Baggins’ moved in of course). Interestingly, the tree at the top is entirely synthetic.

And we saw real hobbits while we were there

The location of Hobbiton was divided among many different sites at one point but this single, perfect location, aside from the obvious as noted in the pictures, was decided upon because of this tree, which was critical for the birthday party scene where Bilbo vanishes into the sunset.While the farmland around was not strictly part of the set, ALL fences were removed from the entire region and even the sheep were replaced with a more acceptable sheep type. But when one remembers that the budget for this movie was on par with the GDP of a small country, it is not hard to imagine this. Interestingly, the set was so secret (for the Lord of the Rings) that the neighbors did not know it was a movie set until they actually saw the movie. In the distance is my favorite part of the tour: the pub, where we had second breakfast and English ale. On the way out of the “Shire” I took this photo of the surrounding countryside that so typifies New Zealand