Travel + Life Abroad, Travel: New Zealand
Hobbit Holes
I have finally found the requisite cute, fashionable cafe with wifi, in which I can it with my unfashionably-sized laptop and type. (Does anyone else get driven crazy by tiny phone keys and screens? Is there anything better than sitting down at a good old giant keyboard and bashing some things out?) So, despite the fact I am perched up in sunny Sydney sipping on a ginger beer, let’s go back to New Zealand for a little bit …
Three hours south of Auckland is a town called Matamata. It’s small, with a main stretch that features the key shops; fish and chips, Chinese food, a pub. Back in the late 90s, when Peter Jackson was location scouting for a certain trilogy of films, he flew over a sheep and cattle farm that lies about fifteen minutes outside Matamata. It was perfect. There was a huge tree that was of utmost importance (something about a party) and plenty of rolling hills that would make perfect homes for small people with large, hairy feet. He knocked on the farmstead’s door, interrupting a game of rugby on the TV, and the rest is cinematic history. Indeed, contemporary New Zealand history.
Nowadays, Matamata also goes by the name Hobbiton and from the town’s thatched information centre, you can hop on a guided tour bus and drive out to The Shire, through some truly beautiful New Zealand landscape.
The Shire was originally constructed for the LOTR trilogy, but the hobbit homes tucked into grassy hills were just white doors, the rest taken care of by special effects. For The Hobbit trilogy, The Shire was brought back to life, this time in full, stunning detail. Coloured wooden doors, round windows, front gardens with rocking chairs and clay beer steins, a big community vegetable patch that is tended to by a team of gardners, winding paths, a well. It is magical, as if the Hobbits have left for the day and let you roam through their patch of Middle Earth.
Of course, for the real fans (for example, SG, who has seen each film approximately ten times) the home everyone was keenest to clap eyes on was that of the Baggins family, Bag End, at the end of Bagshot Row. Above it sits that beautiful oak tree which is, in actual fact, a fake, each leaf painstakingly woven on by hand.
Past the party tree and over the bridge, we stopped for a refreshing ginger beer at The Green Dragon pub.
It was sensational weather for the beer garden.
Brittany Ruth
11 February, 2014 at 9:25 amwow I’d love to visit that place. So cool!
Liv
14 February, 2014 at 2:39 amIt was fantastic! I am not a raging fan, but even I could appreciate its detail and beauty. The landscape was just stunning, honestly.
Riayn
11 February, 2014 at 11:50 amI’m so envious that you got to go to Hobbiton. I definitely need to make it there one day.
Liv
14 February, 2014 at 2:54 amYou must! It is so very well done. I didn’t really notice the enormous effect Peter Jackson has had on NZ’s tourism and – let’s face it – contemporary cultural identity, the first time I was in NZ about 5 years ago. But this time – wow. New Zealand IS Middle Earth.
Hemborgwife
11 February, 2014 at 12:04 pmOk at first I was not convinced but that beer garden is just perfect!
Liv
14 February, 2014 at 2:55 amNow imagine sitting in it, with a ceramic stein of locally made beer – it was brilliant. And The Shire itself, I want to live there. I want a Hobbit hole of my own.
Hemborgwife
14 February, 2014 at 12:29 pmAhhh very jealous!
Isa
17 February, 2014 at 8:56 pmMe too!
Isa
17 February, 2014 at 8:59 pmAs in: I’d like to live in a Hobbit hole, too. Always quite fancied Mole’s pad in The Wind in the Willows as well.
Liv
18 February, 2014 at 1:09 amSuch a cosy pad.
Diane
11 February, 2014 at 12:09 pmOne of my favourite places to visit
Liv
14 February, 2014 at 2:56 amJust beautiful, isn’t it. They have done a splendid job.
ernestwhile
11 February, 2014 at 3:14 pmFantastic. When I was in NZ I was saddened yet impressed to learn that part of the deal was that Peter Jackson could leave no trace of filming in his locations… and thus the various “Hobbit Tours” were mostly nature hikes. I suppose the success of LOTR showed the government the lucre potential and a new deal was reached. What’s next, Rivendell? One can only hope.
Liv
14 February, 2014 at 3:05 amIt certainly showed the government something! LOTR must be one of NZ’s biggest income providers, the tourism industry and LOTR are at one with each other. Wellington airport is plastered with a HUGE sign saying, Middle Earth, and enormous statues of Gollum and Gandalf. Peter Jackson has made billions for NZ, I think! That being said, it is all done very well and tastefully.
silverlaketales
28 February, 2014 at 1:28 amThank you for bringing Hobbiton to my attention!
…it brings a wonderful feeling of excitement, similar to what I felt when I was about to visit Disneyland in 1984 🙂