NZ - Hobbiton

We drove to Hobbiton in the morning for our tour. Unfortunately, Lucy got carsick and we had to rush to the bus to get them to wait for us while we cleaned up. But everyone got on board and off we headed onto the farm that holds Hobbiton.





It was a nice walk on a bright sunny day. Our tour guide told us a bit about the movies and how they made up the set. He seemed to have a grudge against Peter Jackson (who directed the movies) because of the inane details forced on the crew (e.g. hand-making each leaf of the big tree over Bilbo's hobbit hole. It happens to be one of the only fake trees on the set. And the type of tree was changed at the last minute). The sheep grazing on the hills in the background had to be specially shipped in because the sheep already there didn't have the proper black and white markings. Everyone here seems to be very familiar with Peter Jackson as all of them call him "Peter" like they were buddies.



The details were incredible. And the care that goes into maintaining it is also incredible. The fruits and gardens are real. So much so, that there were butterflies all over the place. The rolling hills, green pastures, stone fences etc. are all very lovely and exceptionally maintained. Each hobbit hole had it's own characteristic (e.g. a butcher, a baker, a candle-stick maker) and the holes of different characters in the movies was pointed out to us (e.g. Sam's hole after he came back from the adventures).





Although I admit that each hole was neat, the couple in front of us had to stop and take a picture of every single one. There are 44 hobbit holes in Hobbiton.



We passed by the mill and over the bridge to the Green Dragon where we had scones and ginger beer. The ginger beer (non-alcoholic) was very tasty. Yum! So tasty that the hornets drove us inside close to the fireplace. We even met a team of athletes from Canada that were in Auckland to compete. We saw their red and white jackets and so wished them well.

A lovely place that is run really well (especially to get the number of people through the tours every day - at least 1000 people/day). A nice little stop along the way that gave a sense of rest and peace in the world.

Grandpa Bear teaching Hannah
how to stand in a pose

Hannah's successful pose!
Crossed legs, hand on hip