Jul 19

Jul 19 New Zealand - Hobbiton

One of the first stops we made in New Zealand was Hobbiton in Matamata. For those that haven't seen Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, Hobbiton is the hobbit village used in the films. Hobbiton looks just like it does in the movie. Tim made sure I watched all the movies prior to us leaving so I would be prepared for the movie set tour.

In 1998, Peter Jackson’s team of location scouts were searching for the rolling hills and lush green pastures of Hobbiton. A search led them to the Alexander farm, a stunning 1,250 acre sheep farm in the heart of the Waikato. They noted the area’s striking similarity to The Shire, as described by JRR Tolkien, and quickly realized that the Hobbits had found a home.

The only way to see the village is to take the tour as you can't walk freely through the set. Our tour guide was a lot of fun. He shared some cool facts about how scenes were shot, things that were real and fake in the movie, and antidotes about set design.

Hobbiton Movie Set has 44 houses, but most are just façades. There’s only one that tourists can go in to.

A person was employed to walk between the Hobbit houses for a couple of weeks just to make the track look well traveled.

The tree above the town is made from fibreglass and silk leaves (imported from Taiwan), which each had to be individually wired on.

Many of the mistakes made during filming ended up being included in the film. In the first movie, Gandalf accidentally hits his head in Bilbo’s house. Because actor Ian McKellen continued on with the scene, Peter Jackson decided to keep it in.

I'm not a super huge fan of the LOTR movies but this was super cool. I had way more fun than I expected. Overall, a great way to spend the afternoon.