19th March 2017
I sleep well and make a couple of calls back to the UK, before showering and getting kitted up. The Adv's unloaded (save for essentials), as I am just going 45 minutes or so up the road to visit Hobbiton.
Those of you not familiar with the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films will very likely find this episode a little difficult to fathom - those that are might find it enjoyable. I am not a dyed in the wool Tolkien fan, but enjoyed the Lord of the Rings trilogy of films made by Peter Jackson enormously. I was less keen on The Hobbit - in fact I think I've only ever seen the first of the three films.
Peter Jackson has done more for the New Zealand tourist industry than any other individual, I should think. The landscapes in his films have brought a steady stream of tourists in since they were first shown and his interpretation of Middle Earth is now firmly entrenched in New Zealand culture...
I leave the hotel at about 1000, for the 45-minute ride to Matamata, where the tour bus leaves from. You can't just wander about, but must be part of a guided tour - which costs $NZ79...
It's a beautiful day, already 70°F and hardly a cloud in the sky...
Bettie steers me back along the toll road (I've already paid, anticipating this) and then turns me right towards Matamata at the end, along Highway 29...
The road is busy with Sunday traffic - and with Sunday drivers. You know, the ones who don't know how to use passing lanes...
There's a road closure and a diversion, but it hardly eats into my contingency time, and I'm soon approaching the centre of Matamata down a very nicely turned out road. I'm just thinking that it reminds me of Newmarket in the UK, when I pass a sign for a racing stables - this is a very expensive area of town where the breeders and owners live...
At an event ground nearer the town centre, there appears to be a show of some sort. As I get nearer it would appear to be a classic car show - what a shame I don't have time to stop (I'm on a booked slot)...
I take a couple of quick pics on the hoof...
...and then move on...
I arrive at the Tourist Information Point...
...where the tour bus leaves from, just before 1100. Do you think this may be the right place?
I go inside to get my ticket...
...and Hobbiton makes the second of several assaults on my wallet, as I buy a couple of things for folks back home...
I get aboard the tour bus, which turns up very promptly, along with the 20-or-so other visitors. Ra, a native New Zealander with some Maori in him, drives the bus. He keeps up a good, informal and friendly patter that ensures everyone feels at home during the fifteen-minute journey to the film set...
...where we are joined by Josh, a Brit on his gap year. He's been working here for four and a half months and spends his days laying turf - and showing tourists around Hobbiton...
The set, which was originally built for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, was almost completely dismantled and removed, before being reassembled for the Hobbit films. The main difference is that the initial build took about four months and was constructed of expanded polystyrene and fragile materials, whereas the version we are being shown around took two years to build and is designed to last at least 50 years. It was built with this type of tour very much in mind.
Each of the Hobbit holes is different in design. Peter Jackson was a detail nut - everything had to be exactly right...
The doors, of course, have very little behind them - something around the size of a small cupboard. All interiors were shot in the studios at Wellington...
The streetlights...
...and even the drain covers are all carefully designed to fit in with the Art Department's vision of what Middle Earth should look like.
All the plants, fruit and vegetables are real and grown on site. There is one artificial tree - of which more later...
Josh's monologue is temporarily drowned by the noise of a couple of aircraft circling the site - a Tiger Moth and, rather bizarrely...
...a Fiesler Storch - can't say I've ever seen one flying before...
The 'ageing' of the set was quite interesting - all woodwork was painted to a spotless gloss - and then sandblasted. The moss and lichen on the fence here is totally fake, made of filler and sand, with a little yoghurt thrown in to encourage natural growth...
The actual site is a working sheep and cattle farm owned by the Alexander family - who, incidentally, own 51% of the company conducting these tours. Josh comes up with several anecdotes about the deal eventually being struck. I don't think Mr Alexander made a bad decision allowing Jackson to film here...
As we are being shown around, we can see half a dozen groups ahead of us and more behind. A German couple I met on South Island told me that the tour made them feel they were being herded along like sheep - and I can understand their point. Quite what the schedule must be like in high summer when the groups are all sold out I don't know. Everyone is going to want the same pictures and scheduling must be difficult...
We come to the next stop - the hierarchy of the village. The way it works is that the higher up the hill you are, then the higher your social status is. The wealthier you are, the more windows you can afford...
This is the artificial tree. It's plastic built around a metal core. In the original Lord of the Rings films, a large oak stood there. Since the Hobbit was set sixty or so years earlier, Jackson decided the tree must also be smaller, so had one made. 22,000 oak leaves are held on by wire - they regularly fall due to weather and corrosion - in fact you'll see that a couple of the branches are away being re-leaved at the moment...
There are 40 or so Hobbit holes in total - most built just as background for sweeping camera shots - but Jackson thought it important to have more to suggest the village went on out of sight on the other side of the hill...
The lake is man made, but not for the film. It was the juxtaposition of the lake, the large 'party tree' and the hillside behind it that sealed the deal as this being where the set was going to be...
This view gives you an idea of the amount of space available behind the door...
The view from the top of the set...
This is Bag-End...
...and differs from the rest of the Hobbit holes as there is room for a 30 person filming crew inside, so that shots from inside showing the backdrop of the entire set could be filmed from there. There is also some slight detail work in the hallway, so that this would tally with the interiors shot in the studio, if a character was filmed leaving the house...
This is the 'Party Tree' - where Bilbo holds his birthday party...
The Alexander family came very close to cutting it down for firewood the year before Peter Jackson came calling - that would have been an expensive fire...
It's a beautiful little part of the world - although the experience of visiting it feels rushed and money driven, to be honest...
Time for a drink...
We take a walk down to the Green Dragon pub, where we get to try one of a selection of drinks (I have a ginger ale, since I'm riding - but it was ice cold and very welcome...)
Whilst drinking, I wander around and take some more pics...
...inside and outside...
...enjoying the brilliant sunshine...
I meet Josh and Rachel - a young married couple from Austin, Texas...
...who are here on the last day of a week's visit. They catch their flight home this evening and are back at work tomorrow
Time to get back aboard the bus...
Which takes us to the gift shop - natch...
...and then, eventually, back to Matamata - where I get kitted up for the ride back to the hotel.
The Classic Car show was just winding up, so I managed to get some quick pics of these two as I was passing...
I have a brisk ride back to the hotel, arriving at about 1545...
Nice day.
I sleep well and make a couple of calls back to the UK, before showering and getting kitted up. The Adv's unloaded (save for essentials), as I am just going 45 minutes or so up the road to visit Hobbiton.
Those of you not familiar with the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films will very likely find this episode a little difficult to fathom - those that are might find it enjoyable. I am not a dyed in the wool Tolkien fan, but enjoyed the Lord of the Rings trilogy of films made by Peter Jackson enormously. I was less keen on The Hobbit - in fact I think I've only ever seen the first of the three films.
Peter Jackson has done more for the New Zealand tourist industry than any other individual, I should think. The landscapes in his films have brought a steady stream of tourists in since they were first shown and his interpretation of Middle Earth is now firmly entrenched in New Zealand culture...
I leave the hotel at about 1000, for the 45-minute ride to Matamata, where the tour bus leaves from. You can't just wander about, but must be part of a guided tour - which costs $NZ79...
It's a beautiful day, already 70°F and hardly a cloud in the sky...
Bettie steers me back along the toll road (I've already paid, anticipating this) and then turns me right towards Matamata at the end, along Highway 29...
The road is busy with Sunday traffic - and with Sunday drivers. You know, the ones who don't know how to use passing lanes...
There's a road closure and a diversion, but it hardly eats into my contingency time, and I'm soon approaching the centre of Matamata down a very nicely turned out road. I'm just thinking that it reminds me of Newmarket in the UK, when I pass a sign for a racing stables - this is a very expensive area of town where the breeders and owners live...
At an event ground nearer the town centre, there appears to be a show of some sort. As I get nearer it would appear to be a classic car show - what a shame I don't have time to stop (I'm on a booked slot)...
I take a couple of quick pics on the hoof...
...and then move on...
I arrive at the Tourist Information Point...
...where the tour bus leaves from, just before 1100. Do you think this may be the right place?
I go inside to get my ticket...
...and Hobbiton makes the second of several assaults on my wallet, as I buy a couple of things for folks back home...
I get aboard the tour bus, which turns up very promptly, along with the 20-or-so other visitors. Ra, a native New Zealander with some Maori in him, drives the bus. He keeps up a good, informal and friendly patter that ensures everyone feels at home during the fifteen-minute journey to the film set...
...where we are joined by Josh, a Brit on his gap year. He's been working here for four and a half months and spends his days laying turf - and showing tourists around Hobbiton...
The set, which was originally built for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, was almost completely dismantled and removed, before being reassembled for the Hobbit films. The main difference is that the initial build took about four months and was constructed of expanded polystyrene and fragile materials, whereas the version we are being shown around took two years to build and is designed to last at least 50 years. It was built with this type of tour very much in mind.
Each of the Hobbit holes is different in design. Peter Jackson was a detail nut - everything had to be exactly right...
The doors, of course, have very little behind them - something around the size of a small cupboard. All interiors were shot in the studios at Wellington...
The streetlights...
...and even the drain covers are all carefully designed to fit in with the Art Department's vision of what Middle Earth should look like.
All the plants, fruit and vegetables are real and grown on site. There is one artificial tree - of which more later...
Josh's monologue is temporarily drowned by the noise of a couple of aircraft circling the site - a Tiger Moth and, rather bizarrely...
...a Fiesler Storch - can't say I've ever seen one flying before...
The 'ageing' of the set was quite interesting - all woodwork was painted to a spotless gloss - and then sandblasted. The moss and lichen on the fence here is totally fake, made of filler and sand, with a little yoghurt thrown in to encourage natural growth...
The actual site is a working sheep and cattle farm owned by the Alexander family - who, incidentally, own 51% of the company conducting these tours. Josh comes up with several anecdotes about the deal eventually being struck. I don't think Mr Alexander made a bad decision allowing Jackson to film here...
As we are being shown around, we can see half a dozen groups ahead of us and more behind. A German couple I met on South Island told me that the tour made them feel they were being herded along like sheep - and I can understand their point. Quite what the schedule must be like in high summer when the groups are all sold out I don't know. Everyone is going to want the same pictures and scheduling must be difficult...
We come to the next stop - the hierarchy of the village. The way it works is that the higher up the hill you are, then the higher your social status is. The wealthier you are, the more windows you can afford...
This is the artificial tree. It's plastic built around a metal core. In the original Lord of the Rings films, a large oak stood there. Since the Hobbit was set sixty or so years earlier, Jackson decided the tree must also be smaller, so had one made. 22,000 oak leaves are held on by wire - they regularly fall due to weather and corrosion - in fact you'll see that a couple of the branches are away being re-leaved at the moment...
There are 40 or so Hobbit holes in total - most built just as background for sweeping camera shots - but Jackson thought it important to have more to suggest the village went on out of sight on the other side of the hill...
The lake is man made, but not for the film. It was the juxtaposition of the lake, the large 'party tree' and the hillside behind it that sealed the deal as this being where the set was going to be...
This view gives you an idea of the amount of space available behind the door...
The view from the top of the set...
This is Bag-End...
...and differs from the rest of the Hobbit holes as there is room for a 30 person filming crew inside, so that shots from inside showing the backdrop of the entire set could be filmed from there. There is also some slight detail work in the hallway, so that this would tally with the interiors shot in the studio, if a character was filmed leaving the house...
This is the 'Party Tree' - where Bilbo holds his birthday party...
The Alexander family came very close to cutting it down for firewood the year before Peter Jackson came calling - that would have been an expensive fire...
It's a beautiful little part of the world - although the experience of visiting it feels rushed and money driven, to be honest...
Time for a drink...
We take a walk down to the Green Dragon pub, where we get to try one of a selection of drinks (I have a ginger ale, since I'm riding - but it was ice cold and very welcome...)
Whilst drinking, I wander around and take some more pics...
...inside and outside...
...enjoying the brilliant sunshine...
I meet Josh and Rachel - a young married couple from Austin, Texas...
...who are here on the last day of a week's visit. They catch their flight home this evening and are back at work tomorrow
Time to get back aboard the bus...
Which takes us to the gift shop - natch...
...and then, eventually, back to Matamata - where I get kitted up for the ride back to the hotel.
The Classic Car show was just winding up, so I managed to get some quick pics of these two as I was passing...
I have a brisk ride back to the hotel, arriving at about 1545...
Nice day.
