Hobbiton

Note: there are a lot of pictures in this post. How could I not take pictures of everything?

We headed from Rotorua towards Hobbiton and stopped at a little town called Tirau. There we wandered around and stopped for coffee.

This is actually a Merino wool store.

Then we headed to Matamata.

I had booked a buffet lunch to eat before the Hobbit tour. We arrived then met the tour guide and boarded a bus. We watched movie clips and interviews with Peter Jackson about the set. It is still located on a farmers land. The two are partners for Hobbiton. The hills, lake, and tree were the reason this site was chosen.

Going to lunch…

After lunch we headed on the tour. The NZ army was hired to build the road needed to go in and out of the set.

We learned how sets were made and how they made moss looks realistic. Everything is of poly wood to last longer.
We were told about the two different sizes of Hobbit holes. They would use the small ones to photograph Gandalf and the large ones for the hobbits to achieve the difference in size of the characters.
The attention to detail was amazing including an actual garden.
This is the party tree from the movie that we see for Bilboa’s birthday and other clips from the movies. It is very old.
This tree is fake. The leaves were taken off and fake leaves from Taiwan were purchased to put on the tree. Afterwards the color of the leaves was not quite right and Jackson hired people to paint the leaves to be the perfect color. Bilboa’s house is beneath it.
The view from Bilboa’s door. In the movie he looks over to see a sunset. It is actually a sunrise. They shot the sequence backwards then played it in reverse.
Bilboa’s house below the fake tree.
Bilboa’s front door. Notice it is a larger hole to make the actor appear smaller.
This Hobbit hole is smaller and Gandalf would stand here to appear larger.
How they made the polywood look like real wood and moss so realistic is amazing.
This is Sam’s house. Rosie met him here in the movie and there were 2 children. They are the actual children of the two actors (actors were not married together though.)
On the party field below the big tree. This was originally swamp land and had to be raised 18 feet by filling with dirt.
The keg on Gandalf’s wagon.
Gandalf’s wagon.
The Green Dragon Inn. We had a drink here and could choose from an ale, stout, or 2 non alcoholic ciders.

These are pictures from inside the Green Dragon Inn. Filming nside of Hobbit holes in the movies was completed on a sound stage in Wellington.

And then the tour was done! We left on a bus and continued our drive to Tauranga and the last of our vacation.