A Completely Expected Journey

Hello, Tom here.  What most Americans know of New Zealand was learned from Peter Jackson and his extraordinary commitment to shooting in real NZ locations for Lord of the Rings, and so, given that we live only a 90-minute drive from Hobbiton, it likely comes as no surprise to anyone that I scheduled a trip/pilgrimage to Hobbiton on one of our first weekends in NZ.  In anticipation of the trip, we screened the first disc of LOTR:TFOTR (expurgated version - no scary parts) with the children.  This is the part of the movie that contains most of the Hobbiton scenes.  Suitably prepped with a parentally mandated reverence for Tolkien, we packed the kids and their peanut butter-jelly-Nutella sandwiches and headed up to Matamata.

SPOILER ALERT: This is the best place ever.  If you ever plan to come here, maybe you should just skip these pictures.  Or maybe they'll just whet your appetite and inspire you to move your plans to visit New Zealand up a few years.

SPOILER ALERT: Movies are fake.  The hobbit holes are fake.  If you would rather not pull back the curtain and see how the Hobbit sausage is made, to mix a regular metaphor with an unpleasant metaphor, best not look.  I admit to feeling a little bit disillusioned after our visit to the Weta Cave in Wellington where we saw the fake swords and fake chain mail used in the movies.  I am not sure what I was expecting, really, but suspension of disbelief gets way harder when you are holding a fake orc war hammer.  Then again, Hobbiton is awesome.

When we arrived, we discovered Jasper had gotten himself a bit car sick by reading most of the drive up.  We suggested he rally.  This was Hobbiton, for God's sake.  (God = Peter Jackson in this case.)  (He created Hobbiton, and it was good.)

Then, we saw hobbit holes.  OMG.

So, this place is unique in that it is the only honest-to-Bilbo movie set that has been created to be a permanent fixture.  Typically, movie sets are built for the filming and then taken down as quickly as possible.  In Hobbiton's case, the original agreement was for the farm where the set was built to be restored as exactly as possible as soon as the set was no longer needed.  A heavy rain made the transport of the demo equipment impossible, so the destruction of the set was delayed a few months.  During that time, the owners of the farm suggested to New Line that maybe they'd like to keep the set. Many months of legal wrangling ensued and an agreement was reached to allow visitors to tour the set.  Shortly thereafter, the Hobbit movies were in the works, so the site was not only preserved, but contracted for use again.  Once the production of the new movies finally started, the whole site was actually improved and prepared for filming again, but this time with an eye to making the set a really permanent part of the farm instead of leaving it as an afterthought.  As the second and third Hobbit movies haven't been released yet, there is still the possibility that Jackson and co. will realize they need the set again for some last minute shots, so the whole place is meticulously kept ready for emergency filming, down to every shrub and garden plant.  Crazy.  It is really like walking right into a movie set.

Here is everyone else in front of the garden in the midst of Hobbiton.  (I appear in almost no photos.  It was hard for me to let go of the camera.)

So, not all the holes are to scale.  Some are just for establishing shots and are considerably smaller.  Here are the boys looking like giant hobbits:

OMG.  This is the branch under which Gandalf passes as he shoots off fireworks for the hobbitlings:

If you are not a big enough Jacksonphile to recognize that tree, watch this at 4:02.

Here are more hobbit holes, some of which are visible in that same clip from 1:30 to 2:00.

Welcome to our hobbit hole!

These hobbit holes are, sadly, all just pretend.  There is nothing behind the doors.  All interior shots were done on a soundstage in Wellington.  The Hobbiton set is used only for outdoor shots.  Right behind the boys in that photo is a bunch of dirt and rubble.  Obviously, no actual hobbit would stand for such a mess in a real hobbit hole.

OMG OMG.  Bag End, the smial built by Bilbo's father, Bungo, for his wife, Belladonna.  Here is Aidan in front of the famous round green door.

This is the only hobbit hole with an entryway, as you can see here, but that's all that exists behind this door.

This is the tree on top.

OMG - Samwise lives here.

This is the party tent Merry and Pippin send into the sky with a purloined firework.  Fool of a Took!

Happily standing in front of the town square where the Green Dragon Inn stands.

Here is the bridge Gandalf rides over at 1:40.

This is the water wheel visible at 1:32.

Here is the inn visible at 1:42.

So, for some reason, the owners of the site have made the Green Dragon Inn a real building with free beer at the end of the tour.  Here are the boys enjoying their ginger beer.  This was the part of the tour that felt most like Disneyland.  Eh, whatever - free beer.

We had a great time.  The family seemed to agree that I had the best time of the four of us.  I can't wait to go back when my folks are here.  I know my father will understand why it feels a little like entering a church when Bag End comes into view.

So, to finish, for those of you who both read the books and saw the films and then memorized them, the best grammar pun of the whole trilogy, as re-enacted by Jasper.  Imagine someone has just greeted his hobbit clan by shouting, "Proudfoots!"