Hobbiton Part 1

We learned early on in Susan's visit that a big part of her inspiration for coming to NZ was watching the Lord of the Rings movies and being so impressed with the landscape. She so enjoyed going up into the mountains and seeing Mount Ngauruhoe, which is Mound Doom in the movies, and frequently commented on how the countryside reminded her of the movies. It occurred to me (rather belatedly) that she might like to go see Hobbiton, and when I suggested it, she was delighted. We planned a trip there for her last weekend in NZ, so we headed up to Matamata (north of us in the Waikato region) on Saturday morning.

This is the famous Bag End, where Bilbo and Frodo Baggins (along with many other Bagginses) lived. It is up on top of the hill with awesome views, and is a beautiful hobbit house.

Evidently, in the books, a big fuss was made about the oak tree above Bag End, so the director needed one there. For the Lord of the Rings movies, they moved a huge oak tree there from a neighbouring farm. But then, by the time they did the Hobbit movies, that tree had died, and anyway, they needed a tree that looked like the same tree, but 60 years younger. So they had this tree made exactly to their specifications and placed here. I know that it's fake, but even getting up close to it, it is the most realistic fake thing I've seen in a while.

Susan visiting Bag End. She was so very happy to be there, it was great!

I wasn't allowed in, given that I had no party business to attend to.

They explained when we got there that part of how they make things look bigger or smaller in the movies is by shooting from above or below. For example, Frodo is shot from above, while Gandalf is shot from below, making one seem tiny Hobbit-sized and the other seem tall wizard-sized. 

We tried this technique for this picture, and I think it worked well, although J is much more successfully huge looking! 

They had over 40 Hobbit holes, and many of them were specified to the occupation of the Hobbit who lives there. This one, as you can see, is the beekeeper's house, and while I don't think the hive is functional, there was real honey in the jars and some bees flying around. They try to keep things quite authentic.

J had a go at chopping some tiny wood for Hobbit-sized stoves.

 This was one of the bigger Hobbit holes. 

They had two sizes, so that they could shoot the Hobbits in front of the big ones to make them look small, and then shoot Gandalf in front of the small ones to make him look big. Very clever.

This is one of the smaller Hobbit holes. 

Also, notice the beautiful gardens in the front yard. The gardens throughout Hobbiton are all real and very well maintained.

Recognize this house? This is Samwise Gamgee's house, which delighted J because according to him, "Sam is the only good Hobbit anyway." I don't know about that, but I do remember that Sam comes home to two unbelievably adorable children in this house, so I appreciate it for that reason. And it is beautiful.

Also, thoughtful of J to dress to match his favourite Hobbit's house.

I ended up with too many pictures for one post, so look for Hobbiton Part 2 soon.