Hobbiton!!!

When we found out we would be coming to Rotorua, Hannah was VERY excited because about an hour away at Matamata is the farm where they did the filming for the Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit movies, for Hobbiton. We were VERY lucky in that they only stopped filming for The Hobbit 4 weeks ago - and so the sets have been completely redone (for the Hobbit movies) & there are still builders and gardeners onsite taking care of it until the filming is completely finished on the movie. After the LOTR movies they destroyed a lot of the Hobbiton sets, and those that were left were completely stripped (no doors, windows, or set dressing - it was just ply wood). We were able to see the sets almost identical to how they were used for the filming (complete with veggie patches, windows, letter boxes, seats, stools, pipes - it was just as if a whole town had got up and left - it was amazing).

We all really enjoyed the tour, but Steve & Hannah LOVED it – they were literally jumping up and down with delight every time they discovered something new – it was wonderful.

Here are some photo's (we can only put these up because this is a password protected blog - you actually sign a confidentiality agreement to say you won't put anything up on the internet that is accessible by the public. We took over 300 photos (and filled the memory on one camera) – so here is a small selection to give you an idea of what it was like.

Steve & Hannah in Gandalf's cutting

Hannah was pretty happy to be in Hobbiton

It was a lot of fun - the photo's really don't show the level of detail on each Hobbit home.

The Green Dragon & the Mill

Sam & Rosie's cottage

Outside Bag End

Yes, Hannah got out of her wheelchair & down on her knees so she could take a photo of her as a hobbit outside Bag End. If we'd thought of it we would have hired costumes so she could dress up for the tour (apparently die hard fans do that on this tour - we just didn't think of it).

There were hobbit holes everywhere! (over 40)

This is the path up to Bag End - it was VERY steep & Steve pushed Hannah's wheelchair up the whole way (we were a bit worried he was going to have a heart attack).

Amazing detail they they've done with each Hobbit home

Hannah was VERY happy to do the tour

All up, we had a fantastic day - we had perfect weather, it was great to see Hobbiton (Steve & Hannah are still smiling), and it was a lot of fun. The tour is very relaxed & they don't rush you at all, which means you get to soak in all the atmosphere. I don't know how much longer after the Hobbit has finished filming they will be able to maintain the set (they destroyed most of the set after the filming of LOTR - it was only by chance (and bad weather) that some of it was saved), so it was wonderful to be able to see it in its prime (4 weeks earlier they were filming the Hobbit & we wouldn't have been able to do the tour - so we were very lucky with our timing).