NZ - Nasty Little Hobbitses

With too much purity for our bodies too handle, we had Macy D’s for lunch. We made it to Matamata just in time for the last tour of Hobbition. The 2 hour tour was $50 and took us to the farm where the Lord of the Rings was filmed. The site was scouted out by helicopter and chosen because it is the only place in New Zealand which had the Hobbiton features as described in the book – the lake, rolling hills and much needed party tree - and no obvious sign of human life e.g. buildings, power lines, roads, etc. Try finding somewhere without power or telephone cables – its not as easy as you think.

The tour itself took us around where the crew stayed. The army was called in to build roads due to weight needed for filming trucks. When the owner of the farm was originally approached and asked about filming on his land, he though the scout was having a laugh as he had never heard of LOTR (Lord of the Rings), and besides there was an important rugby game on so told the guy to come back tomorrow. Lucky for the farmer, they did…



After filming the site was being knocked down, but luckily for us, the demolition had to be paused due to bad weather. When the crew called to finish the work, the farmer asked New Line if he could keep the set and now its being used as a tourist attraction. With the imminent filming of the Hobbit, New Line are probably grateful as well ;)



You need a bit of imagination and to be a real fan of LOTR to appreciate the set. The guides consider themselves as real film buffs and are often tested by die-hard fans on LOTR trivia.



When wandering around, and dancing under the party tree, you have to watch out for cow and sheep poop. Upon leaving, the guide had to radio to the farm to tell them another cow had fallen in the ditch.

And so the adventure continues…