My visit in Hobbiton

On the 15^th of November it was the day I awaited for so long. I would finally visit the film set of Hobbiton. To give a little background, my interest in New Zealand was sparked through viewing the Lord of the Rings movies, as well as the Hobbit trilogy. And after I found out that the film set of the hobbit village was offering tours there was no question that I would go there during my stay on the other side of the world.

But the day didn’t start as I would have liked. There was rain and strong winds. But when it was time to board the bus the rain started to slow down so I had my hopes up for better weather during the tour of the movie set. Sadly the rain started to pick up when we arrived at the start of the tour.

But although the weather wasn’t quite at movie standards it was an amazing experience.
There are 44 hobbit holes throughout the village and every one of them is different and has a huge range of details in front of them. The detailing has come so far that there are trees entirely made from artificial materials and in the right size for hobbits. Every home has also a different theme. There is a fisherman, a beekeeper and a bakery, to name only a few of them.

Speaking of the size there are two different scales scattered around the village for the different scenes that were needed. Sir Peter Jackson worked entirely with the use of perspective so Gandalf appeared bigger than the hobbits for example. (In this picture you can also see how much it had rained.)

The village also fits in really well into the surrounding landscape, which is farmland for the most part.

After we toured through the village a little bit we came to the most famous hobbit home of all.

Bag End. The home of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.
It is located at the top of the hill and it stood out as one of the largest holes in Hobbiton.

And on the gate was still the famous “no admittance” sign.

After everybody took their pictures, we continued to the Green Dragon Inn, the local pub.
Included in the price of the tour was a cold beverage. I got a Ginger Beer (it is free of alcohol) and it tasted really good.
To give a conclusion on my visit I have to say that it was the best experience in New Zealand for me so far despite the rain and the very touristy feeling of it. We had to wait at some points because the group in front of us was quite slow and you could see the lines of people under umbrellas all around the village. But it was a cool experience nonetheless.

After I got back to Matamata I organized my stuff in my car and went off to a new campground.
But I planned on only staying there for a night before I made my way onto the coast.
On my drive at the 16^th I found a nice little campsite completely away from any civilization directly at the ocean which was pretty nice.

When nightfall came, I set out to do some long exposure photography of the waves as well as the sky. I think it turned out quite well, but see for yourself:

I am going to leave you with an outlook on my next few days.

My plan is to cross the island again to the town of Raglan and spend a few nights there and just relax on the beach while watching the surfers for which Raglan is famous for.
The next big adventure on my journey is the Northern Circuit, one of the nine Great Walks in New Zealand which I am going to start on December the 5^th.

Until then,

Cheers