Hobbiton (~ Feb 6th)

New Zealand. A country, that got a huge boost for its tourism thanks to Lord of the Rings.
After the LotR movies - where they had built several smaller hobbit holes out of plastic etc. many people went on nerdy pilgrimages to see the locations of the movie. And people asked the farmer, whose farm land was used to film the shire, if they could visit the film site. He quickly saw an opportunity and talked with Peter Jackson and the others about making it a tourist location. They agreed and so the Hobbiton fever started.
There wasn't a lot to see back then, because they had torn down everything after finishing filming the movie. But when they started filming "The Hobbit", they decided to build Hobbiton with lasting materials, more wood and stone instead of plastics and hence the tourist location and village Hobbiton was born! Soon many bus tours were arranged, parking spots were built and a small visitors centre was built a the entrance to the farm, so people could buy merchandise, book tours who came by car and just get more information about this great place.

Of course I wanted to go there as well. Since I read the books and watched the movies I had been a great fan and when I had planned to visit New Zealand that was definitely on the top of my to-do list. So after the tour in Wellington and the hike to Mount Doom this was third big thing I did for my "nerdome".
I booked the tour from the tourist Information in Rotorua and went to the Hobbiton shop there the next morning. The bus was slowly getting fuller and left on time. The bus driver showed us a few clips of the LotR and The Hobbit movies and short movies about the place, one where Peter Jackson and the farmer himself welcomed us to this tourist attraction.
We had a short time at the visitors centre near the farm to do some shopping, I was quite disappointed that this break was so short. I would have liked to browse a little more and have more time to decide if I wanted something, but this way I spent much less money there, which was probably good :D

The tours are all very well planned. They probably start every 30 minutes. A bus drives from the visitor centre to the shires entrance and picks them up there once it's over. We could see many other groups walking around Hobbiton. But being in a group you can't really just walk around, relax and take it in as you like. Our guide always was couting us so no on gets lost and made many stops to keep us together. Of course all of them planned ahead and so everyone gets the same experience and no one can complain! Depending if you book a normal tour or a banquett tour you'd be there during the day or in the evening. I don't know if the banquett evening tour is worth it, I heard different stories, so I just did the normal walking tour. And I really enjoyed it!

The bus left the visitors centre with our guide for Hobbiton itself. Once we arrived at the entrance he welcomed us and started the tour talking about the scenes, the building process and other things about Hobbiton.

Welcome!

With our guide we entered Hobbiton =)

He showed us where many scenes were shot and told us of their tricks. There are some very small and some very big doors, depending if they'd make a scene with Gandalf or with hobbits! Of course Gandalf would stand infront of a small door while a hobbit would stand infront of a "normal sized" door.

I was amazed by all the details they had made. Basically it looked like they had just finished filming the movie and left everything just as it was. Just hobbits walking around were missing!

Clothes hanging out to dry, food in small stands, a pie cooling on a window sill - everything! Just fabulous. I loved it.

Really nice, how they built everything so detailed!

Post boxes, chairs, lanterns, so many small things! Amazing!

Gate to Bilbos famous house

Of course a highlight was Bilbos house with the big tree over it. That tree was actually a fake! It was made in Japan so it'd be evergreen (but it's made of metal!). Sometimes when there was a storm or heavy winds, they might have to make new leaves, because they can fall off, but so some lucky travelers might actually get to keep a leaf from Hobbiton!

We had a beautiful day, the sun was shining and it seemed a wonderful day for a party on the party grounds! If only Bilbo was celebrating again. We saw the house, which ended the Lord of the Rings movie - Sams home with his wife. The kids he was holding were actually children from him and another one of the actors. The baby might actually turn 18 in a year or 2! She'll then get the paycheck - should be an awesome birthday present ;-)

The tour ended in the famous green dragon Inn! Everyone had a choice of an ale or soft drink. The ales and beers are being brewed exclusively for the shire! They can only be bought here and maybe in a few official LotR fan shops around NZ. So it was very nice to relax there, sit where hobbits would and drink one of their beers! Fantastic!

The green dragon!

Our guide gathered us and led us back to the bus, where we got to see some more movie clips and a farewell message from the farmer and Peter Jackson.

Eh? What's all this fuss about outside?!