Hobbiton, 2

Continuing our photos of Hobbiton...

Hobbiton, 1

As students of this blog know, we first visited Hobbiton way back in December of 2008. It was a great experience, as minimal as it was, recounted here. In 2008, it was just the Alexander family, owners of the sheep station where Peter Jackson had built the Hobbiton set as seen in The Lord of the Rings, trying to cash in a bit on the notoriety of their land, with little or no encouragement nor support from the movie-makers. The set had been almost completely removed or destroyed, and there was little to look at except the natural features, an ersatz entrance to Bag End, the Party Tree, and so on. But it was still great.

When The Hobbit trilogy came to filming, Hobbiton had to be rebuilt, according to Jackson's exacting and faithful specifications, and, thanks to the Alexanders' persistence, New Line and others came to their senses and realized that Hobbiton, if left in place and treated with care, could be a serious travel destination. And so it is. For us, it was better than we imagined it could be, particularly with our guide, Michelle from Ottawa, whose knowledge of the books, the films, the Lore, film-making, and so on, was impressive.

Fellow Ringwaifs won't need any description to accompany my photos; it would be wasted on those who are not into the LOTR. So here they are, without narration, in this and the next few posts--a fraction of the couple hundred we took on our visit. If there's anything you miss, let me know--I probably have it!

Matamata/Hobbiton

Matamata was sort of a nowhere place, even for New Zealand, but then along came Sir Peter Jackson, the rest is history, and unimaginable fame has come to this little regional/farming community. It's bearing up well, I surmise, and enjoying its role as the gateway to the Alexander farm and...the Center of Middle Earth on Earth...Hobbiton.

Well, Hobbiton is not exactly in Matamata, but...

The Matamata I-Site (tourist information)

Really small servings?

But life goes on...

Anyhow, after briefly visiting Matamata (we needed to
print something, I think), we drove on to the Alexander farm,
10 or so kilometers away, the entrance to Hobbiton...

Bought our tickets

Visited the gift shoppe (a Weta outlet)

Thus

Amused ourselves with the assorted New Zealand memorabilia...an All-Black Kiwi haka...

And awaited the bus that would take us to Hobbiton...

Woodlyn Park

So news of the approach of Cyclone Lusi convinced us to seek shelter, that is, more shelter than our tent, and so we drove inland to Waimoto Caves, the glow-worm capital of Earth, and its AYH hostel. We got the last room available, a double, en suite. Pretty fancy for us. But before the cyclone's projected landfall (or by-pass, as it turned out), we explored some of the area's other eminent attractions. Perhaps foremost among these is Woodlyn Park, one of the world's ten most unusual motels, so they said, where you can spend the night in a) a railroad car, b) a ship, c) an airplane, or d) a Hobbit hole. I swear I am not making this up. If none of these suit, you can always attend the Kiwi Culture Show. Or simply buy the place...

Not making this up

Really

The RR car

The aeroplane

The boat

The Hobbit Hole; two suites; each suite is $285 per night, for two

Dang, we missed the show

Not surprisingly...

But another unforgettable experience

Summit Of Mt. Doom

I tarried a bit on the summit; it's a big summit crater rim, with the views one wants only at its extremities.

On the rim

Crossing over to the summit

Ruapehu, another volcano, on whose slopes we spent Christmas, 2008, at
Whakapapa; the relevant LOTR filming was done on Ruapehu, where there's
a ski village and resort

Actual summit of Ngauruhoe

Summit selfie

The trailhead and car park in the distance

Up closer

On the awful descent

Looking back up; surprisingly, I got back down with no bruises nor abrasions and
with no rips nor tears in my clothing

It was still a two hour walk back to the carpark

Vicki came out to meet me on the trail, and we were treated to a fine sunset behind
Mt. Taranaki, a hundred miles away