The Road Goes Ever On

Sunday, March 23, 2014

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...

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Hamurana Redwood Grove

Also near Rotorua is the Hamurana Redwood Grove, where, in 1919, some very patient locals planted a hundred or more California redwood trees, to test their commercial viability. Redwoods are very fast-growing, but apparently not commercially viable, and, lucky for us, the stand was forgotten or ignored until acquired by DOC. Even at the very tender age of 95--infants, as redwoods go--these trees are impressive. Also on the site is a beautiful clear spring that feeds into Lake Rotorua, only a few hundred meters away.

The beautiful little creek along which all this resides

As clear as any we have seen in this land of
clear waters

In the grove

Most of them well over 100 feet tall; not
surprisingly, they like the temperate, moist
climate here

Vicki by one of the big ones

The creek again

The spring

Thus

A subsidiary spring, "Dancing Sands"

And more big trees...beautiful place

Okere Falls

A bit north of Rotorua is Okere Falls, where the big river goes over what is described as the highest commercially-rafted waterfall. 7 meters. We had to see this. I did several videos, which someday, not too distant, will be posted to YouTube with a link here. One video is at http://youtu.be/U27tKRHY3Oc. Another is at http://youtu.be/RXxgWewFCuA. And the last, with the 7 meter drop, is at http://youtu.be/rJ5eyfBHlUM.

The old hydroelectric ruins in the foreground, two of the more
formidable falls in back; but they are only 3-4 meters...

Here's the big one, 7 meters; some of the rafts actually go
completely underwater in their dive; some plunge head-first,
others side-ways...but everybody seems to stay in the boat