Day 3 - Hobbiton

Packing up and getting out early we had a quick breakfast in Auckland before heading off into the Waikato countryside on our way to the town off Matamata the site of the Hobbiton film set.

We drove for over 2hrs through rolling green hills and farmland with mountain ranges in the distance, passing small towns and villages on the way. When we passed through Matamata, we knew we were close.

Pulling up at The Shire's Rest Café and gift shop we checked in for our midday tour. Along with 20 or so others, we hopped on the bus with our tour guide William and drove for a few kilometres to get to the movie set, passing sheep and farmland on the way.

We jumped out of the bus and assembled before heading through Gandalf's Cutting, the spot where Frodo and Gandalf meet for the first time in The Lord of the Rings. It was a lot smaller and narrower than it seemed in the films. As we passed through the cutting, Hobbiton appeared before us. 

The set is in a natural dell, with a large tree in a clearing, and a pond to one side. This made the dell perfect as it had the features of Hobbiton. Our guide then told us that there were roughly 40 hobbit holes on the site and they they were all built at different scales to be used for various shots where people either needed to appear small or large, with the different proportions helping the visual illusion. We walked through the lower dell and vege patches before heading upwards to the different levels, passing various hobbit holes. Eventually we came upon Bag End, the door under the tree. There was much photo taking along the way, even more so than before. It was very hot on the set, even though the temperature was apparently 23° - it definitely felt more like 33°! 

Thankfully we now started to descend down to the lake, where we saw the old floor mill, as The Green Dragon pub, where we all enjoyed a complimentary and well earned beverage. We had 20 minutes to walk around and take pictures before cutting through the dell again to go back to the bus. After the obligatory gift shop walk through we had a drink before jumping in the car to back track to our next hotel in Hamilton.