There And Back Again

Given that at this point I knew my time in New Zealand was drawing to a close (on this trip, at any rate), and because I was so close, I decided to go back to Hobbiton for another wander . It was just as magical the second time around, though this time I focused a bit more on taking pictures of the amazing details. The blog post from the first visit, containing a somewhat ridiculous number of photos, can be found here: April Visit

Hobbiton employs quite a few people (around 70, I believe). Many of them are gardeners, and the grounds are simply stunning - though the pumpkin is thanks to the lovely folk at Weta Workshops.

The oak tree above Bag End is the only tree in the area that is a prop, though it was molded from a real tree. However, just because the leaves are fake doesn't mean that they don't blow away in the breeze. When I was there, the tree was in a workshop as a team of folk reattached thousands of fake leaves. Not quite as majestic in this state...

The details throughout are truly fantastic. I cannot stress enough how real this place feels.

(Forgive the blurriness of this photo, I include this because the title amuses me)

The rock below is a cleverly disguised speaker, piping in ...pipe music.

Initially, the plan was for the various parts of Hobbiton to be shot in locations around New Zealand. Thirteen other locations had been secured, and the location scouts were looking for the "party tree" as described in the books when they found this property and realized (with, I would imagine, a great deal of glee) that they could build the entire location in this one spot. Here's the party tree, with a sliver of crescent moon in the sky.

After the first Lord of the Rings movie came out, some locals recognized the mountain range in the background and figured out the location of the set. (During filming, the New Zealand government had lent the services of the Army to build a road to get actors and equipment in to the set, and the farmer had told his neighbors he had lent his land to them for maneuvers in order to cover up the truth.) The original set was not built to last, so there was nothing for people to see when they came around. However, when Peter Jackson & co. came back knocking on the door to rebuild Hobbiton for the Hobbit movies, the owner of the land rather cleverly worked it out so that the set would be permanent and a tourist attraction. They currently get around 1,000 visitors per day. Around 3,000 on their busiest (which is January 2, for some unknown reason). I am so glad this place exists!