Visitors who came to NZ before 2002 would not have been led to Hobbiton because this was not opened to the public then.
It all began in 1998 when the Movie Director, Peter Jackson of The Lord of the Rings film series did an aerial search for a suitable location to create the "Tolkien Shire". After looking from the air the farm owned by the Alexander family (the current Hobbiton site), he declared that he has found a site that looked like ancient England. Work commenced to transform the area into Tolkien Shire in March 1999 soon after negotiation with the farm owner was completed. The work basically involved building 37 hobbit holes and associated gardens and hedges, a mill and an arch bridge. But the most remarkable thing was to "plant" a 29-ton oak tree that had been growing in Matamata. The tree was cut down and transported to the top of a little hill of the Tolkien Shire and fitted with artificial leaves. It was said that Peter Jackson was not satisfied with the first round of the created tree because the colour of the leaves was not matching with the adjacent tree and he ordered all leaves to be repainted!
We were told by the tour guide that contractually, Peter Jackson was supposed to remove and clear all structures built inside Hobbiton and to reinstate the area back to its original condition. But after the farm owner discovered that many people were interested to see the movie set, he had a change of mind. Plan was set to keep and maintain the movie set for people to see.
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| The tree on top of the hill at the left is the artificial tree" planted" especially for the move. |
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| Scene of The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King. |
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| Scene of The Lord of The Rings: The Breaking of The Fellowship. |
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The guided tour ended with a drink at the Green Dragon Inn after walking across the Double-Arched Stone Bridge.
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| Scene of The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King. |
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| On the Double-Arched Bridge just before entering the Green Dragon Inn. |
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| Green Dragon Inn |
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| Interior of The Green Dragon Inn. |
As we drove throughout both the north and south islands, we saw landscapes that reminded us of the movies - The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbits.
The Moss Forest near Lake Gunn was "discovered by accident" during a toilet break when we drove along the Te Anau - Milford Sound Highway. This green forest which extends way beyond what we could see enabled us to experience similar forest scenes of the movies.
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One thing I need to do is to watch the The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies again and to look for some familiar scenes!
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