CARAVAN CAPERS: I'M GOING ON AN ADVENTURE! HOBBITON MOVIE SET

Sunday, March 11, 2018

I'M GOING ON AN ADVENTURE! HOBBITON MOVIE SET

Roy never seemed keen to do this tour but it was always on my agenda!

I'M A HOBBIT!

We were so lucky to get on a tour within the hour.

We arrived in Matamata and got lost looking for directions to the place as told in Lonely Planet book. We stopped at i-Centre and asked, only to be told all tours were sold out for the day if we wanted to get there ourselves but there were two places left on the 12-30 tour leaving from Matamata today – I bagged them!

A coach took us there, 40 of us on the tour, the driver gave info on the way and we watched a video with film excerpts and talks with Peter Jackson and some of the cast, took 20 minutes to get there then we had a guide who was magnificent. She told us so many things about the filming it was incredible.

The tour ended after about two hours of walking around the Shire with a jar of cider in The Green Dragon Inn, very welcome on this hot day!

I had the best time! It was as if I was really there as a Hobbit – loved it!

For those interested here's a bit of information taken from the leaflet:

In September 1998 Sir Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema “discovered” the Alexander farm near Matamata during an aerial search for suitable sites.

Site construction started in March 1999. Initially this involved heavy earthmoving machinery provided by the NZ Army who built a 1.5km road into the site and undertook initial set development.

Thirty nine Hobbit Holes were created with untreated timber, ply and polystyrene. The oak tree that overlooks Bag End was cut down and transported in from near Matamata. Artificial leaves were brought from Taiwan and individually wired onto the tree. The Mill and double arch bridge were built out of scaffolding, ply and polystyrene. Thatch for the roofs of The Green Dragon Inn and The mill were cut from rushes around the Alexander Farm. After the filming of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy the whole set was demolished.

When they were rebuilt for The Hobbit Trilogy in 2009, these structures were built out of permanent materials including an artificial tree which was made out of steel and silicon. This entire reconstruction process took two years. Today the set is maintained to keep the image of The Shire alive.

Filming for The Lord of the Rings trilogy commenced in December 1999 and continued for three months. Filming for The Hobbit Trilogy began in October 2011 and took only 12 days. At its peak 400 people were on site, including at various times Sir Peter Jackson, Sir Ian McKellan (Gandalf), Elijah Wood (Frodo), Sean Astin (Sam), Ian Holm (Bilbo Baggins) and Martin Freeman (young Bilbo Baggins)