In Wellington we saw the fruits of the Weta Cave for, amongst other films, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, in the workshop. This afternoon we visited the hobbit holes of the Shire.
The whole set was built for the opening scene of Lord of the Rings, when Gandalf visited Bilbo. The site was on Alexander Farm, a sheep and cattle rearing farm near Matamata, and one of the clauses of the contract stated that the whole area would be returned to its original condition once filming was over, so the thirty seven homes were very much of a temporary nature, built from untreated timber, ply and polystyrene. Dismantling began, but there was a terrible storm and work had to stop. It was agreed to leave it for three months, and by this time, the first film had been such a success that people started to turn up asking to see the set. It became clear that it was worthwhile saving.
When Peter Jackson returned to make the Hobbit series, he needed the same set for the Shire scenes, but this time the agreement was that the hobbit holes/houses would be permanent.
After filming was complete, Alexander set up a tourist business based on the hobbit homes in the Shire.
That is what we saw today, Bag End and the homes of the the bee keeper, the cheese maker, the carpenter and all of the others, along with the Green Dragon Inn, the gardens, the scarecrows, the lake, the water mill, the wood carver and the tools of everyday life.
Each small detail had to be right as far as Jackson was concerned. There were no oak trees at the farm so the tree above Bag End was cut down elsewhere, brought in and re-assembled on the site, the leaves apparently being brought in from Taiwan. This tree (in a sorry state!) was removed after filming. When the Hobbit films were made, a new tree had to be acquired - this time, completely fake - and is still there! The story goes that Peter Jackson said the leaf colours weren't right so they all had to be individually repainted!
Great trip!
Doing a Mabs and Ron
Dave writes:
Jean's Auntie Mabs and Uncle Ron travelled widely on coach tours for many years and were dab hands at getting the front two seats.
It became a point of honour and if memory serves one coach driver even invited them to his retirement party !
So I was pleased to align myself neatly enough to grab the front two places on the Hobbiton coach taking us from Matamata for our three-hour afternoon adventure.
However, I had failed to understand that the coach was only taking us the 20 minute drive to the Hobbit set and the rest was on foot round the Hobbit Holes etc.
As it happened it was a bit of a relief as the drive was a hairy one in places with the most dangerous seeming more so from the front seats !
Could not resist later watching The Hobbit movie which happens to be one of 160 available on TV in our motel room.
Cast (and credits) of thousands includes Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch.
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Park view
Hamilton is noted for its parks and we walked round the Memorial one in the morning.
Oddly there were not that many other people around. Maybe the others are more appealing.
May find out more when we look round city centre tomorrow.
Dave writes:
Jean's Auntie Mabs and Uncle Ron travelled widely on coach tours for many years and were dab hands at getting the front two seats.
It became a point of honour and if memory serves one coach driver even invited them to his retirement party !
So I was pleased to align myself neatly enough to grab the front two places on the Hobbiton coach taking us from Matamata for our three-hour afternoon adventure.
However, I had failed to understand that the coach was only taking us the 20 minute drive to the Hobbit set and the rest was on foot round the Hobbit Holes etc.
As it happened it was a bit of a relief as the drive was a hairy one in places with the most dangerous seeming more so from the front seats !
Could not resist later watching The Hobbit movie which happens to be one of 160 available on TV in our motel room.
Cast (and credits) of thousands includes Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch.
----
Park view
Hamilton is noted for its parks and we walked round the Memorial one in the morning.
Oddly there were not that many other people around. Maybe the others are more appealing.
May find out more when we look round city centre tomorrow.
Museum and local art gallery already on the agenda.
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