QUEER LODGINGS

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms or an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."

*cue theme music*

On Wednesday, I visited the much loved Hobbiton. They say never meet your heroes (which technically Hobbiton is a place, but whatever). They were wrong. Can I just say... I took well over 100 photos, of which I can only show you a small handful on the blog, so if you want to see more, you'll have to come talk to me later. 

Getting ready to leave, I was actually nervous.Travelling up to this point this last week, and most of the other places I've gone over the past few months, I haven't really cared... up until yesterday. It was like when you're going to meet an old friend and you kind of want to make a good impression, but what if you don't get on, what if they're not as interesting as they used to be? Will seeing the real Hobbiton ruin all of the magic of the movie... 

I never really ever dreamed that I would be able to come to New Zealand, let along Hobbiton. The movies quickly became an all time favourite after, as an 8 year old, I convinced my mother that my 6 year old sister and I were old enough to watch it and would not be scared. When the Return of the King was released, we were finally both old enough to see one of the movies in theatres. My dad owned a grand total of 6 movies, 3 of which were the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings movies... and my sister and I watched one of them almost every other weekend... for several years. It would not be unreasonable to say that combined with the 2 Hobbit movies (considering I saw the Desolation of Smaug 4 times in theatres) that I've probably seen them 100 times, maybe more. Through all of this, I can never remember thinking, "I want to go there some day," because I think (until about a year ago), I generally did not think it would ever be possible. It was like a dream that was such a dream that you don't even think of it afterwards. But Hobbiton has definitely worked its way into my heart, as it has for many others, and to say that this was a dream come true is such an understatement (as many of you will understand). So I think I had the right to be a little nervous. 

Of course, all of this went away as soon as we started driving over the rolling hills, speckled with sheep and cattle. The landscape around Matamata itself is worth a drive around, again the classic rolling hills, winding roads, lots of sheep and the Kaimai ranges in the backdrop. 

The set is on a fully functioning, family run sheep farm. The father has now retired, but two of his sons keep up the farm. One manages the sheep and cattle and the other the tourists. Because of it being on a fully functioning farm, the tours are guided, but it is a relatively casual guided. They bring you to different areas where there are a number of different Hobbit holes or things to take pictures with, so it isn't exactly "You have to come here and see these things." The tours, gift shop, cafe and maintenance crew employ (at least this is my understanding from something my guide said) around 150 people and most of them are from Matamata and the surrounding areas, so the community itself has really benefited. The gardens, you can wander through and the gardeners get first pick of the produce, followed by some of the other employees and all the rest goes to the Green Dragon. There is a hobbit hole that you can open the door, play with props in front and basically get more interactive with - whatever your little hobbit heart desires. Hang out in the party field under the party tree and play 'the party field game'. Take a picture in front of Bag End and then head on over to the Green dragon for a pint (or a ginger beer). 

"I feel like I'm back at the Green Dragon... after a hard day's work"

I can now verify that  not only does Hobbiton look amazing, it also smells, feels, sounds and tastes amazing. No really, walking around the picturesque hobbit holes, I couldn't get over how lovely it smelt. 
Peter Jackson has got a reputation for being probably one of the pickiest directors ever. All of the painstaking work and attention to detail is probably one of the things that has made the Middle Earth saga so famous and wow! has it paid off! I'm not going to go over too many of the details, such as what makes the tree over Bilbo's home so special, why the pond was such as pain-in-the-rear or the sheep "problem" - that's to be saved for the tour (and is probably available somewhere out there on the internet already anyways). But it is definitely evident that the Lord of the Rings was not just a Peter Jackson accomplishment, it was also a New Zealand accomplishment - just from the sheer number of Kiwis involved from those working at Weta, the crew, the extras, the NZ army, to the university students who picked very single piece of fruit off all the dwarf apple and pear trees in Hobbiton so plums could be hand wired on to them, because that's the fruit mentioned in the books, so that's what fans will be expecting. Honestly, so much effort from so many people went into making these movies painstakingly perfect (... and beautiful) that I think it is deserving of the cult status that it has achieved. Hobbiton is absolutely gorgeous, so detailed and so believably real. I want to go back already! Best day EVER!

 

Cheers!