3 Dec 2018 - NZ Day 3: Hobbiton Movie Set (The Shire in LOTR)

After 1.5 hours of drive from Thames, we reached The Shire's Rest Cafe, which is the starting point of the Hobbiton Movie Set Tour.  As there was still about 20 minutes before our tour starts, we bought some sandwiches from the Cafe and that's our lunch.

The tour runs every 10 minutes or so and we were booked on the 1pm tour.  The tour bus picked us up at The Shire's Rest Cafe.  On our way to the actual movie set, the tour guide played a short video on the bus about Hobbiton and how it all came about.

The site was originally a farm owned by the Alexander family.  It was spotted by Peter Jackson's scouting team while they were searching for the iconic rolling hills and lush green pastures of Hobbiton in 1998.  During the bus ride, we had a nice view of the farm where thousands of sheeps could be seen all over the 12 acres of land.

Guests are not allowed to roam by themselves in Hobbiton.  We need to stay in our group as the guide led us through the site explaining the history and other interesting facts.  At the start of the tour, umbrellas were provided if we need them.  Though it was a bit cloudy at that time, we decided not to take them and just hoped that it would not rain.  It's quite cumbersome to hold an umbrella while taking photos.

We were so excited the moment we saw the first Hobbit Hole.  As a fan of Lord of the Ring and Hobbit trilogy, I wasted no time and started taking photos after photos.

There are 44 hobbit holes in total and they are of different sizes.  When they were filming the hobbits (eg. Bilbo, Frodo, Sam etc), they will use the bigger Hobbit Hole so that the actors/actresses would appear smaller on screen.  When filming characters such as Gandalf and Aragorn, they will use the smaller Hobbit Hole so that the characters would appear bigger.

Unfortunately half way through the tour, it started raining.  There was no shelter for us to hide so we just had to keep moving along with the tour group.

The rain did not dampen our mood as we continued to take photos of this magical place.

There is one particular Hobbit Hole where we could step over the door and we got the tour guide to help us take a picture.

All the trees in The Shire are natural except for one impressive Oak Tree standing right on top of the hill, above the Hobbit Hole of Bilbo Baggins.  Looking at it, you would never know that it is fake.

In the movie, they actually wanted to film plum trees but they were too large compared to Hobbits.  As such, they planted apple and pear trees instead. After they bloomed they would strip the fruits and replace them with artificial plums.

We continued to take more photos with all the different Hobbit Holes while on our way to The Green Dragon.

We were now almost at the end of the tour as we walked towards The Green Dragon Inn.

We passed by The Mill before crossing over a stone bridge to The Green Dragon Inn.

The inn has been fully reconstructed, both inside and outside, to give visitors the opportunity to enjoy the pub in all its splendour.

Our Middle-earth adventure concluded here at the inn where we were presented with complimentary and exclusive beverages.  There were traditional ales, apple cider and non-alcoholic ginger beer, all handcrafted and exclusive to Hobbiton.  We tried the non-alcoholic ginger beer and it tastes real good!

After a short rest at The Green Dragon Inn, we followed our tour guide back to our tour coach, which brought us back to The Shire's Rest Cafe.  Despite the rain in the middle part of our tour, we had a great time venturing through the unequivocal beauty of the land, with the mighty Kaimai Ranges towering in the distance.

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