If I Was a Hobbit!

We are driving through New Zealand’s largest commercial forest which provides jobs and income for many people.  In the 1980’s, a small town and Māori village was one of the country’s wealthiest.  Under the Treaty of Waitangi which gives the English control (more on this later), they sold the Māori forest for the “betterment of New Zealand”.  One of the major purchasers, Harvard University, brought in machinery and mechanized the timber industry resulting in lost jobs and wages turning this village into one of the country’s poorest.

Another Māori village on the New Zealand waterfront with a main industry of fishing was on a road which would be traveled by Queen Elizabeth on her visit in 1952.  The government thought the village didn’t look prosperous enough and wanted to move it up a hill and clean up the area for the queen’s visit.  The people refused, but one day while the community was working, the government came and leveled the village without permission….again for the “betterment of New Zealand”.

The government built the villagers new houses up the hill, and then handed them a mortgage to pay!

Māori make up 20% of New Zealand’s population, but they were 50% of the country’s armed forces in the war.  After WWI, the government created a lottery for land grants for returning soldiers.  Māori, however, were not eligible.  These are all examples of the abuses of the Māori people.

The Waimangu Volcanic Valley is an area of immense hydrothermal activity past and present.  In 1886, the largest eruption in 700 years in New Zealand took place here as Mount Tarawera blew covering the surrounding area in ash and mud 66’ thick.  Vegetation was destroyed along with two lakes and the “8th Wonder of the World” - Pink and White Mineral Terraces.  Plants slowly reestablished themselves along with a geyser from 1900-1904 which shot sand and water regularly into the air every 36 hours before becoming strangely silent.

Smaller seismic activity formed craters which filled with water including Frying Pan Lake, the largest hot spring in the world which flows out in a steaming and bubbling stream.  There are colorful mineral deposits and bacteria that can withstand the hot temperatures to also color the waters.  In another area, light chocolate colored mud pools bubbled and plop and spit sprays of hot mud into the air.  Wispy waves of steam escape from vents throughout the area along with the smoking cliffs of Cathedral Rocks.  

Our guide points out all manner of plant life including the giant tree ferns along with the silver fern, the emblem of New Zealand.  Invasive animals introduced into the country has decimated plants and wildlife, and conservation measures are ongoing to trap and remove these predators.

Seismic activity is constantly being monitored, and the last significant one was in 1981.  We are surrounded by boiling hot mud and water so it would not be a good time for another event!

Driving to Hobbiton, we pass a local private golf course.  We are told that people prefer two other public courses due to expense.  These courses have an interesting lawn care system….sheep!  Yes, sheep are grazing on the course.  Supposedly, you get a free drop if a sheep interferes with your ball!

We also drive through an area of virgin New Zealand woodlands.  Instead of the openness of fields and farms, you are surrounded by greenery….trees and ferns and vines thick with underbrush.  It’s easy to imagine this was the scene when the English first arrived in the 1800’s.

In 1998, Sir Peter Jackson, had agreed to turn the Lord of the Rings books into film on two conditions….filming would take place in New Zealand, and the three books would be turned into an equal number of films.  Scouts flew over New Zealand looking for a location with rolling green hills, an area undisturbed by modern day roads or power lines, and a large tree by a pond to create the “Shire”.  After a second pass by helicopter, they focused on a 1,250 acre sheep farm.  

When the scouts knocked on the door of Russell Alexander’s home, the farm’s owner, he almost didn’t answer since he was watching a cricket game.  However, it was halftime, he opened the door, and agreed for the strangers to walk around the farm.  “Close the gates and don’t let my sheep out!” were his only requests.

After negotiations, Jackson and crew rented 12 acres for production, spent nine months building Hobbiton, and secrecy was key.  Alexander contacted the transportation department to install a road.  “Call the army“ was their reply which Alexander did, and the road was built.  The army did such a good job that Jackson later used them for orcs telling them they were too aggressive.  “Orcs are suppose to lose!”

The Lord of the Rings set was scheduled to be torn down following filming, but people wanted to visit which 250,000 did before it was demolished.  Several years later in 2009 when Jackson agreed to film “The Hobbit”, the Shire was recreated but this time as a permanent installation.  However, Jackson demanded that set designers make the Shire look 60 years younger!

The farmland is stunning with bright green rolling hills dotted with white sheep.  It looks like a painting!  We stop in the gift shop, and my only purchase is a pair of plastic Hobbit ear tips!  No telling when I’ll need to dress up!

A bus delivers our group and guide to the entrance of the Shire along the lane featured in the movies.  Forty-four hobbit holes have been recreated but none have an interior except for two.  Chimneys vent smoke which even smells like wood burning (I find out it is!), clotheslines have little hobbit size clothes hanging, and the flowers are abundant, blooming, and beautiful!  There are vegetable gardens and tools, outdoor furniture, birdhouses, mailboxes, fences, and walking sticks.  The set was designed for different perspectives; some hobbit holes are full size and some are 40% size.  It is easy to imagine a real village with an active community of little people!

The party scene is focused around a huge tree which almost didn’t exist since the farmer had wanted to cut it down several years prior.  Jackson had such an attention to detail that he had a brewery in Christchurch brew a special beer with 1% alcohol so the 80 hobbits in the scene could drink all day without getting drunk.  For the 20 hobbit children, Jackson brought in tables full of candy!

A large tree stands on the top of a hill overlooking the Shire.  Between movies, the tree had been removed, and Jackson told the set designer to “build a tree”!  They covered it with thousands of leaves which unfortunately faded in the sunlight.  Jackson told them to bring in cherry pickers and paint the leaves, but they refused.  He went into town, found a group of theater students, and asked if they would like to work on a movie set.  It took them four days to paint the leaves!

Recently two additional hobbit holes were added to Hobbiton for visitors to enter and pretend to be guests.  I lie on the bed, sit in a miniature sofa with knitting….Hummmm, the needles were full size!…and wander through the foyer, kitchen, study, living room, bedroom, and even bathroom.  We can sit in the copper tub if we wish…I didn’t…but I did try to lift up the toilet seat…it didn’t!

With the permanent installation, commercial Hobbiton was born which has become one of the major attractions in the area.  Thousands of fans visit each year, hear behind the scene stories, and end their day at The Green Dragon for a beer or cider.

Dinner tonight is once again too much food, but a well-known and much loved ice cream shop is almost next door, Lady Jane’s.  There is always room for berry and mango sorbet!