Hobbiton - Te Aroha

Unfortunately, the weather forecast for Tongariro National Park had changed again, which is why I decided to cancel the Tongariro Alpine Crossing for now. Instead, I drove towards the small town of Matamata, which gained sudden fame years ago when filming for the 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy began on a sheep farm located just outside the town. This sheep farm is now known as Hobbiton (the place where the Hobbits live in 'The Lord of the Rings') and is a genuine goldmine for the Alexander family who owns the farm. From 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM, buses run every 10 minutes carrying about 35 people to the movie set, each adult paying 120 New Zealand dollars. Additionally, there are special tours such as the Second Breakfast or the Evening Banquet, a Behind The Scenes tour, or a huge festival on International Hobbit Day.

I managed to snag the last ticket of the day, met Gandalf, and found the tour really well-made! From the ticket counter, we were taken by bus to the movie set while enjoying a short welcome message from Peter Jackson and Mr. Alexander on a monitor. Afterwards, our guide Rob showed us around the movie set, past the Hobbit holes and over the hills to Bilbo Baggins' cave beneath the incredibly realistic fake oak tree. The original staircase from the filming is also located there, but of course, visitors are not allowed to enter it. Then we passed by the festival meadow where a festival scene was filmed. To make the scene as authentic as possible, the adult actors drank non-alcoholic beer during the shoot, without knowing it was non-alcoholic, while the children had gobbled down a bunch of sweets beforehand.

The second to last stop was at two Hobbit holes, which we were allowed not only to enter but to touch and explore everything inside. The fire in the oven was real, water came from the taps, and the beds, while too short, were comfortable. Unfortunately, these were specially set up Hobbit holes for visitors; all the other holes are empty since the scenes taking place inside the Hobbit holes were filmed in the studio. Finally, we stopped at the Green Dragon Inn where we could choose between two ales, an apple cider, and a ginger beer before we were driven back by bus.

After leaving Hobbiton, I drove to Te Aroha and climbed Mount Te Aroha. On the entire way up, I didn't encounter a single person, and as soon as I started my return, someone with walking poles crossed my path. I was so lost in thought that I got a huge scare. Only 10 minutes later, I met another man who said he had seen me down below, and I was moving so quickly. Apparently, he is training for a 10km run and hikes up Mount Te Aroha once a week among other training. A little later, I was startled by a woman’s scream. She had gotten scared when she saw me and screamed, which startled me back :D

The next morning, I discovered a small weekly market filled with knickknacks and food stalls right by my campsite. It was, of course, completely different from the markets in Southeast Asia that I had visited so far on my journey. And before I set out for the day, I looked at several sculptures by Adrian Worsley scattered around the town. He is an artist, lives in Te Aroha, and creates all his sculptures from scrap metal.

Now I almost forgot to mention the geyser of Te Aroha. But actually, it is more of a 'geyser'.