Tag 14 - Hobbiton

Today we visited the Hobbiton film set. A big dream of mine, Lord of the Rings fan that I am. It was incredible to see all the houses, Bilbo and Sam's house, the window through which Sam was dragged by Gandalf. You also got a lot of background information, for example, 65% of hobbit houses were built for shots with Gandalf, and larger ones were built for hobbit shoots. The set was dismantled at the end of The Lord of the Rings and rebuilt faithfully for The Hobbit, then with the intention of leaving everything standing. Do you remember the scene where the Green Dragon Inn burns down in Frodo's vision near Galadriel? It really was burned down, the orcs in the vision are firefighters. We had booked the lunch event, which included a free drink in the tavern and dinner in Bilbo's festival tent.

Unfortunately my camera gave up halfway through the tour, more photos from my cell phone will follow later. Since the end of last year there have also been two hobbit caves that you can enter. These were designed by the same people who created the film sets. You were allowed to touch and try everything, lie down in the beds, sit at the tables. It was really great!

Afterwards we mainly relaxed in our accommodation. We moved into an airBNB at Lake Ohakuri on one of the surrounding mountains, the Sunshine Acres (https://www.airbnb.co.nz/rooms/885647657014411449?adults=4&check_in=2024-02-18&check_out=2024-02-22&source_impression_id= p3_1696629234_knfYrIcQ3lfdvrmR&previous_page_section_name=1000&federated_search_id=fb3b6187-d131-42ed-83e6-42a165299430).

There's a hot tup and a jacuzzi, and the views are amazing too. A little tip: if you drive here, you should bring a 4-wheel drive car.