Hobbiton (New Zealand Part 2)

We drove towards Matamata after Auckland and spent the night at a farm campsite with a beautiful view of green hills - a first glimpse of the Shire from the Lord of the Rings movies.

The next morning, it was only a two-kilometer drive to the film set. That's where we saw sheep for the first time in New Zealand, which supposedly outnumber humans by eight times.

Spontaneously, we were able to move our tour at the film set from 17:10 to 13:20, so we didn't have to wait as long.

A tour started every ten minutes, sometimes even more often, so several groups were exploring the set at the same time. There was a little traffic jam, especially in front of Bag End.

Our tour took us through the former film set, which has been permanently built since The Hobbit films and now houses 44 Hobbit holes on a large site.

We saw different sizes of clotheslines and doors - depending on whether Gandalf (who had to appear large) or a small Hobbit was standing in front of them.

Of course, we also saw Bag End, Bilbo's house. The tree above this hill was artificially made of silicone and iron. Since the color of the leaves had faded a bit before filming, all the leaves had to be painted by hand again just before.

Since plum trees in New Zealand are too tall for small Hobbit children, low apple trees were planted. The leaves and fruits were ripped off and replaced with plums. In the film, you could see these extensively transformed trees for a whole three seconds.

Finally, we had a beer at the "Green Dragon," a popular inn among Hobbits in Hobbiton.

Afterwards, we drove to a campsite at Lake Karapiro, which seems to be very popular with local jet ski riders.