Any Hobbit lovers out there?

We headed out of Auckland today, driving, and we were almost always on the left-hand side of the road. . . .  First stop, Hobbiton, otherwise known as “The Shire” in The Hobbit (both book and movies).  Hobbiton is the film site of the shire for the movies. Peter Jackson, the director, carefully searched for the appropriate location in New Zealand, his home country, and the gently rolling hills here seemed perfect, as well as the trees, in particular the party tree.  The film set covers 12 acres and has 44 hobbit "holes," all completely perfected in the front -- like the house of the fisherman is obvious, as is the baker's house, but none of the houses have any interiors. Here are a few pictures with commentary.

From the store

This is the tree atop Bilbo's Bag End" place.  The tree is fake -- fake leaves put on with wire, fake branches, fake trunk.  The original was real, but it died, so this one was made for the set and for the Hobbiton site.  You couldn't tell it was fake -- truly! 

The rolling hills are perfect for a little village for little people 

Bilbo's house -- Bag End.  The interior of this house is a wide open space for camera equipment, etc.  There were no interior decorations.  Interior filming was done in a studio in Wellington.

The film technique of "forced perspective" was used often.  Here, Harold is in front of a small door, but there would be another house, exactly the same but with a larger door of the same color/background, so when actors would enter, it would appear as if they were small. 

Sammy's home.  The girl in the movie was his daughter, and the two had not seen 

each other for 3 months, so the last scene where he comes "home" is genuine. 

The attention to detail was amazing

The pond, one of two

They "Green Dragon Inn" -- the pub where we could get a bit o' beer or cider after the tour.

There were 44 hobbit houses, mostly not used, but Jackson wanted to give 

the film viewers the sense of a village. 

a little mailbox

Even little clothes hanging on clothes lines

A mixture of paste, paint, and yogurt was used to create the green "moss" on the houses, and the wood was made to look old and cracked by carving deep veins within the wood and coloring it to make it appear old. 

It truly was a beautiful area.

Harold and Julie pretending to be hobbits

Harold, Julie, Deborah, Gil -- all hobbit wanna bes. 

While none of us are Tolkien afficionados, the time we spent in "The Shire" was delightful.  The whole place exuded a comfortable atmosphere -- just the kind of place one would want to live in and return to, just like Frodo and Sammy.