Tuesday dawned nice enough for a swim, before heading off towards Matamata (or as the GPS would drawl it “Martamarta”, the site of Hobbiton from the LOTR movies. The site is on a farm and was chosen because of the small rolling scenery and the invisibility from the road and gossiping watchers! You have to go as a tour, accessing the site with a bus and a guide. The original set, from the first movie, was just film prop material – plastic and cardboard, but when they returned to the site to film “The Hobbit” the condition to re-use the site was that they had to rebuild the set with permanent materials, even the bits that weren’t actually used in “The Hobbit”. The result is very impressive – the workmanship that went into it isn’t skimped at all and the attention to detail is excellent. You can see Bag End and the party field as well as Sam’s house and the Green Dragon, where the tour ends and you can have a complimentary ale, which is, actually, very drinkable!
That over we headed for our next overnight at Rotorua and a DOC campsite at Lake Okawara, about 8 kms outkide the town. A very peaceful spot IMHO. This was a DOC ‘Scenic’ campsite. This has campsites and toilets, water only from the lake, and no garbage facilities – pack in, pack out.
Tuesday dawned nice enough for a swim, before heading off towards Matamata (or as the GPS would drawl it “Martamarta”, the site of Hobbiton from the LOTR movies. The site is on a farm and was chosen because of the small rolling scenery and the invisibility from the road and gossiping watchers! You have to go as a tour, accessing the site with a bus and a guide. The original set, from the first movie, was just film prop material – plastic and cardboard, but when they returned to the site to film “The Hobbit” the condition to re-use the site was that they had to rebuild the set with permanent materials, even the bits that weren’t actually used in “The Hobbit”. The result is very impressive – the workmanship that went into it isn’t skimped at all and the attention to detail is excellent. You can see Bag End and the party field as well as Sam’s house and the Green Dragon, where the tour ends and you can have a complimentary ale, which is, actually, very drinkable!
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