Tauranga, New Zealand

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Today is a day dedicated to my inner nerd which, by the way, is exhibited through my outer nerd, as you all know well.

Where am I?

So, what’s been happening?

Today is a day I’ve been waiting for since before I ever sailed away. Today, I get to leave the dream world of sailing around the world and enter the dream world of Middle-earth. Today, I get to go to Hobbiton and see where all of those marvelous tiny adventurers with big hairy feet live.

But first, I need to get from Tauranga harbor, where our ship is neatly tied up, to Matamata where the film set for The Hobbit trilogy and The Lord of the Rings trilogy can be found, lovingly preserved and made available to all of us fans to visit and enjoy.

The bus picked us up at the dock and took us on a one hour drive over the coastal hills and into the valley that contains the little “town” of Matamata. I put “town” in quotes because this place is very rural. There might be 8,000 people living here, but it is mostly farm and range land, so most of those 8,000 people are very hard to see!

The name of the town amuses me because, in Spanish, Matamata would mean “Kill. Kill.”

In order to get to Matamata, our bus left the harbor in Tauranga and took us up into the mountains and through the Kaimai Mamaku Conservation Park. There is a narrow pass between two of the mountains and from the top we could look down into the broad valley where Matamata is located.

Now, Peter Jackson (the producer of the movies The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) came to New Zealand looking for a filming locale for the Shire. It needed to have a bit of an old-English countryside look to it, and one that would also remain close to the descriptions in the books. His location scouting crew started an aerial search and, after a while, they came across this bit of farmland owned by the Alexander family. On the land there were some small, rolling hills that looked almost as though Hobbits had already been excavating their shire. The land also had a small pond with an narrow arm to one side that could double as a river.

When approached by Jackson, the Alexanders admitted that they had never heard of the books and had no idea what Hobbits were. In the end, after appropriate negotiations, the set for the Lord of the Rings, (and later, The Hobbit trilogies) was secured.

Here is aerial view of Hobbiton as it stands today.

And here is another aerial view of The Shire, but from a much lower altitude.

And finally, here are a few of my own photos taken at ground level (of course) and placed here for your amusement.

Holly (pictured below) was the excellent guide for our group. She really new her stuff and delivered her narrative with so much energy as to make us start to believe we were actually in The Shire. Now, I’ve already been asked by a reader or two as to whether I saw any Hobbits. Holly told us very early in the tour that we should be on the lookout for Hobbits. She told us that when they see us entering the Shire they run away and hide since they see us as invaders. She also told us that if we’re lucky enough to actually see a hobbit that we should point that little scamp out to her immediately as she’s never seen one! <snicker>

We were also informed that everything we see in the shire is real. The hobbit holes are made with real and natural materials (so that they will last for decades and be around to thrill those of us who are fans for the stories.) The gardens are all growing real crops. The bushes and the trees are all genuine and not just Disney-like creations made for the set. Everything, that is, except one thing.

The old oak tree seen above Bag End is actually made of steel! It was constructed over Bilbo Baggins’ smial in order to be consistent with the book. The steel frame is covered with other materials so as to make the bark look real. There are also over two million silk leaves on the tree, each one hand sewn in order to make the appearance of the fake tree look as real as possible. But, that’s not all! Once the tree was constructed and properly placed above the Baggins smial, Peter Jackson decided that the leaves were too light of a shade of green. He had the team that constructed the tree climb up into it and hand paint each leaf a darker green. Clearly, he’s a perfectionist, but how would you like to work for that guy?

As we left the hobbit holes, we walked down a narrow path (well, a regular sized path for a hobbit) through trees and bushes until we rounded a corner. As we reached the clearing, there before us was this beautiful lake, the twin-arched bridge and The Green Dragon. The Green Dragon is the local pub for hobbits and humans alike!

Inside, we were treated to a fine brew (Good George’s Red Ale, in my case) and some treats to snack upon. I had a very tasty chocolate chip muffin with raspberries mixed in. Now, I’m not often excited by baked goods, but in this case it was easy to make an exception!

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After we enjoyed our break we had a quick stop at the gift shop (where I added to my growing collection of caps.)

Then, it was time to get back into our bus and return to the ship. What a wonderful day living among the hobbits. Though I didn’t see any of them, I left feeling like they were really there, hiding from all of us intruders. This was one of my favorite tours thus far on this trip to strange lands and strange cultures.

Once we returned to the ship there was still plenty of time left in the evening to explore town, so I took off to see what sights there were to see. I walked along the dock area and immersed myself in the wonderful views of the beach.

Continuing my exploration, I came across a very unusual “touring” vehicle. This V-8 powered trike is set up to accommodate two tourists and the driver. I love motorcycles, especially those that have been custom crafted. This one looked really exciting!

Somehow, I managed to find Rosie O’Grady’s Irish pub and I was forced to go inside. Nobody was actually pushing me in the front door, but there’s a strong pull of gravity about these places that I simply cannot escape. Good thing they had some great beer and fast wi-fi. The fish and chips they served was pretty good as well. I hung out for a couple of hours until the sun was starting to set and I had to get back to the ship.

I got back just in time to head to the Lido deck, aft, and watch the Amsterdam pull away from the dock and set sail for our next port of call: Wellington, New Zealand. There’s a day at sea before we get there so I’ll have a little time to soak up some sun and do some reading.

All in all, it was a great day and New Zealand is rapidly becoming one of my favorite places in the world.

Well, that’s all for now!