<< Like A Dream Yet NOT A DREAM >>: Hobbiton Movie Set, Mclaren Falls Park

Second day off, and of course, we have our days well planned!

Hobbiton Movie Set is one of the places I've longed to go before I reach this country. I always see beautiful pictures of this place shared by others people in facebook, the beautiful scenery, and the cute hobbit house. One month ago when we were on the way to Te Puke from Auckland City, we actually passed by Matamata (where the Hobbiton tour begins). That time, we were rushing to Te Puke, and we haven't start work yet so we feel a bit reluctant to spend on this tour. Finally today, we are here!!!

Here we start our tour - The Shire's Rest Cafe

Our entrance ticket and brochure

This is a fascinating two-hour guided tour where we can visit the Hobbiton Movie Set from The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit film trilogy. The set has been completely rebuilt and can be seen as it appeared in the films.

Alexander family farm

In September 1998, Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema discovered the Alexander family farm during an aerial search for suitable film sites for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The fantastic views and rolling countryside of the Alexander Farm closely resembled that of The Shire as described by author, J.R.R Tolkien.

The fantastic view

The large established pine tree (which they say is the most famous tree in the world now), later re-named the party tree, was already perfectly placed in front of the lake. The surrounding rolling farmland was untouched by 20th century clutter such as roads, buildings or power lines. The farm was perfect.

Site construction started in March 1999 and it took 9 months to be completed. Filming commenced in December 1999 and continued for 3 months. It peaks 400 people were working on site.

The set was rebuilt in 2011 for the feature films "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" and "The Hobbit: There and Back Again". It is now permanent complete with hobbit holes, gardens, bridge, Mill and The Green Dragon.

The pretty tour guide

Hobbit tea time area

Hobbit's clothes?

the cute leaves

Although Alexander Farm is the best locations to film The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, a lot of work was still needed to be completed before it was up to the director's high standards.

Barberry hedges and trees were brought in and gardens were nurtured throughout winter.
37 hobbit holes were created with untreated timber, ply and polystyrene.
The Mill and double arch bridge were built out of scaffolding, ply and polystyrene, then glued and painted.
The oak tree overlooking Bag End was cut down and brought in from near Matamata. Each branch was numbered and chopped, then transported and bolted together on top of Bag End (weighing 26 tonne).
Artificial leaves were imported from Taiwan and individually wired onto the dead tree.

beautiful lake and cottage

The double arch bridge

Breathtaking enough?

Green Dragon - where the hobbits always have their party on. We're invited here to enjoy our free refreshment, the 0% alcohol ginger beer

People busy preparing ginger beer or apple cider for us, it's free!

I love the taste of this ginger beer!

After Hobbiton, we went to Matamata city for lunch. Our homestay owner, Lynne asked us to buy the asparagus along the roadside as it is very cheap! On the way there, we saw a sign "Asparagus" along the roadside. It is a big orchard and factory. Four of us were curious because the whole place is so silent and there's nobody there, as though it is closed. When we're still wondering where to get the asparagus, we saw an empty room with asparagus inside!

Here it is! No seller, not even one people is there! Just pick which bunch of asparagus you want, and drop your money into the hole beside. We were really amazed with this scneario as this would never happen in our country. I'm impressed with the honesty of the people staying here.

After lunch, we went to Mclaren Falls Park as recommended by Lynne. We used GPS and unfortunately, GPS lead us deep inside the falls and eventually we get lost! Actually, we're already there but this Falls has too many walkways and we just can't find the walkways to the waterfall. The road is quite narrow too. After several minutes, we finally figured the way out and we reached the waterfall walkway.

It is a 10 minutes walk to the waterfall and four of us were speechless when we saw the falls. It was just a very normal and small waterfall.

Yoga pose in front of the waterfall to mark our nervous journey here

While we plan to leave, we accidentally saw another amazing view there. Only at this moment, we knew that we went to the wrong waterfall. There's actually another beautiful falls out there. We also saw some courageous guy jump into the falls from very high stone. It scares us off!