In 1998, movie director extraordinaire Sir Peter Jackson sent a trusted scout around the Waikato region of New Zealand to look for a suitable film site for his upcoming Hobbit movie. Jackson had no idea how big the Hobbit franchise would soon become. He was just looking for a place in his homeland to film a couple of fantasy movies, which he hoped would be well received by the movie world and make a profit.
Jackson’s wife told him about a sheep ranch owned by her friends, the Alexanders, in that area. Waikato is famous for rich soils, lush pasture land, New Zealand’s longest river, lots of geothermal activity, and bright limestone valleys.
Jackson was looking for three main ingredients for the location: a large gnarly tree on a hilltop, a small lake, and rolling hills. And VOILA! The Shire was born on a vast sheep ranch south of Auckland.
In 1999, the New Zealand army rolled in and began building an entrance road into the property and sculpting the hilly pastured terrain into Hobbiton. The movie site takes up only one percent of the Alexander farm. Sheep still cover the landscape like white puffballs.
Initially, they constructed thirty-nine hobbit holes (homes) out of plywood and polystyrene. The oak tree on the hill didn’t pan out, so they erected a fake oak tree with 3,500 spray-painted leaves that overlooked Bag End (where the Baggins family resided). The Mill and the double arch bridge were all made of faux styrene stone. Some of it was real, like the roof thatch that was cut from wetland rushes on the Alexander farm, but most of it was movie make-believe shot from weird camera angles and forced perspectives.
Filming for the “Lord of the Rings Trilogy” began in December 1999 and lasted for three months.
As we all know, “The Lord of the Rings” captured the collective imagination of the people of the earth like nobody’s business and made heaps of money, so naturally, Jackson needed to keep the ball rolling.
Jackson’s production company decided to produce the “Hobbit Trilogy” in 2009, and this time they rebuilt The Shire with more permanent materials like steel and silicon. Given the movie’s worldwide popularity, maybe they were already dreaming of making the place an amusement park after the filming was over and done. The makeover took two years. And what people see today is essentially the updated version of The Shire.
They started filming the “Hobbit Trilogy” in October of 2011 and only took twelve days.
At its peak, there were over 400 people on the rugged site, making Middle-earth come alive.
Jackson’s attention to detail was often obsessive, like removing the frogs from the pond so they couldn’t interrupt the audio, rolling the rising sun backwards to replicate a sunset, and then making sure there were no birds in the picture.
The most amazing thing about the history of Hobbiton was that when all was said and done, the scenes of The Shire in all of the movies totaled a mere 14 minutes! They spent millions of dollars creating a make-believe village of little barefoot people living like happy chipmunks in their colorful hobbit holes. Then they showcased the place in six Hobbit movies for a grand total of fourteen minutes. Ain’t cinema grand?
Getting to see Hobbiton can be tricky because it sells out every day, so you need to reserve a spot well in advance, especially in summer. We didn’t. And we paid the price—literally. We had to book a bus tour out of Rotorua for $165 per person, which turned a 2-hour tour into a 6-hour slog. We did get an absolutely fantastic gourmet “festive lunch” and a free pint included under a circus tent next to the Green Dragon Tavern, along with a tasty beer. So, it all worked out in the end.
Hobbiton is run with military precision. And they have an army of friendly young staff in red and blue polo shirts to pull it off. Every aspect of the complex operation is choreographed down to the last second. They run 2,500 tourons through the place each day. And each tour bus unloads every ten minutes—it was every five minutes before COVID. That translates into almost 600,000 visitors a year at $67 NZ a head. And that’s not including all the overpriced swag they sell in the gift shop. Hobbiton is precious and definitely the real golden ring.
As an aside, Hobbiton is a family-run business, and during COVID, the Alexanders personally led the tour for anyone who showed up. Some days, it might only be two or three people. But they kept the dream alive, and it wasn’t easy.
At the outset of COVID, New Zealand immediately implemented some of the strictest contact tracing restrictions on the planet, and they came through the virus faster than any other country on earth, other than Iceland. Interestingly, both nations were run by women.
We had checked out of our hotel in the morning, so when we got back to Rotorua at three, we immediately headed south on Route 5 through the Waimangu Volcanic Valley, the Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland, and the happening town of Taupō that had several marinas packed with shiny boats and a Rugby Festival in full swing in the town centre.
Our destination was just south of Taupō, at a thrilling spot called Huka Falls, which is part of a very popular recreation area where they offer jet boat rides to the base of the thundering waterfalls, fishing charters, helicopter rides, mountain bike scrambles, and mountain treks—something for everybody.
We kept it simple and just hiked to the falls and then followed New Zealand’s longest river, the Waikato, for several miles. The water was mirror clear, and the swimming hallucinogenic.
After our refreshing hike, we continued south along the shores of Lake Taupo, another enormous volcanic caldera and the site of the world’s biggest eruption in the last 70,000 years. It is the largest lake in New Zealand, and we passed quite a few campers frolicking along the crystal blue lake with hammocks swung between eucalyptus trees next to their tents and an abundance of water toys.
As we kicked back in the comfort of our little house at the Turangi Leisure Lodge near the Tongariro River, I reviewed our action-packed day and came to the following conclusion. Hobbiton is like Disney World; you definitely have to see it once. But amusement parks are not really my cup of tea. I am glad we got to check out Hobbiton. And Inna really wanted to see the place. But I’ll take real over fantasy any day of the week.
