Cruising the Shire (Revised)

Today in Tauranga we boarded the bus to Matamata, where the Shire set for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies were located. It was an hour long ride, but the journey was worth it. The Alexander family farm, on which the Shire resides, is beginning to turn the town into a working attraction. Now that filming is complete they are making the Green Dragon a fully functional pub with banquet facilities. Six gardeners maintain the grounds in exactly the fashion prescribed for filming. This makes for a beautiful blend of New Zealand and English flora counterpointed by the realistic looking Hobbit holes.

With the expansion for filming the Hobbit, there are now 45 houses in Hobbiton. Of course, only a few are deeper than a couple of yards. Most open just far enough for a person to stand in -- Peter Jackson insisted that every door be filmed half-open upon request. Most look so authentic, it could come right out of middle ages technology. There is one structure, however, that is truly artificial: the oak growing out of Bilbo's roof! It is stainless steel and fiber glass with plastic leaves. Apparently, the set designers went so far as to copy the bark from another tree onto its surface to facilitate duplicating exactly what was required. According to the guide, it is really freaky to see this green oak standing above the snow in the middle of winter. There are no conifers in the immediate area. The birds will use the tree in the spring and summer, but it apparently disturbs them as well and they seldom stay in it very long. The detail is amazing, though. A person would never know unless they were told or touched it.

We saw a real thatcher working on the roof of the Green Dragon, one of only two structures in Hobbiton with a thatched roof. The other is the post office, which is partially built into the ground and partially thatched. The guide did not know why that was done. Every residence has a mailbox in front with the picture on the box identifying their profession. For example, Samwise's box has flowers on it to indicate his role as gardener in the community. Similarly, the "hen and egg" man has a picture of a chicken on one side and eggs on the other.

We wandered (on the path only!) throughout. At the party field, the guide told us about the filming of the dragon firework scene. Apparently, only the transformation of the firework into the dragon was done via CGI. If you listen to the scene, you will supposedly hear a hysterical scream like a little girl. That supposedly really came from the actor playing Merrie or Pippin, nobody knows which, when the rocket launch inside the tent turned out to be real and surprisingly powerful. It was "discovered" during a review of the night's footage (and they supposedly spent the entire night filming it) and Jackson put it into the sound track.

Bag End
After our group of twenty four had seen all that could be seen, we boarded the bus for bathrooms and tea at the souvenir stand. The Dawn Princess cannot leave the Bay of Plenty until the tide is right at nine tonight, so I hope to have this posted before my turkey saturated family and friends arise Black Friday Morn. We both missed being with everyone and hope all are well in our absence.

More soon...