Hello Hobbiton

After speaking with my very well informed and very overworked brother it seems unlikely that heading to the States anytime in the next few months will be a good idea. Feeling rather glum I headed up the road to Auckland with a sense I had forgotten something I was going to do on the way. As the scenery changed from pine forests chopping up the landscape to small rolling hills I began thinking this could almost be the Shire. Ah, that’s what it was! Quick look at google maps and it turned out I was only 10 minutes away from Hobbiton. Managed to get straight on a tour and it was just brilliant, although I might be a really annoying person to watch the movies with now. Lots of entertaining stories about the filming but I will only bore you with one.
When Peter Jackson was trying to get funding to make the films he approached the New Zealand government on the basis that it would showcase the country (which it most certainly did). They obviously said no, being a government and all, but they did say that the military weren’t busy so he could borrow them to help with the building of the sets. And so it was that the military built much of Hobbiton and to say thank you to them, he also used them as the frontline Orks in the battle at Minas Tirith. I just think that is fantastic, what a fun day for the army.