The set is in the middle of a working sheep and cattle farm owned by the Alexander family. The site was chosen because it had a lake and a tree that could be the celebration tree of the story.
We boarded a bus from the welcome center to take us through the farm to the set of Hobbiton. Along the way, Conner, our guide for the two-hour tour told stories of how the set came to be and how various scenes were set. Conner actually played an elf in at least one of the movies. We drove through the farm on a road that was constructed by the New Zealand Defense forces as no road existed there before. As a “reward” for their work, many of the soldiers were give roles as Orks in the movies. Reward may not be the best description as it was six hours in makeup and freezing cold.
The role of some of the Hobbits were given to locals. They had to be about 5’5” and weigh less than 160 lbs. For the first movie about 350 locals showed up. When they came back to do the second movie series over 3,000 showed up for the casting call.
The set is just that, not a functional “town”. The Hobbit holes are mainly just a façade, as inside shots for the movie were done in the studio.
We stopped for a cold drink of cider and a pie at the Green Dragon.
Then we boarded the bus to go back to the main area. We found our driver and were off to Auckland. We arrived at our hotel, Hotel Britomart, just before 7:00.
