No trip to New Zealand is complete without a visit to the most magical of fantasy worlds. I fell in love with Middle-Earth when I was 16 after I was allowed to put both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings on my high school English literature list. I had read many fantasy and science fiction books before but none came close to the depth of Tolkien’s world. Even now, having read dozens more, to me there are only a few writers that manage to come close, most notably George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire saga and Robin Hobb with her epic Farseer storyline.
New Zealand has Middle-Earth filming locations scattered around the country because the it has such a wealth of different landscapes and most of the movies were filmed here. The Lord of the Rings was primarily filmed in 1999 and 2000. After the movies were released to cinema in 2001-2003, the locations attracted a lot of tourism. A 2004 survey found that six percent of visitors to New Zealand cited The Lord of The Rings as one of their main reasons to come. 2014 research (following the release of the Hobbit trilogy in 2012-2014) also showed that the marketing of New Zealand as Middle Earth had a significant effect on visitors.
Probably the nicest and easiest place to visit is Hobbiton near Matamata, North Island, a scenic three hour drive from Auckland. I had been there before in 2004 when the remnants of the famous hobbit village unexpectedly turned out to be a huge visitor attraction. The Lord of the Rings filming crew had used cheap and flimsy materials to create the hobbit village, as is common in filming, and they lasted just long enough to shoot the necessary scenes. Hobbiton at that time was not more than a few holes in the ground with cardboard in front of them. Still a lot of people came to see it.
Probably with this huge interest in mind, New Line Cinema completely rebuilt Hobbiton using durable materials for the filming of the Hobbit Trilogy and it looks spectacular. They keep adding locations every year even though filming is over, turning it into a regular theme park. The tour is now strictly guided and more expensive (80 NZD) but includes a visit to the Green Dragon with complementary beer, ale or ginger beer, specifically brewed for Hobbiton. The movie-set-turned-theme-park now holds 44 hobbit holes, including Bag End, the largest and highest hobbit house which was the home of Bilbo Baggins and later Frodo. It also features Sandyman’s Mill, the Green Dragon Inn and the famous Party Tree.
If you’re interested, more information can be found on www.hobbitontours.com.