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We woke early to shower, pack and have breakfast and prey with Hannah and Matt before they went to work at 8am. It was so lovely seeing them and getting to meet Hannah. It was also really refreshing hanging out with amazing people!
We drove to Matamata where we went on a tour of the Hobbiton film set at 10am from The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit films.
It was great to see the set and to see that they had kept it watered and green despite the hose pipe ban. When Peter Jackson originally scouted the location it took a year of negotiating before they stated work. It was a (and still is) a sheep farm but now there is Hobbiton and the NZ army made a big road to access Hobbiton.
They have made Hobbiton twice: once as a temporary set for TLOTR and second as a set for The Hobbit and as a permanent structure for tours.
The attention to detail was amazing. How they had aged the fences and made duplicate hobbit holes: some large (to film hobbits in front of) and some small (to film Gandalf in front of). They gardens and flowers were superbly kept and they had lots of fake fruit and veg around, washing on lines and small furniture and tools - the only thing missing were Hobbits!
We saw Bag End, Sam's house, the party tree, the green dragon pub and lots more. We got to enjoy an English Ale in the pub at the end of the tour.
It was really enjoyable, but really overpriced!
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