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Today was our final day in New Zealand. Chris is flying back to Queenstown for another week's vacation, and Mary Ann and I are headed home. :(
We stayed in Hamilton last night, so our drive back to Auckland was only a few hours. Since we had some time to kill, we did what most tourists do, we headed to Hobbiton. This "village" was the film set used in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit trilogy.
Originally built in 1998 for the Lord of the Rings, the set was built out of styrofoam and plywood, and was torn down immediately after the filming was complete. At that time, the owner of the farm had no idea how big the Lord of the Rings would become.
When the owner of the farm was contacted again about the filming of the Hobbit trilogy, he realized what a tourism magnet he had, and insisted that Hobbiton be rebuild out of permanent materials and the grounds maintained afterwards. Essentially it is now a joint venture between the owner of the farm and the Lord of the Rings owners.
Some of the Hobbit holes were made full scale to make the Hobbits look small, and some of the Hobbit holes were made at a .6 scale to make Gandalf look huge.
Only the exterior scenes were filmed here, none of the Hobbit holes have interiors. All of the interior scenes were filmed on a sound stage in Wellington.
Even though it was a tourist trap, all three of us enjoyed the tour. Our guide Clare did a great job showing us around, and telling stories about the filming.
Here is Mary Ann standing in front of Bilbo Baggin's house.
After the tour, we made our way to Auckland and returned our rental car. I was surprised to hear that we had put 5,020 kilometres on the car in 3 weeks. Good thing the rental included unlimited mileage.
Saying our goodbyes to Chris we made our way to the International Terminal. Chris was flying domestic to Queenstown from another terminal.
This was my best shot of a Kiwi, the national bird of New Zealand. I know what you are thinking, "...that's not really a kiwi..." and you would be right. We didn't see any. Kiwis are nocturnal and not generally seen. Chris saw one at the zoo, but the enclosure was dark, and they move very fast. He does't have a shot of them either.
I'm writing this from the airport lounge. We will board in a couple hours. By the time you are reading this, we will be over the Pacific somewhere on our way to Vancouver.
For all of my photography friends, Mary Ann and I recorded 4,482 images. I'm not sure about Chris, but don't forget he's been here for nearly 5 months...
That's it for this trip... thanks for reading.
Please open this in a web browser (click on the heading above), and leave a comment. I'd love to hear rom you.
Today was our final day in New Zealand. Chris is flying back to Queenstown for another week's vacation, and Mary Ann and I are headed home. :(
We stayed in Hamilton last night, so our drive back to Auckland was only a few hours. Since we had some time to kill, we did what most tourists do, we headed to Hobbiton. This "village" was the film set used in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit trilogy.
Originally built in 1998 for the Lord of the Rings, the set was built out of styrofoam and plywood, and was torn down immediately after the filming was complete. At that time, the owner of the farm had no idea how big the Lord of the Rings would become.
Only the exterior scenes were filmed here, none of the Hobbit holes have interiors. All of the interior scenes were filmed on a sound stage in Wellington.
Even though it was a tourist trap, all three of us enjoyed the tour. Our guide Clare did a great job showing us around, and telling stories about the filming.
After the tour, we made our way to Auckland and returned our rental car. I was surprised to hear that we had put 5,020 kilometres on the car in 3 weeks. Good thing the rental included unlimited mileage.
Saying our goodbyes to Chris we made our way to the International Terminal. Chris was flying domestic to Queenstown from another terminal.
This was my best shot of a Kiwi, the national bird of New Zealand. I know what you are thinking, "...that's not really a kiwi..." and you would be right. We didn't see any. Kiwis are nocturnal and not generally seen. Chris saw one at the zoo, but the enclosure was dark, and they move very fast. He does't have a shot of them either.
I'm writing this from the airport lounge. We will board in a couple hours. By the time you are reading this, we will be over the Pacific somewhere on our way to Vancouver.
For all of my photography friends, Mary Ann and I recorded 4,482 images. I'm not sure about Chris, but don't forget he's been here for nearly 5 months...
That's it for this trip... thanks for reading.
Please open this in a web browser (click on the heading above), and leave a comment. I'd love to hear rom you.
If you are reading this blog for the first time, don't forget to review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. And feel free to add a comment, as well as share this blog with your friends. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side. It will be much easier for me to stay in touch with you. If you don't see a signup box on the right side, then click on the blog heading and that should take you to a webpage with better graphics. You should then see the signup box on the right side. If you have trouble signing up, send me an email at mark.girard@rogers.com.
Mark
Mark, I think this trip would be up with the caption "The trip of a lifetime!" Cheers to three great adventurers. :)
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see what comes next.
Brenda
Thanks Brenda, comments are always appreciated.
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