Things I can and can't show you.

[reynardo]

Yes, you're all going to get picspammed with lovely pics from our NZ holiday. And this is the Hobbiton set.



Matamata is the town near the farm that Hobbiton is located on. The locals love it - not only is Peter J using a lot more local talent for the building, but the influx of tourists over the last 8 years has meant the town has nice cafes, better shops...

Alas, the Bakehouse Cafe behind us there was pretty terrible, but it was utterly freezing and pouring rain, and nothing else much was open.

And the shots of actual Hobbiton?



Sorry, guys, but this is all I can legally show you, as it's visible from the main road.

Comments

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

Sheepses!

[loganberrybunny.livejournal.com]

This is probably a silly question, but I haven't been following things too closely: is this Hobbiton the earlier one, but with the public now kicked out, or is it a different location? From that link, clearly they weren't too bothered about people seeing the very basic landscaping work on the original, but equally clearly they don't want people gawping now. So where/when did they draw the line?

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

Not a silly question at all! Yes, it's the same place. They drew the line when they started re-constructing the holes for "The Hobbit". If we'd gone in April, we would have seen those plywood hole fronts with sheepses wandering in and out, and could have posted photos to our hearts content.

The people that owned the farm were originally very accommodating to Peter Jackson, allowing him to film quite a few extra scenes around the place, so he agreed to leave a couple of the Hobbit hole shapes in place (although all the nice doors and gardens had been removed). The owners of the farm put in a couple of plywood replacement fronts, and everyone thought the tourism thing would last about six months...

[mr-figgy.livejournal.com]

Clearly the sheep are what Hobbits such as Bullroarer ride into battle!

how was the coffee?

[fluidsparkles.livejournal.com]

cos tourists desrve goood coffee even if the baked goods sucked.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Gosh, Matamata actually has a use these days. Other than the horseracing.