As a daughter of a huge Lord of the Rings fan, there was no doubt about whether or not we would visit Hobbiton during our trip to New Zealand. I enjoyed it way more than I had expected to too.

If you haven’t read my previous blogs on our trip to New Zealand you can read part one here and part two here.

Leaving the Coromandel

On Monday morning we waved goodbye to the Coromandel but of course had to have a proper send off with a quick sea swim.

We hoped to have caught a glimpse of some dolphins in Whangamatā but we weren’t lucky on this occasion. So we had a quick wander around some gift shops, a quick cake at a bakery, and then the said sea swim.

Hobbiton

Man were we incredibly lucky with the weather for this. It was the most glorious sunny day (although it did rain later in the evening but we can ignore that).

We got to the meet point, and then caught the tour bus which drove us all the way through rolling green hills into the Shire.

On the bus, they played music from the franchise and welcomed us with a video from the director Peter Jackson, and the landowner. Although cliche, it was amazing driving in to the Shire with the soundtrack playing.

The shire itself was HUGE! So many Hobbit holes with brilliant attention to detail around them. Some of which included a washing line, or a bench with an open book and pipe, or a brief glimpse into the kitchen of the hole.

I decided before we went that I wanted a photo by a yellow hobbit hole, and ended up taking a photo by every hobbit hole (who knew there would be so many).

Can anyone guess which one is of SamWise Gamgee’s house ?

The tour took us around various sets, including Bilbo Baggin’s home, and the ended up in the infamous pub; the Green Dragon where we had a complimentary drink.

We all had a fabulous day in the sunshine wandering around the Shire and marvelled at the immaculate attention to detail throughout the tour.

It was also really cool to have visited what was a working outdoor set. I’ve only ever been to the Harry Potter Studio Tours before but they are reconstructed sets and indoors (probably due to the UK weather), so it felt totally different exploring the Shire in the sunshine hidden in the rolling green country hills.

Where next?

We are off to the Tongariro National Park to stay at my brothers. We plan to do a few more waterfalls, visit some Lord of the Rings locations, and do the Tongariro crossing.

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