MacsTravel Blog

The astute reader of this blog may have noticed a peculiar omission from the graphic that adorns the home page. New Zealand, a country that is very much the focus of the next few weeks, doesn’t appear to exist.

Apparently this is a thing! New Zealand is often left off world maps and New Zealanders are, to varying degrees, annoyed, bemused or pleased at this omission. The reason, of course, is the colonial bias of the Mercator projection, but that’s another box of frogs (forgive the Aussie slang).

There have been efforts by New Zealanders to correct this omission.

However the mysterious omission plays into the alternative reality of New Zealand as Middle Earth, a mysterious fantasy land. I am referring, of course, to the three Lord of the Rings and three Hobbit films which were shot almost exclusively in New Zealand, making the films a multi-billion dollar promotional campaign for visiting this country (if you can find it).

We landed in cyclone-free Auckland and caught a shuttle to the fabulous SO/Auckland hotel right down by the water. A return visit to the Britomart Market and Ramen for dinner , followed by a walk, tea, great night’s sleep and breakfast and we were ready to set off on our 19 day odyssey through New Zealand!

Rather than relying on our friends’ local knowledge and our own research we had engaged New Zealand travel company First Light Travel to help us with our itinerary, specifically rental car, accommodations and selecting and booking the right companies to support the various activities we wanted to do. They were first rate and we would highly recommend them. Thanks to Ashlee in particular for troubleshooting along the way.

But first, a side trip to the Hobbiton movie set along the way! A little background. Peter Jackson, the director/producer of all six films, scouted out this location and settled on the Alexander cattle and sheep farm (1200 acres) near Matamata, a landscape so nice they named it twice. Jackson had lots of options: you could throw a dart at a map of this area and it would hit the most bucolic farm you’ve ever seen.

For the original trilogy filmed in the late 90s, early 2000s, they built roads (actually the New Zealand army did!) and sets, but nothing was designed to be permanent. When they rebuilt the sets for the 2009 filming of the three Hobbit movies it was decided to make the film set permanent to take advantage of all the nerds fans who might want to visit.

Full disclosure: I probably read those books half a dozen times as a kid. Still, I was a little unsure about visiting what was clearly a tourist trap.

It was fantastic for three reasons.

1. We learned a fair amount about the filming tricks used to emphasize the proportional difference between the hobbits and other characters.

2. The scale and ambition of this set is absolutely massive and impressive. It feels like you are stepping into the book.

3. The countryside itself is the star. We were just awestruck by the rural beauty of the place. When you look at the photos below keep in mind that the gardens and produce are 100% real. Of course it is Fall here in New Zealand so the squash and gourds are at their peak! There is a full time staff of six gardeners and they do an absolutely fantastic job. We thought of Grandad / Jim and Nana / Jane as we toured the gardens. They would both be so impressed!

We are in Rotorua for the next couple of days and will report on that stage of the trip in a single post. Early report: a bit sulphery! Looking forward to touring geothermal sites and Māori cultural tours.