Hobbiton, Matamata, New Zealand

 Although Elder Rooks has never read The Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings book trilogy, or seen any of the six movies, he knew I would regret leaving New Zealand without visiting the Hobbiton movie set in Matamata, an hour north of Rotorua. So one crisp, clear and sunny day, we set out on Highway 5 north and east.

Hobbits are a fictional race of small human-like creatures who inhabit Middle Earth, the mythological world created by J.R.R. Tolkien, a philologist and fellow at Oxford University in England who wrote not only the book series, but many other books related to the language and culture of Middle Earth. His stories are considered the equivalent of Norse mythology and Old English works of literature.

Sir Peter Jackson, who read and loved Tolkien's books, always believed that the real setting of Middle Earth could be found in New Zealand. His sets are detailed and accurate and lovingly made, attracting a wide and appreciative audience. These sets were built for a total of seven minutes of film time in the first trilogy and seven minutes in the second, according to our tour guide, Tracey.

Bag End, prime real estate at the top of the hill where the prominent Bagginses live, including Bilbo Baggins and his nephew Frodo. 

The tree growing out of the top of the hobbit hole is not a real tree. Each leaf was hand painted and attached to the trunk and branches.

We arrived at Shire's Rest car park. Here Elder Rooks, at the bottom of the cafe stairs in front of the gift shop, is talking to a church member who recognized his missionary badge.

We got on the bus with our tour guide Tracey. The roads here are very narrow. (No surprise, by now.) You can see a diesel truck (they are always making improvements here) parked at the top of the hill until the tour bus goes by, since there isn't enough room to drive by each other on the road.

The Alexander working sheep farm, 12,500 acres inhabited by 13,000 sheep. The locations were scouted from the air, and this farm had everything--the party tree, the ponds, the streams, the green hills. You are asked to not leave any gates open for sheep to get out.

For the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the sets were built and then torn down, but not all. Locals pieced together that the Kaimai Mountain Range, which you can spot in the back of this photo under the clouds, was near Matamata, and soon the Alexander farm had lots of visitors  who were willing to pay money to see ruined sets.

So when the three Hobbit movies were filmed ten years later, Hobbiton was rebuilt permanently. It is now one of the top tourist attractions in New Zealand, with up to 600,000 visitors annually. 

The pictures for this post are all outdoor set shots. It has only been since early this year (2024) that the inside of a hobbit hole was open for tourists to view. 

We will see those pictures in next week's blog post. 

Elder Rooks, who as I said was prepared to be bored, found the general cabinetmaking and the different trade tools of great interest. Here he is inspecting a vintage wood plane in front of the hobbit carpenter's hole.

I liked this particular entrance, with its sign "Mimosa's Medicinals Herbal Remedies," with herbs growing in the yard. I especially like the ceramic tile inset in the door and have since found similar tiles on Etsy. Hobbiton could make a killing selling ceramics like this, among other things.

The attention to detail is striking. The gardens were lovely.

Vegetable gardens growing real vegetables. The whole effect was charming and peaceful, just like Hobbiton should be

Sign for West Farthing and Tuckborough

Another herbalist's garden, this time growing culinary kitchen herbs

Some of the hobbit holes had 90% size doors and others were at 60% size, in order to make the Big Folk look bigger

A loaf of freshly baked bread and lunch sitting ready to eat

Hobbits are gardeners, so every hobbit hole was planted and growing

Hobbit chimneys. I was trying to get a picture along the path without including the two pretty blonde young women taking glamour shots of each other, but they wouldn't go away, so I Photoshopped them out.

Another pretty yard with picket fence and rocking chair

Garden trellises. Our tour guide Tracey is in the back in front of one of the trees, but I didn't Photoshop her out. She was a lot of fun.

The pond with a fisherman's tackle ready to use

The baker's yard, with a wheelbarrow full of bags of flour

Guess who lives here? Elder Rooks is a little too tall for this hobbit hole, but it is just right for me. My children, who have long thought I was a hobbit, are now certain of it.

Bagshot Row, the home of Sam and Rosie Gamgee

Gourds and pumpkins ripening in the gardens

There are 44 hobbit holes in Hobbiton, some of which have never been seen in any of the movies

You can see some of the hobbit chimneys have smoke coming out of them.

Next week I will have pictures of the inside of the hobbit hole.

Birdwatching

 The birds are out and about these cooler autumn weeks. I've been noticing fantails and tui birds in our yard, which I haven't seen before. We've been busy doing one thing after another, but it has all been wonderful--realizing that we won't be here much longer.

It has been raining sheets and sheets after a fairly nice sunny dry spell, which is now officially over. 

I have been working on a Welcome Guide to New Zealand for senior missionaries in the Hamilton mission that we give the newer couples arriving here. This includes information I wish I had known when we arrived.

Sis. Charlene Welsh wrote up this guide to activities, shopping and vocabulary in 

Senior Missionary Hints and Hacks

We learned that the best-tasting tap water in New Zealand comes from Rotorua's own Karamu Takina Springs in Hamurana. 

Rotorua wins best tasting tap water in the country

I've fallen in love with the New Zealand fantail, so I got this small poster to take home to Idaho to hang on my kitchen wall

The Saturday morning before Mother's Day, the Fairy Springs and Tarawera Wards put on a breakfast for all the women, prepared by a chef and served by all the men and boys. Elder Rooks joined the ladies because, he is Elder Rooks. Plus he wouldn't have gotten much of a breakfast otherwise.

You can see Bishop Webber in the background playing guitar music while we ate our breakfast. He is an excellent guitarist.

We had a mission tour by Elder Taniela Wakolo, a counselor in the Pacific Area presidency, and his wife Sister Wakolo  at our Zone Conference. You can see Sis. Wakolo wearing the black sweater in the back row with all the sister missionaries in the Te Moana a Toi and Gisborne zones. Four of the dozen young sister missionaries are in Rotorua.

Elder and Sister Wakolo are from Fiji. They did wonderful training for our zones.

Rangimarie came over to do sewing on clothes that needed altering. We had to do it all by hand, but she was pleased with the results.

We visited Sister K., and Elder Rooks sprayed down her garage with an anti-fungicidal. It is supposed to take several weeks to actually do the job, so we may not be here to see if it works. Sis. K. thinks we should extend our mission and is somewhat miffed that we actually intend to go home. We wish we could take her with us, but she likes her home and yard in Rotorua. We don't blame her. It is one of the nicest yards we have seen here.

We made another visit to Leigh to make sure she had her temple recommend sorted out.

On one of our walks we saw these two little ones hoping to get out onto the street with their tricycles.

I finally finished one of my harakeke ketes, baskets. This one I formed while it was damp, into a low basket with sides to hold stuff in. I don't think I'll have much time to do any more weaving while we are here, sadly.

I also made another purini, steamed pudding. This is the best one yet. It all came out of the pan in one piece.

Now that it is colder, I finally finished my hat knitted from possum-merino yarn. It is very warm and I have been wearing it.

One of my recipes called for Jaffa Biscuits. They are based on a cake famous in England, orange-flavored after the Jaffa orange. 

These weren't spectacular, even if they were dipped in chocolate. Elder Rooks has been helping me out by eating them in a glass with milk.

 We were walking along Tarewa Rd and heard a Tui bird in a neighbor's camellia tree. You can see the little white feather ruff under its chin.

You can hear it singing in this video, along with the noise of the cars on the road. I include this because you can actually see the Tui bird as it sings its clackety twangy songs. Try watching it full-screen.

Another day, another fantail

Just enjoying zooming around

On the rugby field is a pair of paradise shelducks, the white-headed female on the left and the male on the right with the black body with bars of color.

At the Saturday market we talked to an elderly man about religion and bought an iwi rewena, Maori bread made with potato, from a member of the Fairy Springs ward. 

We visited Margaret, who is leaving next week for  Rarotonga. On the walk to her house we were stopped in the street by an elderly lady driving a little blue car, who asked if we were lost. Perhaps because this is a Maori village and everyone was related to everyone else. She told us her Scottish grandfather had helped lay out the town of Ohinemutu. He had married a Maori of the Ngāti Whakaue hapū.

We asked if we looked like we were lost, and she said it looked like we were in love.

Here Elder Rooks is walking to the side of the two-way street leading to Lake Road. You can see why Kiwis are such good drivers.

Ms. Lonelyhearts seems to have moved into our yard. I saw her during the pouring rain, standing in puddles for hours in front of our house. It didn't bother her a bit.

Mr. and Miss Pukeko are avoiding her. She still hangs around regardless.

She looks better from a distance, I think. 

Taupō

 Taupō is a town of about 26,500 that sits on the north shore of New Zealand's largest freshwater lake. Taupō is known for its natural beauty and outdoor recreation, including hiking, fishing, skiing, and water sports. It is home to Wairakei Thermal Valley, Huka Falls, and Rongarira National Park. The name is short for the Maori Taupō-nui-a-Tia, meaning "Cloak of Tia" (Wikipedia) 

We hadn't been to visit the Taupō Ward, so Sunday morning we headed south for the one-hour drive through early morning fog.

North shore of Lake Taupō

On Saturday we attended the baptism of Tania and her family. The elders and sisters have been teaching this family for several months, and the Fairy Springs ward has embraced them. Afterwards, we all had share kai.

On one of our walks, I told Elder Rooks where he needed to stand for my picture. He told me he is Not My Fashion Model. (Silly him)

These are striking small trees native to New Zealand -- the Lancewood or Horoeka, also known as pseudopanax crassifolius. These are juvenile trees. As they slowly mature, the leaves fall off the sides and the tops become rounded, like the tree in back, which is beginning to mature. 

Early Maori used the lancewood to spear wood pigeons. Europeans used the wood for timber and the central rib of the leaves for bootlaces and to mend bridles and harnesses. (https://www.nznatureguy.com/2020/11/08/7-lancewood-facts-unique-native-tree/)

"Maori would tie a knot in the top of a young plant. Then as the tree grew it would have a straight trunk with a knot at the top that would make a great handle for a walking stick." 

Rumor has it that Gandalf used such a lancewood for his staff. (nznatureguy.co.nz)

Highway 5 out of Rotorua was winding and foggy, but eventually the sun came out and burned off all the fog. The road to Taupō has some of the straightest and nicest highway we've been on in all of New Zealand. You can even pass safely on this highway. 

Autumn tree color is becoming more pronounced

There is thermal activity along here. I don't know if these are steam vents for geothermal or some other industry

Bridge at the turnoff for Taupō

Taupō town. Along the lake shore, there are a number of some of the largest and nicest hotels in central North Island, including a Hilton hotel.

Another small chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is a similar layout to the chapel in Tokoroa. The church members were warm, welcoming and sweet. 

It was Testimony meeting, so Elder Rooks and I both bore our testimonies as to the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of the latter-day church by the Prophet Joseph Smith. There were also testimonies by the stake patriarch, and by a reformed convict who humbly told of his return to church activity.

Then we visited the lake, which wasn't far from the chapel. 

The biggest lake in Australasia, Lake Taupō, at 606 sq. km  (234 square miles), is roughly the size of Singapore, with a maximum depth of 186 meters (610 feet). 

It is the caldera of the supervolcano, Taupō Volcano. Its outflow joins the Waikato River, the longest river in New Zealand at 425 kilometers (164 miles), which begins in the Mount Ruapehu eastern range and includes the Tongariro River system. 

Looking south and east. There were watercraft and waterfowl. It was going to be a gorgeous day, but it wasn't our day for boating.

We got back on the highway and passed some Holstein cows. The Kiwis love it when I tell them they have great dairy products, which they do.

Crossing the Mighty Waikato River

Beautiful scenery on our way back to Rotorua

This week we have seen dozens of fantails, darting through the air before pausing to rest for a few moments in the trees in our back yard

It takes many shots to get even one good one

They are masters at aerial acrobatics

...and seem to enjoy zooming around

At rest on the magnolia tree

In other back yard bird news, Mr. & Miss Pukeko are sticking pretty close together

They like to walk on top of the fence

...and peck at the grass along our lane

Then one day we noticed Ms. Lonelyhearts, Mr. Pukeko's recent castoff, wandering into the lane from Kuirau Park across the street

She may have been pecked at some time because this white feather is showing. She still shrieks as much as before, making her easy to recognize.

So Mr. Pukeko, in an attempt to keep the peace, withdrew and was hiding on the other side of the geothermal stream.

Miss Pukeko wasn't quite sure what to do, but Ms Lonelyhearts didn't attack her.

Instead, Ms. Castoff sat down on the grass and waited for Mr. Pukeko to make a reappearance.

He did sneak out eventually. You can see why she doesn't want to give him up. He is rather a handsome fellow.

But she keeps coming back. We'll see how Mr. Pukeko handles this as time goes by.