Hobbiton in The Shires

On our way to Rotorua we stopped off at the Alexander Family Sheep Farm where there is 1200 acres of land with 13,000 sheep roaming around! We got there just in time to catch the 11 am tour and jumped on the waiting mini bus. I got to sit in the front seat which was exciting. Our guide, Theresa drove us past the "Animal Kingdom", the technical carpark and the movie star caravan park - but these where only signs on the land which had been returned to farm use.

Then went into the area where Hobbiton had been filmed. Theresa was a great guide and knew all the stories about the film such as the second time that Gandalf hit his head in Bilbo's house was unscripted but it looked so good they left it in!

This is Hobbiton with all the hobbit houses built into the hills. Only exteriors were filmed here so they are filled with soil and are built of ply wood!

One of the houses had been "made safe" for the visitors. So here is the view across the Shires from Bilbo's house (with some human in the way!) and Gordon in the front door.

One of Theresa's many tricks was taking this amusing photo for us!

We saw the "Party Tree" and the "Lightening Tree" (the scream you hear when the dragon firework goes off is another unscripted part left in); where the mill, bridge and pub were; and where Gandalf comes into view on his horse and cart. In all it was fabulous.


At the end of the trip we saw one of the sheep being sheared and then got a chance to feed one of the lambs. So sweet.

And as a grand finale, after seeing the sheep on the farm; being sheared; and being fed we thought we would finish off by eating one and had a yummy lamb burger and kumara chips for lunch. The chips were made from a local sweet potato and are far better that potato chips!