Steve and Cathy's Blog

This town, located on the Bay of Plenty 131 nautical miles south of Auckland, was so named “the resting place for canoes” by the Maori, and it is where some of the first ones arrived in New Zealand.  Captain James Cook sailed into the Bay of Plenty in 1769 and gave it its present name because of the friendly and generous reception he was given by the thriving local Maori.

Overlooked by Mauao (Mount Maunganui), it is the third largest port in New Zealand, with 1500 cargo vessels and 83 cruise ships calling there in 2017, Insignia being the last one of the season, which runs from October through April.  115 cruise ships will be coming next season.

As luck would have it, because of our itinerary being switched around, the original excursion we had booked, True Indulgence – Cheese, Chocolate and Wine, got canceled.  But in its place was Hobbiton Movie Set.  Hobbiton is a Town in The Shire in Middle Earth from the Lord of The Rings Trilogy, the movies of which were directed by New Zealander Peter Jackson.  The movie set is located on a farm in the village of MataMata, an hour’s drive west southwest of Tauranga, up over the Kaimai Range that separates the east coast from the central agricultural area.

Today’s excursion has a driver/guide named John.  As they all have been, he is a wealth of knowledge about the country and region. Into Random Fact Mode we go as we motor through the countryside:

• Tauranga is the fastest growing city in New Zealand right now, mainly due to the economy, the plethora of recreational activities in the area, the cost of housing compared to Auckland and the increase in port activity. It is now the 5^thlargest city in the country.
• As mentioned by a previous guide, logging is an enormous industry in NZ, so much so that Tauranga is the largest port in the country by tonnage. And we see that as we leave the city.  Huge piles of logs are everywherein the port area.  Most of them are those Monterey Pine trees mentioned before, and it’s a $3.5 billion industry.  Besides China, NZ exports to fourteen other countries.

• Having been asked the inevitable question about housing prices, John speculates that the average house costs NZ$600-670,000, while in Auckland, that same house would run NZ$900,000 to NZ$1,000,000.
• The Kiwi fruit is another enormous industry in the Bay of Plenty area. 95% of the crop is exported to 75 countries.  In fact, 100 million trays of Gold Kiwi and 150 million trays of Green Kiwi are shipped every year.  The picking season is April and May.  Fortunately, kiwi can be stored for up to eight months at 1 degree Centrigrade, and that is mostly done in huge warehouses in Tauranga (see the trucks below). If you see the Zespri brand, then it genuine New Zealand kiwi.

• As our Auckland guide notes, dairy is a huge industry, 50% of which is located in the Waikite Valley region where we are right now. And we see that.  John tells us that there are 400,000 dairy farmers in the country that all maintain membership in a co-op to export their products.
• A major pest in NZ now is the possum. It attacks the Kiwi bird, the national bird of NZ, eats foliage voraciously, and is a genuine nuisance to farmers.  It has largely been eradicated, in some small part because the garment industry is making possum/merino yarn.  New Zealanders humorously call the clothing made out of this wool “Road Kill Clothes.”
• As we drive up and down the road over the Kamai Range, with its switchbacks and 10% grades, our guide explains that this mountain range actually protects the Bay of Plenty region from the sometimes damaging weather originating in the Tasman Sea west of New Zealand.

We are nearing the Hobbiton movie set attraction.  It is in absolutely storybook country of rolling hills covered with green grasses and dotted with trees, cattle and sheep.  We are in the village of Waikato, about five miles west of the village of Matamata.

We first check into the attraction’s visitor’s center, where we see a dozen small 15-passenger buses and two 35-passenger buses, all painted green with Hobbiton written on the side. There are two of our full-size buses, and all we have to do is pick up our tour guides and cross the road that leads to the 14-acre Hobbiton set.

Our guide’s name is Rebekah, and she begins to explain how it is that Hobbiton exists and relate some of the many stories and details about the making of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy movies.  She speaks in the first person, as if she were actually part of the company that made the movies, which we think adds to her narrative.

Briefly, the story begins when Director Peter Jackson, who is from New Zealand’s capital Wellington (the studio work was done there) does a flyover of the area in search of a location late in 1998.  He spots an area he particularly likes, partly because of a huge tree he sees on the property as well as a small lake.  He then sends his people out to discuss possibilities with the farmer whose property he likes, a Mr. Alexander.

The movie people arrive and ask to speak to Mr. Alexander.  He is engaged in watching an important rugby match, and tells his guests that they must sit and wait until at least halftime before he can talk with them. At halftime, with the game still occupying his attention, he tells the Hollywood types to just go walk around the property by themselves while he watches the rest of the match. Obviously, they like what they see.

Weeks later, an agreement is secured, and the movie company commences building the set in March of 1999. The New Zealand government is all kinds of cooperative, and uses the New Zealand Army to build a one-mile road on the property.  As work commences and people in the area begin to see all this construction activity, the media becomes interested in what’s going on.  Planes begin to fly around the area, and Peter Jackson and company is concerned that their secrecy is being compromised.  So the New Zealand government comes to their aid and declares a No Fly Zone in the area.  The one media clown who disobeys the rule is grounded for life.  No more planes after that.

After that introduction, we arrive at the set, get off the bus and enter.  Before we start the tour, she measures her audience, asking 1) How many have read the books and seen the movies; 2) how many have seen the movies only and 3) how many have never done either?  She says to us: “You’re about like most groups, where almost 40% have no knowledge of this at all.”  That is actually comforting to those of us who are seeing everything for the first time.

The tour takes ninety minutes, and Rebekah fills us in on every detail as we walk along.  Some are details about the movie itself, some about building the set, including others about the production company (there were up to 400 people on the set involved at one point, for instance), and others about the present management of the attraction.  She does all of this while trying to keep us together as a group, which is not easy.  Everyone wants to take photos by the dozen, and everyone is wandering around to look at this or that.  It truly is like trying to herd cats, and she keeps her good humor about her in typical New Zealander style.

I was not taking notes, so here are the few things I recall:

• Director Jackson was a stickler for detail. This included moving an enormous tree to another location.  Of course, in the course of doing so, the tree died, so they pasted leaves on all the dead branches. It’s the one behind Bag End, Bilbo and Frodo’s house.

• The local government insisted that the “hobbit holes” follow building codes, so in order to comply with whatever regulations they wanted, an extra five hobbit holes were built. These five extra houses were used in precisely three seconds of the movie, right at the very end.
• Initially, the intent was to destroy the entire set after filming and return the place to close to its original condition as pasture. But the interest in the place after the movies came out led the production company to come to an agreement with the Alexanders and it opened as an attraction in 2002.  In 2010 the set was made much more permanent in order to accommodate the making of the Hobbit trilogy movies.
• The actual farm is still in operation, with approximately 13,000 sheep and over 300 Black Angus cattle.
• The attraction hosts as many as many as 1,500 visitors per day. Thankfully, May 15^thwas not one of those days.  It was busy but manageable.
• There are a total of 44 hobbit holes on the property. 37 are merely fronts, with the rest built to code but only for a few feet beyond the door.  Indoor scenes were filmed on a stage in a Wellington studio.

After touring almost every square inch of this adorable little village, we were taken to the Green Dragon pub for a taste of the special ale that is made especially for them or, of course, apple cider and other concoctions that were of the period. Our friend Danielle took our picture for posterity driving an ale wagon.

We finished off the tour at a special area of tents set up for just the Oceania guests where more soft drinks, muffins, and other bakery treats were served and we could relax and talk about our visit before boarding our bus again.  It was also a treat for us Oceania ‘guests’ to see a tour group comprised of Oceania ‘staff.’  We very much like it when the cruise line arranges such outings for their super well-deserving employees.

Before we leave Hobbiton, we have the opportunity to see one more thing.  Can you guess what it is?  Yes, of course!  The gift shop!  It was fun to see all the stuff.  Cathy was especially impressed with a welcome mat that had a drawing of Gandalf holding up his wizard sticks saying: “You shall not pass!”

We board the bus and go back to the visitor’s center for one more “happy room” stop, one more shopping opportunity and one more chance for photos of the beautiful countryside of central North Island, New Zealand.  The trip back takes us a different way, where we see yet more cows.

John our driver/guide gives us more information:

• Abel Tasman, a Dutch explorer and employee of the Dutch East India Company, is considered the first European to “discover” New Zealand and have contact with the Maori people. He named the North Island “Novelle Zealandia.”  The Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand and the island of Tasmania (part of Australia) is named after him.
• Captain James Cook renamed the country New Zealand after his explorations there.
• Our driver guide, who would know better than anyone, tells us that it takes a lot longer to tour New Zealand than you would expect by looking at the distances on a map.The roads are much more winding than a tourist would anticipate.  He suggests that a motor home is a great way to see New Zealand and that it takes 2-2 ½ weeks to see the North Island and three weeks to tour the south island.
• The North Island is the one with the beautiful open spaces and views (we can vouch for that!) and the South Island is like the Alps.
• There are geothermal power stations and hydroelectric dams on the Wyketta River supplying much of the region’s power.
• The minimum wage in New Zealand is NZ$18.25, which would convert to roughly US$14.00.It will increase to NZ$20.00 (US$15.00) in 2020.

In about an hour’s time, we arrive back in Tauranga.  We pass by a 17-kilometer long beach that is part of the town.  We see surfers and swimmers in the water, and John tells us the houses facing this beach run in the NZ$1.5-3.0 million range.  He points out two high-rises and tells us that building height restrictions were passed limiting construction to three stories after they were built.

He points out to Motiti Island, and tells us that, on October 5, 2011, the container ship Rena became grounded on the Astrolabe Reef near there and was grounded.  They ended up cutting the ship in half to salvage what they could and half of it is lying underwater near the island.  Here are pictures from the Container exhibit at the Australian National Maritime Museum.

We arrive back at the ship around 4:00pm. There are tractor trailers all around us, and I ask permission from the security guard to take a couple of photos to send my grandchildren.  He says “Of course” and explains that they are unloading trays of kiwis for storage, just like John said they do this time of year.

It has been one of the best days we have had. Of course, the highlight was Hobbiton Movie Set, which was a fun and fanciful as we hope our pictures describe it. It was also a great experience to see the beautiful New Zealand countryside in autumn.  It is indeed as beautiful as its worldwide reputation. We are in very high spirits as we board and prepare to sail out of the Bay of Plenty south to Napier, New Zealand.