My final full day in New Zealand proved to be every bit as memorable as any other. Upon landing in Auckland late Tuesday night (June 24th, for those of you keeping score at home), we drove a wee bit down the road to Hamilton, where we stayed the night. The next morning, we woke up and drove to Hobbiton, took the tour, then drove back to Auckland to a motel, awaiting our flight out the next morning.
These sets were built out of temporary materials during the filming of The Lord of the Rings fifteen or so years ago, and therefore taken down after filming was complete. When Peter Jackson returned three or four years ago to film The Hobbit, the owners of the farm made sure he used permanent materials so they could charge tourists lots of money to come see them until the ending of the world, and that is exactly what has happened. In the following three images, I have juxtaposed pictures taken by my mom or myself with stills from The Fellowship of the Ring.
And here comes the gallery.
Then we were off. Road to motel to sleep to morning to rental car return to terminal to airplane.
Well, I’m back.
Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost 