Wednesday March 15

 



Guess where we were today?

Our shuttle picked us up in Rotorua  and 1 hr later we were in Hobbiton. We were walked through the "set" and were told some interesting stories along the way.  The plum tree that the hobbits are playing in at the beginning of one of the movies, were actually pear, quince and apple trees. They took off all the real fruit so that the viewer thought they were plum trees. The hobbit doors are a variety of sizes so they could film the correct ratios for Gandalf and the hobbits.  Both Gandalf and Frodo had look alikes to help with filming. Frodo's was a man 4 ft tall who also played a loopaloopa in The chocolate factory.  Gandalf's look alike was a 7 ft man.




The shuttle then brought us to our Auckland hotel. We were challenged to find some dinner as many of the downtown eateries haven't reopened since covid.


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