New Zealand’s Hobbit Trail

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 07 Oktober 2012 | 17.35

Weta Cave: Tim Clayton; all others: Andrew Quilty for The New York Times

Clockwise from top left: Hobbiton, Weta Cave, Hobbiton gift shop, Hobbiton property, Tongariro National Park, Chateau Tongariro. More Photos »

THE hill is perfect — steep, shaggy and as green as a radioactive shamrock, like the matching hills around it. The sheep seem pretty idyllic themselves: polite little nibblers who only sometimes block the road.

As for the oak tree on the hill's crest, it is quite literally perfect. Every flickering leaf was handcrafted, right down to the spidery plastic veins, a tribute to the meticulousness of Sir Peter Jackson, the movie director who staged this place, even creating the pond. (Where better for Paradise Geese to land?)

You are standing in Hobbiton, the place where J. R. R. Tolkien's furry-footed Hobbits came to life in Mr. Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and will soon reappear in his "Hobbit" prequels. The sky is dramatic, with sunbeams radiating like spotlights from behind thunderheads. You are woozy from the two-hour car ride from Auckland on a twisting two-lane road (nonstop chatter from Mr. and Mrs. Fanny Pack standing next to you doesn't help), but a few deep gulps of the agrarian air is restorative. And no matter how stubborn, cynical or reluctant you may be (we were all three), this place is most likely casting its spell.

For Mr. Jackson, New Zealand and the millions of fans who spent the last decade tromping this island country in search of "Lord of the Rings" filming locations, the journey is about to begin again. In Wellington, over 100,000 onlookers are expected to turn up on Nov. 28 outside the red-carpet premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," the first of three "Hobbit" films planned for release by 2014. If all goes according to plan, the pictures will also reopen the floodgates of film tourism here.

Movies — ephemeral, imaginary — have a way of sending fans in search of something real. "The Sound of Music" left such an imprint on Salzburg after filming there in 1964 that tours to see where Julie Andrews played "Do-Re-Mi" on her guitar still attract tens of thousands of visitors annually. In Scotland, tourism skyrocketed at the Wallace Monument following the 1995 release of "Braveheart." And in Natchitoches, La., devotees continue to spend $175 a night to sleep in the Shelby Room, where Julia Roberts became a star in "Steel Magnolias" some 23 years ago. (Yes, it is pink.)

But the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, which took in over $3 billion at the global box office between 2001 and 2004, changed the film tourism game entirely. To the surprise of almost everyone, it took possession of an entire country.

When New Line Cinema released the first of the movies in December 2001, tourism officials here hoped the film would, at best, move New Zealand up a notch or two on the list of world travel destinations. After all, Mr. Jackson bulldozed half of his Hobbit village when he had finished filming. Who in their right mind would drive hours into the rural countryside to see it to begin with?

But people came. Since the first film's release, about 266,000 people have visited the half-ruined Hobbiton, according to Tourism New Zealand, with a majority from abroad. Over 50,000 people came in 2004 alone, when "Lord of the Rings" fever peaked following the release of the Oscar-winning third installment. In fact 6 percent of all New Zealand visitors that year, or about 150,000 people, listed the movies as a "main" reason for coming; 11,200 said it was their only reason.

New Zealand's travel and hospitality industries, initially caught off guard, raced to meet demand. In Queenstown on the South Island, where Mr. Jackson filmed numerous mountain scenes, 17 tour companies, many of them popping up overnight, started offering movie-related excursions. Hotels across the country rolled out "Lord of the Rings" promotions and packages, and airport customs officials strung up "Welcome to Middle-earth" banners.

The government is hoping that aggressive planning will raise the number of movie-fueled visitors exponentially this time around. Kiwi officials negotiated a deal with New Line to put a travel infomercial on every DVD. In August, the government began a global marketing campaign featuring the slogan "100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure New Zealand." In all, the country is spending at least $50 million on Hobbit-related tourism promotions, with the biggest attraction remaining this 1,200-acre farm in the slow-moving, once-upon-a-time North Island town of Matamata.

On its Web site, Matamata (pronounced MAW-da MAW-da) is billed as "a rural hinterland." For the most part, it is exactly that. The town center has about 6,000 inhabitants. Another 6,000 are spread across farms that fall within Matamata's boundaries. It all sits two hours by car or bus south of Auckland, whether by a relatively direct route that includes State Highway 27 or by a bewildering patchwork preferred by locals who hold to State Highway 1 and its adjuncts. We took the scenic route and drove ourselves, but Auckland's Red Carpet Tours offers a popular bus service.

Once you arrive in Matamata you'll find a few older, no-frills motels and a smattering of bed-and-breakfasts catering to Hobbit visitors, including the new Chestnut Lane Cottage, where the charming owners greeted us with warm scones slathered in orange jam and whipped cream. In terms of restaurants, there is the homey yet stylish Redoubt Bar & Eatery, but this is a fundamentally provincial place. The local newspaper prominently reports soil temperatures, and businesses are practical, like Boltholder Limited, "specialists in bolts and nuts."

Brooks Barnes and Michael Cieply cover Hollywood from the Los Angeles bureau.


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