hello and welcome to “on the go with efâ€. i’m still in new zealand,two hours south of auckland, in a town called matamata,where you can find hobbiton, which is the movie set for the hobbitand the lord of the rings movies. the nature of new zealand is so special. i totally understand why they decided to filmthe lord of the rings and the hobbit movies here. it’s so green. this whole place that we’re inis called the shire in the movies. this is basically a massive movie set thatwas made for the lord of the rings movies.
after they made the first three films,they just tore this whole place down and that was that, as it oftenis in the movie business. but afterwards, when they werecalled to make the hobbit movies, they built this up again and decidedto keep it as a tourist attraction. and i’m very happy they did. the interesting thing about this movieset is that it took two years to build, but they only filmed here for12 days for the hobbit movie. for the lord of the rings,they filmed for 3 months, but still ... it’s quite a lot ofeffort for such little time.
coming here is really cool, actually. i haven’t watchedthe lord of the rings that many times. i more of a hobbit fan, so it’s cool to comehere and see the hobbit’s residence. they are really tiny.we had the tour guide explain that. it’s something called forced perspective, which means that when thingsare smaller, you look bigger. so gandalf would stand next to a smallone like this, but there are various sizes. there are bigger doors as well so thatthe hobbit actors would look small. it’s really quite interesting.
the lord of the rings is a fantasy novelseries written by author j.r.r. tolkien. it started as a sequel to the hobbit, but itgrew into something much larger than that. the publishers actually came to tolkenafter he had written the hobbit and said, “you know what? we like this. this has beena big success, so can you make a sequel?†and he said, “sure, but just knowthat i’m quite a slow writer.†and they said, “that’s fine.†so, he started writingthe lord of the rings series at age 45 and it wasn’t until 12 years laterthat he was finished with it. and it wasn’t until 1955, when tolken was63 years old, that it was fully published.
this place is, in many ways, like heaven on earth. you feel like you’re kind of detachedfrom the rest of the world. you look at all this amazing sceneryand all the birds are chirping, and it’s like, is it real? it’s almost too good to be true.i’m going to become a hobbit and move here. this is the most iconic house of the lot.this is bilbo baggins’ house. this is an absolutely beautiful, stunning view. here’s what i meant by “it’s a dream world.†this is the bridge where gandalf, in thefirst movie, crosses with his horse and cart.
it’s an interesting feeling to walk in gandalf’s footsteps. i feel like i’m destined for great things. in a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit. there is nothing like looking,if you want to find something. it’s the job that’s never startedas takes longest to finish. guys, i’ve had a great time here in hobbiton.i’ve seen some spectacular views and it’s really cool walking around in aplace that you’ve seen in movies before. do you guys like lord of the rings? leave a comment below and thebest answer can win this key ring.
a ring, my precious! i’ll see you next week. bye bye. next week: liam cruises auckland’s harbour