This is the first from a small set of pics we have just recieved from the Hobbiton set. Let Tehanu explain it to you:
What’s turned up on my desktop today astonishes me. Kotukunui has flown again, with Cameraman, and I’m lookng at the results. Other people have sent pictures of Hobbiton, and we’ve argued about whether they’re CGI or not. This is the record of a whole journey over places I recognise, and in the middle of it, Hobbiton.
I thought I was familiar with this Waikato landscape, but seeing aerial pictures makes me realise how much it is The Shire — a green landscape of comfortable farms with well-maintained fences and freshly-painted roofs. Nice hedgerows and tidy coppices.
The surprising thing about the landscape is the rivers, which make inky ribbons cutting deep into the rolling fields. Among all the well-tended farmland the rivers look secretive in their dark ravines. There are black waters under strange rock-formations and wild bush barely poking above the surface of the surrounding lands. You could hide a lot of things in a place like the Waikato.
I recognise the rotten little hill that I spent hours hiking over to try and reach Hobbiton from the back, only to see no more than the carpark from our vantage point.
And there finally is Hobbiton, with the Water and the bridge, and the little lanes and hobbit-holes. There are chimneys and vegetable patches and windows set into the Hill.
It’s wonderful, and they’re excellent photos, but I send these on with great reservations. They are major spoilers and I’m torn between wanting to know this much and wishing I didn’t. You have to make the same decision.
The rest of the photos will be online soon. For now check the first one out!
!!MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD!!
Check it out in The Spy Reports
