Matamata New Zealand - Peace of Mind and Heart

 

" I am leaving you with a gift--peace of mind and heart.  And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.  So don't be troubled or afraid."

John 14:27

Matamata, New Zealand - Sorrow turned into Joy

 

Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

John 16:20

Ask, Seek, Knock - Matamata, New Zealand

 

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.  Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?  So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 7:7-12

Hobbiton in Matamata

 Memories of visiting the Hobbiton movie set in New Zealand.  

Silencing Frogs at Frog Pond - Tales from The Shire

 

 

Frog Pond has a lot of frogs and they can be very noisy.  Shots for Lord of the Rings were interrupted due to the noisy frogs.. When filming for the Hobbit was about to commence, the frogs were all relocated. I didn't see that many frogs but it was a hot summer's day which reminds me of an Aesop's fable "The Frogs' Complaint Against the Sun" that explains why we only have one sun.

 

"ONCE UPON A TIME, when the Sun announced his intention to take a wife, the Frogs lifted up their voices in clamor to the sky. Jupiter, disturbed by the noise of their croaking, inquired the cause of their complaint. One of them said, "The Sun, now while he is single, parches up the marsh, and compels us to die miserably in our arid homes. What will be our future condition if he should beget other suns?"

Even though there are over 40 hobbit holes, tourist are only allowed to open one door, but as you would expect there is only dirt and some supporting timbers behind. Every hobbit yard was designed in detail with flower gardens, gates, mail boxes, tools, pottery, wood, and benches.  The doors are an array of different rainbow colors. The hobbit hole doors vary in size according to which actor has to be in the shot, so for example the actor who plays Samwise Gamgee is quite big, so his door was big.  Samwise Gamgee’s hobbit hole is the one with the yellow door.  Peter Jackson was meticulous with the set. Every day he got people to walk up to washing lines to tread a pathway in the long grass, so it looks Like hobbits have been using it. Each log on the piles had to be in the same place, so the set was constantly checked against photos so it looked the same.

The oak tree on top of Bag Ends is fake with thousands of leaves that had to be attached.  At least the leaves don't fall all over Bilbo Baggins Hobbit Hole!

Ah, Sunflowers in Middle Earth's Garden

 

I took these pictures in February 2014 at The Shire from The Hobbit film set.  It is summer time in New Zealand. Sunflowers were planted in most of the gardens and in front of some of the Hobbit holes.  The sun was shinning bright and blue clouds set a picturesque backdrop.  The gardens were fresh, green, and bright with an array of colorful flowers. The sunflowers were the tallest and most appealing with their black eyes.





Ah! Sun-flower

By William Blake 1757–1827 

Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,

Who countest the steps of the Sun:

Seeking after that sweet golden clime

Where the travellers journey is done. 

Where the Youth pined away with desire,

And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow: 

Arise from their graves and aspire, 

Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.

"Hanging Out the Wash" at The Shire

Hobbits did not have washing machines and clothes dryers so you will see clothes lines all over The Shire.  Some had a clothes line across the windows or on top of their hobbit dwelling. The top picture shows the clothes hanging on the grassy roof not too far from the chimney. As a small child, my mother washed and hung out the clothes to dry. My grandmother had an old washing machine that you had to place the clothes through a roller to squeeze out the water.  At age 4, my hand got stuck in that roller and I still have a scare on my left hand where the roller ripped off the skin. She dried the clothes by hanging them out on a line in the sun.  It is rare to see that now days.

The Hobbit's Middle-Earth Flower and Vegetable Garden

The Hobbit film set is home to a rustic year-round, working vegetable garden that one would expect to find in middle earth.  I took these pictures in February so these are their summer crops with plenty of sunflowers scattered throughout including colorful varieties of squash, tomatoes, corn, pumpkin and gourds. The Hobbits had an extensive agricultural system in the Shire but were not industrialized. The shire has rambling dirt paths and seasonal flowers, vegetables and fruit trees behind picket fences. There is well water near the garden as well as a working table, crates, woven baskets for gathering crops, saw horses, birdhouses, and make shift poles for supporting plant vines. Every item looked authentic including a scarecrow standing by its lonesome in a field of wildflowers.

This is the older version of the scarecrow from Lord of the Rings with Frodo and Sam in the field.

The Party Tree at The Shire

There was a specially large pavilion, so big that the tree that grew in the field was right inside it, and stood proudly near one end, at the head of the chief table. Lanterns were hung on all its branches." (LOTR, Book I, Chapter I, page 38)

On the right side of the field, there were wild flowers growing on the slope and a beautiful child was picking flowers.  Picking flowers is not permitted but her mother could not resist taking her picture and neither could I. 

"The only brew for the brave and true...comes from the Green Dragon!"

During the Hobbiton Film set tour, we visited the Green Dragon Inn and received free brew.  I tried a glass of apple cider and it was cold, tasty and wonderful after a hot summer 2 hour tour.

 

The Green Dragon Inn was frequented by Hobbits from both Bywater and the neighboring settlement of Hobbiton. The Hobbit Frodo Baggins regularly visited the inn as did his friends Sam Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took. Throughout the movie and the book, the inn is referenced to as a "great" place. One such example in when Merry and Pippin refer to the Inn in The Return of the King (film) when they are singing on a table at Edoras. Specifically, they sing "The Green Dragon (song)"

"Oh you can search far and wide,
You can drink the whole town dry,
But you'll never find a beer so brown,

Oh you'll never find a beer so brown,

As the one we drink in our hometown,
As the one we drink in our hometown. You can keep your fancy ales,
You can drink them by the flagon,
But the only brew for the brave and true...
..Comes from the Green Dragon!!"

Bag End - Thorin Oakenshield Lost His Way

Bag End is the home of Bilbo Baggins where Thorin Oakenshield and Company meets Bilbo Baggins to start their journey to Erebor to take back their homeland from Smaug the Dragon.

 

 

[as the dwarves wash and stack the dishes, the door bell rings]
Gandalf: He's here.
[Gandalf opens the door and we see Thorin (Actor Richard Armitage)]
Thorin: Gandalf. I thought you said this place would be easy to find. I lost my way, twice.
[Thorin walks in]

Thorin: I wouldn't have found it at  all, had it not been for that mark on the door.



Quote and Screen caps from "The Hobbit There and Back Again"

Bag End was the largest and most luxurious Hobbit home and sits on top of the hill overlooking the Shire with an oak tree growing over its' roof.  I did not understand why Thorin lost his way twice and had to look for the mark on the door.  Gandalf did not communicate with Thorin very well from the beginning. He should have told Thorin to look for the Oak which was visible in all directions. This scene shows the beginning of the contemptuous relationship between the two characters. Gandalf is not being honest of his full intentions and he keeps Thorin at bay and not fully informed. Later in the journey, Gandalf's leaves the party at Mirkwood on their own when they needed his guidance the most. He went back on his word and they were left to face the dragon without him.  Gandalf is to blame for the future events and calamities with the dragon. He is not my favorite character in the book due to his instigation of the journey's purpose, and then leaving the quest, which lead to a chain of events that eventually ended in the deaths of Thorin and his nephews. Gandalf has been missing for a large part of the book and yet when he returns, he has chosen not to return to the dwarves, who he encouraged and aided up to this point, but sides with Bard and the Elven king for the treasure. I could write a paper about the greed from dwarves, man and elves and the theme of betrayal but I'll leave that for another topic.  Thorin Oakenshield did lose his way more then once but redeemed himself in the end by showing enormous courage in The Battle of Five Armies: Thorin gives everything he has to change the tide of the battle. I am looking forward to the third trilogy.



The No Admittance sign except on party business still hangs on the gate in front of Bag End for the Hobbiton tour.  It appears at the beginning of the film when the Older Bilbo is giving a party but it carries a deeper theme for the story of the exclusive party consisting of 13 Dwarf's, Gandalf and Bilbo going on an quest to Eredor:  "Built deep within the mountain itself, the beauty of this fortress city was a legend. Its wealth lay in the earth, in precious gems humed from rock, and in great seams of gold running like rivers through stone."  No one else joins their dangerous party to enter the lonely mountain where the dragon allows  "No Admittance".