Most people know New Zealand from the Lord of the Rings movies. That’s how I first started thinking about moving here. What some may not know is that there is actually a Hobbiton with about 40 little hobbit holes on the North Island. Well… most doors are fake except for Bilbo’s home.
If you haven’t already checked out my OpenSea NFT Drop then now is the ideal time… a few have sold out which is great but the main focus today is the two auction items which end in a few hours. So if you’ve some ETH burning a hole in your EWallet and want a physical print then this could be the link you’ve been looking for!
How beautiful is Hobbiton? It feels like a movie set, and it actually is! Of course, it’s in New Zealand, and everything feels like a movie set anyway, so that adds to the luster. If I’m not mistaken, this area was in the first movie when Gandalf is riding into Hobbiton to make Frodo his tiny bitch and go do all the hard work while he just smokes a pipe and philosophizes.
This was a great concept and even better in execution.
The Hobbiton tour is definitely worth a visit if you’re up on the North Island of New Zealand. After you go on it, I find it impossible that you would not actually want to live in a hobbit hole. I also suggested to the management team there that they open up a few of the hobbit holes for people to sleep in at night. I’m sure that they could charge whatever they wanted. I’m a diehard LOTR fan, but there are people that are even way more hardcore than me!
I found this short documentary on Reddit pretty interesting. The only thing I didn’t understand is why the balls are black instead of white. Also, it’s hard for me to believe that a little bit of that plastic doesn’t leech into the water supply. They never exactly gave the molecular make-up of the balls.
It’s been a few years since I have been to Matamata on the North Island and seeing these photos make me want to return. The farmers that originally owned (and still manage) the Hobbiton Movie Set have always been very generous and kind to me, so I try to repay them with as many photos as possible. In a way, this is an easy task, since it’s impossible to take a bad photo there.
This was a great podcast. Michael Pollan’s new book is “How to Change Your Mind,” and I recommend it! He’s a well-known author/scientist who wrote “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and other great books. Anyway, this one talks a lot about the unexpected benefits of psychedelics and all the new science behind them.
I’m always enjoyed doing psychedelics and it has absolutely changed my mind – for the better.
This was taken when Bel was filming a new video tutorial while we were in Hobbiton. You can get that Organize Your Photos tutorial right here! I took this photo about halfway through shooting when we took a break inside the Green Dragon. It’s the famous pub from the movie… that was kind of where we parked up and stored all our gear!
