Downpour at the Hobbit Holes

Soaked we were as we visited the Shire and Bag End at the Hobbiton Movie set in Manatawa.

It was a light drizzle in the morning at the Kiwi wildlife park in Rotorua and had morphed into a downpour by mid afternoon. "Typical NZ spring weather, and great for the plants, " the guide remarked.

Zack just loved the hobbit holes, and kept trying to crawl past the ropes and open all the hobbit hole doors. It's a movie set, so the holes only go 1-2 meters in and then end in walls. Apparently creatures just love living inside the movie set, including opossums, nesting birds, and field mice.

We were supplied umbrellas to shield us from the rain, but we were super soaked by the end of the one and a half hour movie tour of the set.

The kids took off their soaked jackets and socks and gave them to me to hold- lovely. I had luckily bought some tourist t- shirts at the wildlife center and we switched out of our drenched shirts into those.

The movie set was great even in the rain. They are building the inside of the Green Dragon Inn so that tourists can buy a beer inside. The project will be completed in late December.

A very wet and memorable day. The best picture of a kiwi we got at the wildlife park was a taxidermied one in a glass case. The actual birds are nocturnal and in a dark light housing and hate camera flashes.

The well preserved kiwi in the glass case.

The actual bird in a green dark room.

Go figure.....