Ruminating about Hobbiton

Hi there      I had a lovely afternoon today.  Truly, as the saying (and song) goes, "You Can't Beat wellington on a Good Day".  I moseyed over to Hataitai beach at noon, had a lazy half hour swim with no jellyfish or stingrays, sunbathed in glorious weather,  read Rhys Darby's spaceship book, spoke to lots of beach friends who all seemed to roll up today (except J!), had another swim, more sunbathing........   Whilst I was swimming, I was ruminating about how lucky we New Zealanders are, and especially we Wellingtonians, and, yes, even more so we Miramar folk, to live where Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor decided to build their film empire. 

I've always loved movies.  One year - 1958 - I decided to keep a record and that year I saw more movies than days of the year, thanks to double features.  We used to go to the local theatres Tues,  Wed, Fri and Sat nights and Sat afternoons my friend and I went to the movies in town,  Often on a Saturday we would rush to the matinee in town, hare back to the 5 pm session at the local theatre, and then on to the 7.30 pm session at the other local!

Anyway, it was so great to visit 'Hobbiton' in Matamata, the set of 'The Lord of the Rings' movies and also 'The Hobbit'.  What a privilege.  I loved walking the flagstone path down the hill from Bilbo's house to the party tree.

Long may Sir Peter and Sir Richard reign!