We are still along way from the Hobbit filming but preparations have officially begun. With Peter Jackson this week confirming ‘still no funding’ at Comic-Con, people must be working for the ‘love of Tolkien’ in Matatmata. Hobbiton renovation photos have slowly started surfacing as the early work of preparing summer fruits and flowers for hungrey hobbits. We have seen published photos  from www.stuff.co.nz and  Red Carpet Tours have also sent some through to theonering.net.

Our latest Lord of the Rings Tour update now includes Red Carpet Tours. These guys were pioneers in LOTR tourism. They operate the only recommended national Lord of theRings Tour of New Zealand. Literally thousands of happy Lord of the Rings fans have experienced their dreams been turned into reality.

follow the National link above to learn about Red Carpet Tours Lord of the Rings 12 Day Tour departing Auckland and finishing in Queenstown.

For those with less time their Hobbiton 1 Day Tour departs Auckland around 8.30am and returns around 4pm.

Welcome aboard to Hassle Free Tours and their Lord of the Rings Edoras Tour. They have now been included in our Best Lord of Rings Tour collection. Mark, Nikki and the team are passionate tourism operators and have a great tour exploring the Edoras location at Mt Sunday.

More Tours to follow…

The Hobbiton page is now loaded into the BestLordoftheRingsTours.com. We are progressing… with small Hobbit steps… with listing the best Lord of the Rings Tour. View Hobiton Tour information via the Hobbiton page link above…

Some exciting  news to come out of Hobbiton recently…

Ian Brodie, author of the Lord of the Locations Guidebook (includes all the best locations tour in New Zealand)  is moving on from his position as Director of the New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum to take up a post with the Alexander family, in his recently created position as Hobbiton Media and Communications manager.

Still no official confirmation from anybody about filming actually occurring at the farm…

perhaps they are waiting for the Media and Communications manager starts work on the 1st September…

More Hobbit updates and Lord of the Rings Tour destinations to follow soon…

Spy report just through… scouts have been noticed at Kaitoke Regional Park in Wellington, home for Rivendell during the filming of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. No official confirmation from Wellington Regional Council (they administer the Park) or the studios yet. The crew scouting may have just been looking for ideas or remembering the glory days. They were very secretive and did not want to hang around for a chat with some visiting Rings fans as they admired the gorgeous scenery…

Why are we excited?

Bilbo visits Rivendell in The Hobbit and the upcoming movie will have Rivendell scenes. When they do start filming this is great for Wellington Rover Tours passengers who will be able to spy during the tour. Visit Wellington Rover Tours website.

There have been concerns The Hobbit may be a ‘studio movie’ with a major use of green screens. This would be a big shift from how the LOTR filmed. Lets hope they do make use of some beautiful New Zealand locations and return to Rivendell.

they are doing it again… Book Signing with Guillermo del Toro. They recently had a book signing at the WETA CAVE. This drew a large crowd to a quiet suburb. Expect even more people to turn up to Unity Books right in the heart of Wellington city. I have heard Unity Books have hired security (!) and will have street entertainment for the crowds.

Wellington has hadbook signings with Alan Lee, John Howe and Mr Del Toro in recent weeks. As more Lord of the Rings regulars return for the making of the Hobbit I think Wellington can expect more local signings, sightings and interactions. Very exciting and in contrast to how everybody saw the ‘stars and crew’when they were here making the Lord of the Rings movies.

Funny how different your treated with Oscars on the window sill.

More details below:

Hollywood director Guillermo del Toro is being hosted by Unity Books for a signing session for his first novel, “The Strain” – the first volume in a trilogy, co-written with thriller writer Chuck Hogan, about a vampiric virus that invades New York. Get your copy signed by the director of Weta’s “The Hobbit”.

Unity Books, Wellington, 8 July 2009  6:00pm

some exciting developments at Hobbiton… a recent lord of the rings tour passenger  visited Hobbiton yesterday and had this to say …

” I nearly died from excitement today even though all they’re doing is gardening. Basically putting in a shedload of hedges at the moment and doing something odd with a tree, they’re making Hobbiton much bigger though as there’s some boards up that apparently are locations of new hobbit holes to be built, they’re not likely to start building them back up til late this year, but still, HOBBITON!”

still no official confirmation from either the studios or Hobbiton… but one of our most hoped for guesses is falling into line…

the rebuilting process had us thinking back at the office… how much of Hobbiton do they need to rebuilt? Bilbo and the Dwarves spend little time there, besides the time inside Bagend that is. Is this a case of rebuilting Hobbiton for some classic Peter Jackson aptmosphere or will The Hobbit movie start with a few ‘life as a hobbit’ scenes?

Makes you wonder