Travel Articles - New Zealand - Kindly supplied by the Good Travel Guide Magazine |
NEW ZEALAND
"HOBBITS FOR SALE", the flimsy sign said.
The little old man gingerly proffered me a cardboard shoebox. Not sure what to expect, I meekly slid off the lid. Inside, small and beautiful ceramic figurines of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, the main characters from my favourite childhood books, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien.
At the age of 12, my childhood imagination revelled in the exploits of this pair on their arduous journey through Middle Earth, encountering magic, Gandalf the Wizard, the Gollum, deadly, fire-breathing dragons, and great treasure on the way. In childhood, I fought with them every step of the way.
Now in my mid-20s, they still evoke that feeling of longing for adventure, of childhood fantasies and magic. I had arrived in New Zealand with a yellowing, dog-eared copy of each book in my suitcase, to read for nostalgia.
This was a chance encounter outside the airport in Auckland, after a 26-hour flight from London. I felt extreme excitement, on the verge of a tour around New Zealand, the country that attracted film-makers to chose its natural landscapes to represent Middle Earth in the epic movie, The Lord of the Rings. That New Zealand, out of all other worldwide destinations, should be chosen as a filmset intrigued me greatly. The scenes in the film were breathtaking and I wanted to see whether New Zealand was as magical as the Middle Earth I had read about in my childhood, all those years ago.
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